作者： root

US fighter jets escort plane out of no-fly zone near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort

2026-03-29T21:15:25.517Z / Reuters

By Reuters

March 29, 2026 9:15 PM UTC Updated 2 hours ago

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A view of Mar-a-Lago resort, in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. March 31, 2023. REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

March 29 (Reuters) – A civilian plane violated a no-fly zone on Sunday near ​President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence ‌in Palm Beach, Florida, before being “safely escorted out of the area,” the ​North American Aerospace Defense ​Command said.

The aircraft violated a Temporary ⁠Flight Restriction around 1:15 p.m. ​EDT (1715 GMT), NORAD said in ​a statement. That restriction is typically imposed when the U.S. president is in ​the area.

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“During the intercept, NORAD ​aircraft dispensed flares, which may have been ‌visible ⁠to the public,” NORAD said. “The flares were used to draw attention from or communicate with the ​pilot,” and ​posed no ⁠danger to people on the ground, it said.

NORAD ​has reported a number ​of ⁠similar incidents since Trump returned to power last year. All were ⁠resolved ​without reports of threats.

Reporting ​by Rodrigo Campos in New York; Editing ​by Sergio Non and Paul Simao

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姜贵瑛：“新李在明”现象打破阵营藩篱

2026年3月30日 05:01 / 联合早报

2月23日，韩国总统李在明（右）在青瓦台接待到访的巴西总统卢拉。两人举行双边会谈前亲切互动。韩国舆论发现，李在明正在收割一批跨阵营的新支持者，韩国政治的运行逻辑正随之改变。 （路透社）

韩国政界近期围绕“新李在明”现象展开讨论。所谓“新李在明”，并非传统意义上支持执政党共同民主党的选民，而是指在约六成支持李在明施政的民意中，扣除约四成的民主党核心支持群体后，仍有约两成属于“不支持民主党、却支持李在明”的选民。这一跨阵营支持群体的出现，正悄然改变韩国政治的运行逻辑。

这是现实中正在发生的结构性转移。部分原本坚定支持保守阵营、尤其是前总统尹锡悦的选民，在紧急戒严与弹劾风波后一度陷入政治认同真空。李在明就任总统后，随着政策陆续推出、执政风格逐渐清晰，这部分选民开始重新评估立场，从“坚决反对”转向“有条件支持”，成为“新李在明”支持基础的一环。

民调数据为此提供了直接佐证。3月26日公布的民调显示，李在明施政支持率接近70%，创就任以来新高；民主党支持率则为46%。两者之间约20个百分点的差距，正是跨阵营支持的空间。这表明总统支持基础已开始突破政党边界，逐步形成以个人为核心的支持结构。

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Iran warns U.S. troops will be “set on fire” if Americans launch ground operation

March 29, 2026 / 4:05 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker, on Sunday warned the United States against a ground invasion, threatening to set American troops “on fire” and step up attacks on U.S. allies, according to Iranian official media.

Ghalibaf said Iranian forces are “waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever.”

“Our firing continues. Our missiles are in place. Our determination and faith have increased,” he added.

The Iranian parliament speaker also described the U.S.’s 15-point plan, which Pakistan passed to Iran last week, as “their wishes” and said the Trump administration is attempting to do through the plan what it has failed to achieve by force.

“As long as the Americans seek Iran’s surrender, our response is clear: Far be it from us to accept humiliation,” Ghalibaf said.

Meanwhile, the Revolutionary Guard threatened to target branches of Israeli and American educational facilities in the region, calling them “legitimate targets” if the U.S. does not condemn the bombing of Iranian universities.

“If the U.S. government wants its universities in the region spared, it should condemn the bombardment of (Iranian) universities by 12 o’clock Monday, March 30, in an official statement,” the Guard said in a statement, according to state media.

The group urged the evacuation of American and Israeli educational facilities and told students and staff to stay at least one kilometer away.

The Guard also demanded that the U.S. stop Israel from striking Iranian universities and research centers, which have been attacked in recent days. Israel’s military has acknowledged striking Iranian universities it says are connected to weapons development.

American colleges, including Georgetown, New York University and Northwestern, have campuses in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

The American University of Beirut announced on Sunday that it would operate remotely over the next two days. President Fadlo Khouri said in a statement on the university’s website that while there is no evidence of direct threats against the university, “out of an abundance of caution,” they will be transitioning to online.

“Our highest priority has always been and will always be the safety of our community and the people we serve,” he said, adding, “We remain especially committed to teaching, healing, and serving those less fortunate, at all times. We at AUB will not be driven from our mission, by threats or violence. Not now, and not ever.”

This is the first time Iran has threatened to strike Israeli and American universities. Many universities around the region have already moved to teaching online since the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran triggered the ongoing war in the Middle East.

In a statement posted to X on Sunday, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad warned that Iran and allied militias “may intend to target the American Universities in Baghdad, Sulaymaniyah, and Dohuk, along with other universities perceived to be associated with the United States.”

The statement added that Iran and affiliated militias have already carried out “widespread attacks on U.S. citizens, targets associated with the United States throughout Iraq” and the “Iraqi government has not prevented terrorist attacks against the United States and regional countries from Iraqi territory.”

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to what to expect on DHS funding when the Senate meets Monday

2026-03-29T18:30:42-04:00 / Fox News

A single objection to a unanimous consent request could freeze DHS funding through the Easter recess

By Chad Pergram Fox News

Published March 29, 2026 6:30pm EDT

Fox News chief congressional correspondent Chad Pergram says House Republicans have prepped their own DHS spending bill on ‘Fox News @ Night.’

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3 min

The DHS funding drama heads back to the Senate on Monday morning after the House approved a two-month stopgap spending plan for all of DHS late Friday night.

The Senate meets on Monday at 10:30 am et in what was supposed to be a brief “pro forma” session where the body simply gavels in and gavels out with a skeleton crew on hand.

But that might not be what happens Monday. As soon as the Senate gets through the prayer and pledge, it’s likely a Republican senator seeks recognition from the chair.

If that happens, we anticipate the GOP senator to ask for unanimous consent (meaning all 100 senators would agree) to take up the DHS bill passed by the House on Friday, that it be “read a third time” and passed.

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO WHAT’S NEXT TO END THE DHS SHUTDOWN

The Department of Homeland Security funding debacle heads back to the Senate on Monday morning.(Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images)

The chair will then ask if there is an objection.

If any senator – be they a Democrat or Republican – objects, the House bill is dead. That means that the House and Senate continue to be out of alignment on the DHS funding question. For instance, the House didn’t even consider the bill cleared by all 100 senators and passed by the Senate at 2:19 am Friday. The House simply wrote their own two-month interim bill, passed it Friday night and skipped town.

If there is no objection, the House and Senate are aligned and will have passed the same bill. That means they are on the same page.

Approval of the House bill by the Senate would end the ongoing DHS shutdown.(WVUE)

Approval of the House bill by the Senate would end the DHS shutdown.

But if there’s an objection, everything remains frozen.

This is both the parliamentary magic – and dark underbelly of “unanimous consent” in the Senate. You could have 99 senators in favor of something. But all it takes is a solitary objection to foil a bill under “unanimous consent” or “UC” as it’s often called in the Senate.

In fact, it’s possible Democrats could then offer their own DHS funding bill and ask the Senate to approve that by unanimous consent. It’s likely that whatever Republican senator is on duty tomorrow would object, thus blocking the Democratic request.

If the Senate blocks the House bill, it’s doubtful there’s any way to end the DHS shutdown until after both bodies return in mid-April after the Easter/Passover recess.

DHS SHUTDOWN BREAKTHROUGH COMES AT COST FOR REPUBLICANS AS FUNDING FIGHTS NEARS END

Republicans genuinely want to fund the DHS – but a Democratic objection presents them with an opportunity for political finger-pointing.(Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Republicans truly want to fund DHS. But a Democratic objection presents the GOP with a political opportunity. They can then point to that objection as the reason DHS remains shuttered, arguing that Democrats blocked the House-approved bill.

Republicans believe this helps them in the midterms. They ran on border security and won in 2024. Republicans want to point to a Democratic objection as evidence that they don’t want to fund ICE.

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But by the same token, Democrats could argue that Republicans are partly responsible for the shutdown and the long TSA lines if they object to the Democratic unanimous consent request.

And so it goes.

Chad Pergram currently serves as Chief Congressional Correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC). He joined the network in September 2007 and is based out of Washington, D.C.

‘Shadow administrator’ at FEMA under investigation by DHS internal watchdog

2026-03-29T23:43:58.847Z / CNN

By Gabe Cohen

16 min ago

PUBLISHED Mar 29, 2026, 7:43 PM ET

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) National Response Coordination Center in Washington, DC, is seen on January 24, 2026.

Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg/Getty Images/File

An outside contractor installed in the Department of Homeland Security by then-Secretary Kristi Noem and her adviser Corey Lewandowski, gained outsized influence over the Federal Emergency Management Agency over the past year, with a major hand in steering the disaster agency’s spending and day-to-day operations, according to sources who worked with her.

Now that contractor, Kara Voorhies, who was hired as a consultant and adviser, is under scrutiny as part of a sprawling investigation by DHS’ Office of Inspector General into how contracts were handled under Noem, three sources with knowledge told CNN.

Federal regulations generally prohibit contractors from making decisions that bind the government on core agency work like policy changes, awarding contracts, approving budgets and overseeing operations, FEMA insiders told CNN. Contractors also are not supposed to make personnel decisions – such as hiring and firing or supervising federal employees, the insiders said.

But six current and former senior officials who worked with Voorhies at FEMA said she often weighed in on — and in some instances decided — those kinds of issues for the agency.

“In many cases, she was calling the shots,” one senior official said. “She became the shadow administrator.”

Voorhies played a key role in the department’s efforts to scrutinize spending at FEMA, which has a multibillion-dollar budget, as DHS delayed funds, slashed emergency preparedness grants and restricted agency operations, according to the senior officials.

Internal emails reviewed by CNN show senior FEMA officials sought Voorhies’ approval before disbursing disaster aid, briefing Congress or sending documents to the White House.

Officials said they often couldn’t tell whether the decisions were Voorhies’ own or whether she was only passing along what Noem and Lewandowski wanted.

Voorhies did not respond to messages sent by CNN to multiple phone numbers and email addresses listed for her.

DHS, which oversees FEMA, did not respond to questions about Voorhies’ role and her work inside the department. A White House spokesperson referred CNN to DHS.

President Donald Trump fired Noem earlier this month, thanking her for her service and naming her as a special envoy for a new security initiative.

Kristi Noem delivers remarks during a working lunch at the “Shield of the Americas” Summit at Trump National Doral in Miami, Florida, on March 7, 2026.

Rebecca Blackwell/POOL/AFP/Getty Images

After Noem’s removal, the administration terminated Voorhies, three sources said. Trump administration lawyers said in a court filing last week in an unrelated case that “Ms. Voorhies is no longer employed by or serving as a contractor with DHS or FEMA.”

Soon after her ouster, investigators from the inspector general’s office at DHS seized Voorhies’ government-issued equipment and documents as part of its broader probe into DHS contracting practices under Noem and her de facto chief of staff Lewandowski, the three sources said. The Wall Street Journal first reported investigators’ interest in Voorhies.

Corey Lewandowski, a special adviser at the Department of Homeland Security, listens during the inaugural Americas Counter Cartel Conference at the US Southern Command Headquarters in Doral, Florida, on March 5, 2026.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images/File

In the court filing last week – part of a case challenging recent FEMA staff cuts – the administration’s lawyers acknowledged the inspector general probe, saying they have been unable to forensically image Voorhies’ work phones because the device is in the custody of the watchdog office.

Attorneys challenging the staff reductions say DHS went too far in cutting the workforce, and they’re seeking records from Voorhies, along with Noem and Lewandowski.

‘Who is Kara Voorhies?’

Noem’s handling of contracts at DHS was a key factor in Trump’s decision to remove her. Lewandowski’s micromanagement of the department — including his involvement in contracts — has also been a recurring source of tension with White House officials, CNN has reported.

Voorhies served as a gatekeeper for Noem and Lewandowski, helping implement their strict spending controls — including a policy requiring Noem’s personal signoff on any expenditure over $100,000 — as the Trump administration sought to dismantle and overhaul FEMA, multiple senior officials said. That rule has been blamed for a massive backlog in funding requests.

Several of the senior officials said they were told that Lewandowski personally selected Voorhies and placed her inside FEMA, where she effectively served as his — and Noem’s — “eyes and ears.” The officials questioned whether she had been fully vetted by the administration.

They also said FEMA’s acting chief, Karen Evans – appointed under Trump – was required to route decisions through Voorhies before they could be approved, an assertion backed up by documents CNN has reviewed.

Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who repeatedly criticized Noem’s oversight of FEMA, raised concerns about Voorhies on the Senate floor in early March.

“I have reason to believe that DHS has delegated responsibilities of the FEMA administrator to an outside contractor,” he said on the Senate floor days before she was terminated. “Who is Kara Voorhies? What is her official role in DHS?”

Tillis has vented frustration over what he saw as Noem’s department slow-walking disaster aid to North Carolina communities battered by Hurricane Helene.

After Noem’s firing, Vice President JD Vance acknowledged FEMA’s missteps to a crowd in North Carolina at a rally.

“We recognize, frankly, that we needed the new leadership to hasten that delivery of resources to the people of North Carolina,” Vance remarked. “It’s useful to have somebody come in and focus on some of this disaster relief and recovery stuff. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

The DHS inspector general’s wide-ranging investigation is examining how contracts were pursued and managed, including the roles of Noem and Lewandowski — and now Voorhies as well. Investigators have ordered dozens of DHS officials to preserve records as part of the probe.

Also under scrutiny is Voorhies’ pay, according to two senior DHS officials, who said they were told it may have been as high as $19,000 a week, or about $1 million a year. CNN has not been able to confirm her compensation.

The State Department, where Noem now works, previously directed CNN’s questions about the investigation to DHS. In response to a text from CNN, Lewandowski dismissed the claim that investigators had confiscated Voorhies’ government equipment, calling it “fake news.”

“I have been told by the [Chief Information Officer] that all of her equipment was turned into him,” Lewandowski wrote. “Please go back and verify your fake sources.”

Lewandowski did not respond to a follow-up message challenging his claim – or a request for comment on the rest of the story.

A spokesperson for the DHS inspector general declined to comment when asked about the investigation.

In a letter to Congress shortly before Noem was ousted earlier this month, the inspector general, Joseph Cuffari, said DHS, under Noem and Lewandowski, had “systematically obstructed” the watchdog’s work in recent months, including by denying access to internal records and information. He cited 11 instances of alleged obstruction, including one tied to “a criminal investigation with national security implications.”

‘We could not do anything without Kara approving it’

Despite Voorhies’ unusual influence given her contractor status, agency insiders say she was not well-known to those below FEMA’s most senior ranks.

She was listed as an “expert/consultant” in the agency’s internal system where she was issued a standard federal email address that didn’t reflect her status as a contractor, which typically limits access and promotes transparency.

“While I was there, we could never get a straight answer about her status,” a former senior official said.

Before FEMA could get a spending request in front of Noem, it had to go through Voorhies first, according to three sources with firsthand knowledge.

“We could not do anything without Kara approving it,” a senior official told CNN. “We could not engage with Congress and governors or talk to the White House unless she was aware. And it slowly became more and more and more over time.”

Internal emails and messages obtained by CNN show Voorhies questioned the release of some disaster assistance. In one case, she told FEMA to fast-track funds to a district after its Republican congressman secured a meeting with Lewandowski. In other exchanges, senior staff asked for her sign-off alongside Evans, FEMA’s acting chief.

“She told Karen what to do,” one senior official told CNN.

Evans did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.

Voorhies was a key player in efforts to slash major emergency preparedness grant programs and strip homeland security funds from some big cities, the official said. And when the department abruptly released more than $5 billion in backlogged disaster funds, she helped coordinate the distribution, according to the official.

CNN previously reported that Noem’s spending restrictions slowed FEMA’s response to the deadly Texas floods last July, when the agency was unable to secure timely approval to preposition search-and-rescue teams, bolster call-center staffing and provide aerial data to state partners.

Two former senior FEMA officials involved in that response said Voorhies was part of the disruption.

“She slowed everything down and said ‘no’ to everything,” one said. The other said she halted some rapid-response actions, warning that Noem might not want to approve the moves.

巴基斯坦：准备未来几天主办美伊会谈

2026年3月30日 06:57 / 联合早报

土耳其外交部发布的照片显示，埃及外长阿卜杜勒阿提、沙特外长费萨尔、巴基斯坦外长达尔和土耳其外长费丹3月29日在伊斯兰堡举行会晤，讨论在美以与伊朗发生冲突之际，如何缓和地区局势。 （路透社）

巴基斯坦星期天说，准备在未来几天内主办“有意义的会谈”，以结束围绕伊朗的冲突。巴基斯坦外长达尔在与地区外长会晤后宣布，会谈讨论了如何尽早永久结束该地区的战争，以及在伊斯兰堡举行美伊会谈的可能性。

达尔星期天（3月29日）发表电视讲话说：“巴基斯坦很荣幸能在未来几天内主持并促成双方有意义的会谈，以全面持久地解决当前冲突。”

目前尚不清楚美国和伊朗是否同意出席。美国国务院和白宫尚未就可能在巴基斯坦举行的会谈作出回应。

达尔星期天在伊斯兰堡与沙特阿拉伯、埃及和土耳其外长举行会晤。

埃及说，星期天的会谈在严密安保下举行，美国、以色列和伊朗均未派代表参加。会谈内容包括努力阻止冲突蔓延，并鼓励德黑兰和华盛顿之间建立“谈判渠道”，以防止该地区“陷入彻底混乱”。

达尔会后在电视讲话中说，来访的外长们对在伊斯兰堡举行美伊会谈表示全力支持。“外长们强调，对话和外交是防止冲突、促进地区和平与和谐的唯一可行途径。”

达尔已与中国外长王毅和联合国秘书长古特雷斯通电话。他说，他们“完全支持”巴基斯坦为实现和平所做的努力，世界其他国家政府也持相同立场。

华盛顿智库大西洋理事会的纳瓦兹（Shuja Nawaz）认为，巴基斯坦在促成华盛顿和德黑兰坐到谈判桌前承担了一项“艰巨任务”，且只有在沙特的支持下才能做到这一点。

他告诉法新社：“巴基斯坦面临的真正挑战在于，如何让一位经常朝令夕改的白宫总统，与一个正在权衡是打一场旷日持久的战争，还是寻求结束经济进一步崩溃的伊朗政府达成一致。”

他补充说：“以色列的自主决策将进一步阻碍特朗普宣布胜利并结束这场正在损害其国内支持率的冲突。巴基斯坦对美国和伊朗的影响力都有限，对以色列则完全没有影响力。”

Zuckerberg meeting ‘a slap in the face,’ says father who lost son to suicide after online scam | CNN Politics

2026-03-29 5:10 PM EDT / CNN

Zuckerberg meeting ‘a slap in the face,’ says father who lost son to suicide after online scam

By Fredricka Whitfield and Christi Wolf, CNN

Published 5:10 PM EDT, Sun March 29, 2026

Zuckerberg meeting ‘a slap in the face,’ says father who lost son to suicide after online scam

Newsroom

Brian Montgomery spoke with CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield in the wake of landmark court rulings that found Meta and YouTube liable for harming kids who used their platforms. He told CNN that after losing his son to suicide following an online scam, it was “a slap in the face” for members of Congress to meet with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg instead of families advocating for safety changes.

4:34 • Source: CNN

内坦亚胡：以色列正在多领域作战 打击伊朗及其代理人

2026年3月30日 07:40 / 联合早报

内坦亚胡说，以色列“已经深入敌方腹地”，除了黎巴嫩，以军也在叙利亚和加沙地带建立了缓冲区。 （法新社档案照片）

以色列总理内坦亚胡说，以色列正在进行一场多领域作战，打击伊朗及其代理人，并在伊朗内部制造“明显裂痕”。

内坦亚胡星期天（3月29日）在一段视频声明中说，他已下令以军进一步扩大黎巴嫩境内的缓冲区，誓言以色列将继续在黎巴嫩开展军事行动。“此举旨在彻底消除（真主党武装分子）入侵的威胁，并阻止反坦克导弹袭击边境。”

内坦亚胡在视察北部司令部时说，黎巴嫩真主党仍保留向以色列发射火箭弹的“残余能力”，但该武装组织已遭到以军重创。

内坦亚胡还说，以色列“已经深入敌方腹地”，除了黎巴嫩，以军也在叙利亚和加沙地带建立了缓冲区。

他说：“伊朗已不再是以前的伊朗，真主党已不再是以前的真主党，哈马斯也已不再是以前的哈马斯。这些不再是威胁我们生存的恐怖组织。他们是战败的敌人，正在为自身的生存而战。”

Transcript: Karim Sadjadpour, Ret. Gen. Frank McKenzie on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” March 29, 2026

2026-03-29T12:03:00-0400 / CBS News

The following is the transcript of the interview with Iran policy analyst Karim Sadjadpour and former CENTCOM commander and CBS News contributor and retired Gen. Frank McKenzie that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on March 29, 2026.

*

MARGARET BRENNAN: For more on the ongoing war in Iran, we’re joined by Iran policy analyst Karim Sadjapour, as well as former CENTCOM commander and CBS News contributor, retired General Frank McKenzie, who joins us this morning from Tampa. Good morning to you both, Kareem, let me start with you today in Islamabad, you have Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, these self proclaimed mediators gathered together to talk about how to de-escalate the war. Iran, so far, hasn’t responded to the 15 points the Trump administration put forward, and Rubio said he’s not even sure who they’d be negotiating with. So what is the reality of who we’re negotiating with, and are we even negotiating

KARIM SADJADPOUR: Well, Margaret, this is a regime, Islamic Republic of Iran, which came to power in 1979 taking American diplomats hostage. And now they think they have the global economy hostage, and they’re fighting a war of survival. They’re also fighting a war of revenge against President Trump. So at the moment, they don’t feel compelled to compromise, it seems, because the trend lines are, oil prices are going up, American public opinion about the war is going down, and many of these leaders that we’re hoping to negotiate with are right now living underground, fighting for their lives.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, to your point on that difference, that asymmetric difference in power General, I want to bring you in here, because one of the things that Iran had been waiting to do was activate its militias, or the militias it supports in Yemen, the Houthis, over the weekend, they jumped into the fight and fired on Israel. Do you think that this is a game changer, given that they could not just disrupt the Strait of Hormuz, but another passageway through the Red Sea?

GEN. FRANK MCKENZIE: Margaret, I don’t think it will be a game changer. Their ability to attack Israel is quite limited. Yes, they will have the ability to further stop slow traffic through the Bab el Mandeb, going up into the Suez Canal. We have the ability to go down there and prevent that. It will require additional resources, but we have those resources, and we can certainly do it if that becomes necessary.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, the President has made clear that he needs to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. His language has been contradictory on some of these points as to who’s going to do it and when. What’s the military reality of making it passable?

GEN. FRANK MCKENZIE: We’re on our way to doing that now, Margaret. This is part of a plan that’s been in existence for many years. What we’re doing right now is we’re reducing Iranian ability to target ships in the strait through their short range missiles, their drones and other activities. We do that by maintaining air superiority over southern Iran on a 24/7 basis, looking for where these missiles are and striking them relentlessly. Once we reduce those to a very low level, then you’ll be able to go in, if necessary, sweep for mines. I’m not certain they put mines in the water yet. I predict eventually they will. It’s their nature, but we have the ability to do this. We’re on, we’re on plan. I’ll be honest with you. Margaret, I’ve simulated this many years in many positions at Central Command, we’re a little further along than we would have expected to be at this point in all the simulations that I’ve seen.

MARGARET BRENNAN: I’m going to guess in your simulations, you looked at what would happen to the Strait of Hormuz, even though the President said no one ever thought of it, you thought of it, didn’t you?

GEN. FRANK MCKENZIE: The U.S. military thinks of a lot of things. We certainly have thought of the Strait of Hormuz out of Kharg Island. Think of all those islands on the southern littoral of Iran.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Kareem, the president, said the Israelis killed the second tier pragmatist types that he had thought he might be able to go and negotiate with. In recent days, the name that has emerged is the Parliament Speaker Ghalibaf. What do we know about him? Is he someone you can make a deal with?

KARIM SADJADPOUR: Ghalibaf is, importantly, a former senior Revolutionary Guard Commander and a close advisor to Mojtaba Khamenei. Under different circumstances he is someone who aspires to be Iran’s modern strongman leader. I’ve actually met him in the World Economic Forum in Davos, just the fact that he shows up in Davos shows you a little bit about his worldview. But under the current circumstances, no one in that Iranian system is capable of changing the longtime ideology of antipathy toward America and toward Israel, even if they wanted to.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Explain that, if you would, because what we hear from the White House and from Israel is that pressure will break them. You’re saying they’re unbreakable?

KARIM SADJADPOUR: At the moment, and this could change in the future, but we haven’t seen any cracks in the regime’s resolve. We haven’t seen any cracks, cracks in the cohesion of its security forces, and given the fact that so many of its top officials, including the Supreme Leader, have been killed, it’s a regime which is not prepared to compromise or change its ideology. They actually believe that antipathy towards America is part of their identity, and if you capitulate on that, it actually doesn’t prolong your shelf life, it actually could hasten your death.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So if there’s not a negotiated settlement, how does this end?

KARIM SADJADPOUR: I don’t see any possibility of a resolution to this conflict. I think the US and Iran are miles apart when it comes to their, their goals here. Now, I think we could see a potential cease fire that opens the Strait of Hormuz, which would shift this back from a hot war back to a cold war. But there’s no possibility, in my view, so long as this regime is in power, of a US, Iran, normalization.

MARGARET BRENNAN: General, do you agree with that assessment? I mean, it does seem that the Trump administration is acknowledging the regime will stay if they are at least offering to negotiate with the regime so it would allow for them to remain in power.

GEN. FRANK MCKENZIE: The primary goal of Iranian statecraft, Margaret, is survival of the regime. Back in the late 1980s they signed a truce with Iraq when things were going very bad for Iran. In Iranian history is known as drinking from the poison chalice. I believe that they will break. I believe that they will come to terms. And it may be an imperfect solution, but I think it would be one that would include opening the Strait of Hormuz, possibly some deal on the missiles, on the missile systems, the nuclear program is certainly a possibility, but I believe eventually they’ll make a deal. But we need to keep the pressure up. We need to continue to press them very hard, because that is, in fact, the only thing they will respond to.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So the President had posted he’s postponed the deadline to open the Strait of Hormuz as a result of the Iranian government asking for it. He says he shifted that to April 6 at 8pm. We also hear from the secretary of state that he is talking to the allies about a post conflict necessity of having other countries help to essentially police the strait. And he said that you will need tankers to have military escorts. So this doesn’t sound like this is a short term project. This sounds like even if combat ends, we’re going to be talking about a military presence in the region for some time. Am I wrong?

GEN. FRANK MCKENZIE: Margaret, you could be right. Let’s see what happens. I think a negotiated- there are two ways the Strait of Hormuz can be opened. It can be opened if the Iranians negotiate with us to open it. And of course, that’s the desired solution. The other solution would be, if they don’t, and they decide to fight, we can open the strait under that condition too. The second condition is obviously a lot more intensive in terms of ships and equipment that would have to bring into the region, and yes, help from our allies would certainly be, would be very useful in that case. We have the ability to open the Strait of Hormuz under any condition that the Iranians choose to exist under.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Does it appear to you that one of the contingencies that the White House is planning for, given that they’re continuing to move troops into the region, and you have these Marines who are moving into the area as well. Are they preparing for a ground troop presence? And what does that look like?

GEN. FRANK MCKENZIE: Margaret, for many years, we’ve considered options along the southern coast of Iran, seizing islands, seizing small bases, typically raids. And a raid is an operation with a planned withdrawal. You’re not going to stay. But some of those islands you could seize and hold, that would have a couple effects. First of all, it would be profoundly humiliating for Iran, and would give us great weight in negotiations. The second, the example of Kharg Island, which everyone talks about. If you seize Kharg Island, you really can shut down the Iranian oil economy completely. And the beauty of seizing it is you’re not destroying it. You’re retaining it for further use by the global economy and possibly for return to Iran under certain conditions. So all of these things, this is not back of the, these are not back of the envelope calculations. These are things we’ve been working on for many years, and I think we’re right to threaten the entire littoral to hold all these options out there. And I think the President’s message is spot on when he talks about all these alternatives.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But can he achieve his goals without ground troops, which is what the Secretary of State says. And how does this end? How do you call this a success?

GEN. FRANK MCKENZIE: Sure, I think a success looks like the Strait of Hormuz is open. We get some kind of deal on the ballistic missile program, some kind of deal on the nuclear program. That’s probably about as much as you could hope for. But I think they’re very discreet things that, for me, at least from an operational military perspective, would be, would look like victory. I believe all of those things are actually within our grasp. We just need to continue. Iran will ultimately respond to the use of force. They know and understand it, perhaps better than we have, we have in the past. This administration is willing to use force. Other administrations have been thoroughly deterred by Iran. President Trump is not deterred by Iran?

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah. Well, the President says he wants a deal, even though I know you think that’s going to be pretty hard to get to and he said Vice President Vance is going to be directly involved here, Karim. What does that signal to you?

KARIM SADJADPOUR: Well, the Iranians actually want to negotiate with Vice President Vance for a couple of reasons. Number one, they think he comes from the anti-war wing of the Republican Party. And number two, they think because of the fact that JD Vance wants to run for president, he’s incentivized to want to wrap this war up pretty quickly. And I agree with something General McKenzie said, which is we know over the last five decades that this regime is only compromised under really clear circumstances, when it faces existential pressure coupled with a clear diplomatic exit. I think it’s feeling existential pressure. I don’t think they’ve yet seen a clear diplomatic exit.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, gentlemen, thank you both for lending us your expertise for this conversation. We’ll have to leave it there. We’ll be back in a moment.

Transcript: Rep. Jim Himes on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” March 29, 2026

2026-03-29T12:08:00-0400 / CBS News

The following is the transcript of the interview with Rep. Jim Himes, Democrat of Connecticut, that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on March 29, 2026.

*

MARGARET BRENNAN: We go now to the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Congressman Jim Himes, who joins us from Greenwich, Connecticut. Good morning to you.

REP. JIM HIMES: Good morning, Margaret.

So you just heard the border czar, the White House representative here, make his argument. Politically speaking, though. I mean, the shutdown was intended by Democrats to try to constrain ICE and how it had been acting. But practically speaking, ICE is already funded. In fact, it’s one of the few DHS entities where people are getting paid because they had so much funding from the President’s last bill, and now their portfolio is expanding because they’re in American airports across the country. So what did Democrats get out of this standoff?

REP. HIMES: Yeah, well, Margaret, the standoff is not done yet, right? The President is illegally paying, apparently, TSA agents. You had the Senate, as you pointed out, with Mr. Honan- Homan, pass a bipartisan bill unanimously in the United States Senate to say, look, let’s fund everybody else, and let’s deal with this thorny issue about ICE. And then you had the Republican House say, hell no, we’re not doing that. And by the way, mock their own Republican leaders in the Senate. So look what- this thing is still very much live for one very simple reason. We can talk about House, Senate, changing law, for one very simple reason, which is that the vast majority of Americans look at the way ICE behaved with the murder of two American citizens, with the constant knocking down of doors of American citizens without warrants, people dressed like they are, you know, airlifting into Fallujah to do the legitimate work of going after illegal aliens in this country, and they say that is not okay, and that’s our position. Our position is very simply, we want ICE to act like the police force that they are, and that fight is not won yet. And look, I’m sorry it got tied up. I’m sorry that the Republicans on one side of the Capitol said this was a good idea, and on the other side of the Capitol. They called it a joke, but we’re ready to negotiate around something that is not a radical demand. We just want ICE to act like proper police officers.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So in the meantime, the president’s redirecting existing funding to pay TSA agents. You said he was illegally paying them. You believe that he is violating the law in this interpretation that the White House says they have?

REP. HIMES: Well, it’s not that I believe it, it’s that I know it, right? I mean, if there’s one power that Congress has, it is the power of the purse. Now this president has, of course, consistently and universally said that he in fact has that power–

MARGARET BRENNAN: –So they shouldn’t be paid?

REP. HIMES: –but any American that went through fourth grade civics- no, they should be paid. This- they should have never been held hostage. And we had a deal come out unanimously from the Senate, that if it had passed right now, they would be getting paid, and we wouldn’t be talking about the constitutional power of the purse. But Mike Johnson, leader of the House of Representatives, said hell no to what his Republicans in the Senate said yes to.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So there were three Democrats, though, who got on board with Speaker Johnson the House version of this bill, even without any new accountability measures in it, Congresswoman Glusenkamp Perez says she did so because she thinks it’s wrong not to pay people for their work, and Democrats had set unattainable goals. She says since the White House was agreeing to things like body cameras- doesn’t she have a point here that there is, as she put it, ‘ideological purity’ that’s getting in the way of working people?

REP. HIMES: So this is not a question of ideological purity. And I agree with Marie on one point, which is the people shouldn’t be held hostage. And we can come back to that. But this is not extreme demands by any stretch of the imagination. Again, we’re asking that guys not dress like Navy SEALs when they go into Minneapolis. We’re asking that they wear badges the way every other police officer does, that they have warrants when they break down doors.

MARGARET BRENNAN: And some of those things have been agreed to–

REP. HIMES: This is not ideological purity. This is basic adherence to the law- yeah, well, okay, so it’s all agreed to, let’s pass the law which codifies it. Because you know what, we don’t trust the president when he says, okay, no masks any more than we trust him when he says, oh, well, now I’m negotiating with the Iranians when he’s not, right? So if this is so easy, fine, let’s codify it into law. But they’re not, you know- they’re not willing to do that. Now, where Maria’s right, and this is important, we have gotten too used to using shutdowns as a mechanism of getting what we want legislatively. And what that implies is that people like TSA agents or folks that work in the federal government for the Department of Agriculture or- don’t get paid when one party throws a tantrum, right? Now, in this case, I happen to believe that the American people- you know are with the Democratic Party and saying you don’t get to act like ICE acted in Minneapolis, but we do need to get away from legislating through shutdown that is not consonant with the great country that we are.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, and they just want their airports and basic government to work. But on the point you raised, you said that the President’s not really negotiating with Iran is that because you haven’t been briefed as a member of Congress on the diplomacy. Or you think he’s flat out lying?

REP. HIMES: I think he’s flat out lying last Sunday, when he was told- and by the way, we’re in exactly the same position today, you know, oil prices now $112 a barrel. And you know futures in the stock market down 2%. Last Sunday, he realized, oh my God, I’ve got a financial cataclysm on Monday. So he just made it up that they’re in negotiations with the Iranians. Look underneath that statement, the Iranians have now realized that they have the reins. They are controlling the Strait of Hormuz. Gasoline prices are up more than $1 a gallon, and so the Iranians realize, holy smokes, we’ve got a lot of leverage here.

MARGARET BRENNAN: In Islamabad today, there are a number of mediators who are in contact with the United States saying they’re talking about Iran. But neither the United States nor Iran are at that table at this moment in time. But further on, the Iran point, I know you care about what’s happening in Ukraine. Notably, President Zelensky of Ukraine has been in the Gulf in these past few days, and he said yesterday that Russia is providing satellite imagery to Iran, and that imagery consists of U.S. military bases. He also said Russia is giving signals intelligence and electronic intelligence to Iran. Do you know of evidence that Russia is actively helping Iran in its war against the United States?

REP. HIMES: Well, I have to be a little careful about this Margaret, because I do review the intelligence, and I obviously can’t speak about things that are classified, but boy, I would sure not argue with President Zelensky on that point. And I would ask the American people to think about what do you think Putin is doing right now? Over four years, we have been, rightly, in my estimation, helping the Ukrainians exact a terrible toll on the Russians. So what do you think is happening? Meanwhile, as you know, we are letting the Iranians, so now the Iranians are getting billions of dollars sell their oil to the Chinese so that they can buy drones from the Russians. We’re letting the Russians sell oil so that they can get dollars to attack the Ukrainians and use those dollars to attack- to help attack our troops. I mean, you just couldn’t make this stuff up in a Hollywood script.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, Secretary Rubio was asked about the degree of aid Russia is giving to Iran, and he minimized it. He says it’s not making a difference on the battlefield. I know the French, I know the British have said that Russia and Iran are helping each other on drones here. When you heard Secretary Rubio’s statement, what did you think he meant?

REP. HIMES: I think it is very much in Marco Rubio’s interest as one of the chief cheerleaders of this war that the American people are now coming to realize is a catastrophe, another quagmire for Marco Rubio to say things like, oh, they’re not making a difference. Well, I don’t agree with Marco Rubio on that point. You know, the Russians have capabilities, things like using basic satellite technology, which you can do commercially, by the way, to find our aircraft carriers. Our military bases in the region, Margaret, right now are supposedly uninhabitable. Why do you think that is?

MARGARET BRENNAN: Before I let you go, Democrats have been making corruption a theme in their campaign against the President and to win back control of the house. Your fellow Democrat, Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida has been found guilty on 25 ethics charges related to stealing millions of dollars in COVID relief money. Should she resign? Should she be expelled?

REP. HIMES: You know, if she doesn’t resign, there will be a vote in the House, and you know, people will find reasons to support the congresswoman, just as Republicans found reasons to support George Santos–

MARGARET BRENNAN: Should she resign?

REP. HIMES: –at a time when we’re at war, when gas prices are too high, that shouldn’t happen. So I would hope that my colleague might avoid that outcome by choosing to resign. But it is also very important that both parties be consistent in punishing ethical lapses inside their own teams.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay, you hope she resigns. Thank you, congressman for all your insights today. We have to leave it there. We’ll be right back.