杨丹旭：美国面对霍尔木兹时刻？

2026年4月22日 05:00 / 联合早报

政治新闻网站Politico上周爆料，美国国务院收到的电报显示，伊朗战争正在危及美国的全球安全关系，并损害美国的声望，尤其在穆斯林世界中的声望。图为伊朗首都德黑兰街景，摄于4月21日。 （法新社）

为期两周的停火进入最后倒计时，截至新加坡时间星期二（4月21日）晚间，美伊新一轮谈判前景仍不明朗。即便双方能如期在伊斯兰堡见上面，两边分歧严重，大概率谈不出什么结果。

美国和以色列2月底联手对伊朗展开军事打击，如今的局面相信与美国总统特朗普最初的设想有很大差距。战事“歹戏拖棚”，全球能源“大动脉”霍尔木兹海峡几乎瘫痪，伊朗的韧性超出外界预期，美国则越来越难从中抽身，面对的舆论和外交压力不断上升。

政治新闻网站Politico上周爆料，美国国务院收到的电报显示，伊朗战争正在危及美国的全球安全关系，并损害美国的声望，尤其在穆斯林世界中的声望，这让美国面对信任流失，甚至是反美情绪。

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By
Kathryn Watson
Kathryn Watson Politics Reporter
Kathryn Watson is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital, based in Washington, D.C.
Read Full Bio
Kathryn Watson
Updated on: April 21, 2026 / 7:49 PM EDT / CBS News

Washington— President Trump is extending the ceasefire in the war with Iran until talks between the U.S. and Iran are “concluded,” he announced Tuesday, despite previously saying he wouldn’t extend the deadline.

The president said he is granting the ceasefire extension at Pakistan’s request, and blamed Iran’s “seriously fractured” government for the delay. He said he is giving Iranian officials more time to “come up with a unified proposal.”

“I have therefore directed our Military to continue the Blockade and, in all other respects, remain ready and able, and will therefore extend the Ceasefire until such time as their proposal is submitted, and discussions are concluded, one way or the other,” the president posted on Truth Social Tuesday afternoon.

Iran has not publicly reacted to the president’s extension.

The two-week ceasefire was originally set to expire Tuesday night, but Mr. Trump has said in recent days it would end Wednesday evening. Mr. Trump said previously that he wasn’t inclined to extend that deadline, and that the U.S.’s bombing campaign against Iran would resume upon the ceasefire’s conclusion.

Asked on CNBC Tuesday morning whether he would allow the ceasefire to continue if talks are going well, the president said, “I don’t want to do that. We don’t have that much time.”

“Well, I expect to be bombing, because I think that’s a better attitude to go in with,” he told CNBC. “But we’re ready to go. I mean, the military is raring to go.”

The U.S. and Iran agreed to a ceasefire two weeks ago, pausing hostilities and buying the two sides more time to negotiate.

Senior-level talks stalled after an initial meeting with U.S. and Iranian representatives in Islamabad, dashing hopes for further in-depth negotiations. After the first round of talks, Mr. Trump accused Iran of refusing to reach a deal on its nuclear program that the U.S. president views as acceptable.

Both sides have accused each other of violating the ceasefire, with Iran blocking ships from transiting the Strait of Hormuz while the U.S. blockades Iranian ports.

On Monday, the president said Vice President JD Vance, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, were on their way to Islamabad, although that wasn’t the case. A White House official said a senior U.S. delegation “plans to travel to Islamabad soon.” But by the president’s announcement of a ceasefire extension Tuesday, Vance was still in Washington.

The president has shifted his messaging on the state of negotiations in recent days. On Friday, he said Iran has “agreed to everything,” something that didn’t bear out in Iran’s own messaging. The Iranian Foreign Ministry insisted uranium will not be transferred to the U.S., despite Mr. Trump’s claim that the U.S. would “take” the country’s enriched uranium.

The U.S. is now more than seven weeks into what administration officials initially said would be a four-to-six-week campaign in Iran, beginning when the U.S. and Israel struck Iranian targets in late February.

Expert quits US HIV role, rebukes Trump global health approach

2026-04-21 22:35:45 UTC / Reuters

By Simon Lewis

April 21, 2026 10:35 PM UTC Updated 24 mins ago

节点运行失败

A nurse draws a blood sample from a child for an HIV test at a clinic in Diepsloot, north of Johannesburg, South Africa, March 12, 2025. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights

• US science officer criticizes aid cuts and use of health funding as leverage over developing nations
• State Department says Reid left after admitting he could provide nonpartisan scientific advice
• Reid warns of reduced funding, oversight issues and shift toward military spending over health aid

WASHINGTON, April 21 (Reuters) – The ​chief science officer for the U.S. flagship HIV/AIDS program left his role this week and criticized the Trump administration’s cuts ​to foreign assistance and what he said was its use of aid as leverage for U.S. commercial interests.

Republican President Donald Trump last year dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development, which previously oversaw most foreign aid programs, but officials said life-saving work mainly in developing African nations under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a bipartisan ​initiative created under George W. Bush’s presidency, would continue.

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Mike Reid, a practicing infectious disease physician who served as chief science officer for ​PEPFAR in the State Department’s Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy, said in a post on Substack ⁠on Monday he had stayed in the job for the past 18 months in hopes of preserving at-risk programs.

But he said funding for health ​programs overseas was being used as leverage over developing countries, citing a New York Times report last month that said the State Department was considering ​withholding assistance to help people with HIV in Zambia to push the country to sign a favorable critical-minerals deal with the U.S.

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“When access to treatment or prevention becomes entangled with access to critical minerals or geopolitical positioning, the work is no longer what it claims to be,” he wrote.

The work of global health was “inherently anti-fascist” and ​incompatible with the administration’s “authoritarian” domestic trajectory, he added.

‘AMERICA FIRST’ HEALTH STRATEGY

The State Department, after seeing the post on Monday, told Reid his employment was ​being ended immediately, he told Reuters in a phone interview on Tuesday.

Asked about Reid’s post, the State Department did not respond to his specific criticisms. A department ‌spokesperson said ⁠Reid departed by mutual agreement after he “admitted he could no longer provide nonpartisan scientific advice.”

“As in every administration, the president and his team set policy, and it is the duty of every person affiliated with the department to faithfully execute that policy,” the spokesperson said.

The State Department last week published data showing that the number of people being tested for HIV dropped sharply last year amid interruptions to PEPFAR, which has been credited with saving ​26 million lives and preventing HIV ​infections in 7.8 million babies ⁠born to HIV-infected mothers since its start in 2003.

The State Department spokesperson said Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were “building to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic as they champion the transformational work happening under the America First Global ​Health Strategy,” and noted that Reid praised some parts of the Trump administration’s policy in his Substack ​post.

That referred to Reid’s ⁠acknowledgment that the Trump administration’s strategy seeks to have poorer nations take ownership of the fight against HIV/AIDS and other diseases in their countries through bilateral agreements. Reid also wrote, however, that the U.S. was doing so while reducing overall funding to those countries as U.S. military spending has increased and as ⁠Trump has ​launched a war with Iran.

Reid told Reuters that moving funding to government health bodies instead of ​nongovernmental organizations was the right approach, but that it was coming after many of the U.S. officials who previously monitored for corruption and other misuse of funds had lost their ​jobs.

“I am concerned at the speed and the lack of oversight,” he said.

Reporting by Simon Lewis in Washington; Editing by Don Durfee and Matthew Lewis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

By

Sarah Ferris
,
Ellis Kim

Updated 4 min ago
Updated Apr 21, 2026, 7:26 PM ET
PUBLISHED Apr 21, 2026, 7:02 PM ET

Congressional news House leadership

Rep. Nancy Mace, left, and Rep. Cory Mills.

Getty Images

A deeply personal grudge between a pair of Republicans — Reps. Cory Mills of Florida and Nancy Mace of South Carolina — has escalated on Capitol Hill, as Mills accused his long-time foe of trying to profit off efforts to oust him.

The spat between the two firebrand conservatives is gaining traction in the halls of Congress and online among the MAGA base at a precarious time for President Donald Trump’s party. GOP leadership is already struggling to keep its razor-thin majority on track to advance key priorities — and needs every one of its Republican seats.

While Mills and Mace have traded personal barbs for years, some of their more serious threats in recent days could jeopardize the fragile GOP unity in Congress. The two have floated bringing dueling expulsion measures — the most severe consequence possible for a member of Congress — in direct defiance of GOP leaders’ pleas to keep the peace in their party.

Related article Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick appears for a hearing of the House Ethics Committee on Capitol Hill, on March 26, 2026. Nathan Howard/Reuters/File Florida Democrat resigns from Congress minutes before House ethics panel was set to weigh her expulsion 4 min read

Speaker Mike Johnson, who governs the House with just a two-vote margin, made clear to reporters Monday evening that he did not support members of his party going after each other.

“It is not something I encourage, no. Look, we have a process here,” Johnson said, adding later: “So no, I’m not in favor.”

Mills has since backed down from his threat to force an ouster vote against Mace — but Mace has only appeared to embrace the stand-off, telling CNN: “Bring it on.” If a vote takes place, it could cause ugly divisions in the narrowly divided House GOP, with significant implications for Johnson’s tiny majority.

Asked about Mace’s expulsion push on Tuesday, Mills dismissed it as “political theatrics for fundraising,” lashing out at Mace for singling him out for allegations that he said have never been proven by a court or an independent watchdog.

He went directly after the congresswoman, calling her out for “always creating drama” with the intent of raising money, but then not following through with her threats. Mace is currently threatening to force a vote to expel Mills on the floor, but she has not yet triggered it.

“If you’re going to file a resolution, why not call it a privileged motion where you can actually put it on the floor for a vote? Why just fundraise off of it?” Mills said of Mace.

CNN has reached out to Mace for comment on the fundraising allegation.

A Defiant Mills says he won’t resign

Mills told CNN on Tuesday he would not resign from Congress, despite calls from some in his own party to step down amid questions over sexual misconduct and other allegations.

“There’s absolutely no reason to resign,” he told CNN, adding that Johnson has told him in conversations not to. “He told me not to resign, and he told me that this is why we have this process.”

The speaker would not confirm the exchange directly, but he insisted Mills should be afforded due process.

“Cory Mills is going through the same due process that was afforded to Cherfilus-McCormick and anyone else who has allegations made against them,” the speaker said. “I’ve asked and answered this question a thousand times. He is in the middle of an Ethics Committee process and so everyone is due the opportunity to present their defenses and go through that.”

He also wouldn’t say directly whether he will support Mills’ reelection bid, though he noted he views himself “in charge” of reelecting GOP incumbents.

“He’s an incumbent and I’m in charge of getting all the incumbents — Republican incumbents reelected, and so – of course, that was all done well before any of these allegations were coming out. But he has the right to answer to the allegations, and that’s what they’re doing,” Johnson said.

He said he would no longer comment on Mills, telling reporters, “I’m done commenting on it. I can’t. The speaker of the House does not put a thumb on the scale for the Ethics Committee investigation.”

The Ethics Committee is currently looking into multiple allegations made against Mills, including campaign finance violations and sexual misconduct. The Florida congressman has also been under investigation by DC police for allegedly assaulting an individual. He was also previously ordered by a judge not to have any contact with an ex-girlfriend, who accused the congressman of having threatened to release sexually explicit images and videos of her after their relationship ended.

Mills has repeatedly denied all of the allegations against him, remaining defiant amid renewed scrutiny.

“I can tell you that there’s no open criminal or civil case against me, nothing. I’ve never been arrested and/or charged with anything that’s criminal and or civil. I have no federal indictments or anything for alleged federal fraud. … And I’ve never had any type of sexual misconduct or inappropriate behavior that involves staff or Hill and things like this,” the Florida congressman said Tuesday of the myriad allegations he’s facing.

It’s not clear yet whether Mace’s push will meet the high bar for expulsion, which requires two-thirds of members to support it. But some key Republicans told CNN on Tuesday they’re not ruling it out.

GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert left the door open to voting to expel Mills, one of the remaining lawmakers under review by the House Ethics Committee following a series of resignations in the past week. She told CNN that she would want to weigh the details of a resolution to expel him if it comes to the floor.

Mills repeatedly bristled at being lumped together with the three lawmakers who recently resigned from the House in disgrace — former Reps. Eric Swalwell, Tony Gonzales, and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick — and who faced calls for their expulsion this month before they stepped down.

He argued the investigation is different and stressed that he is fully cooperating with the House Ethics Committee.

“This is political tit for tat. If one goes, they want another one to go. I’m not in the category of Swalwell, a Gonzales, and or a Cherfilus-McCormick,” he said.

He added that he and his lawyers have so far turned over many “documents” to the ethics panel but did not have any insight into how much longer that probe could last.

“Whether you’re the speaker, minority leader, whatever, no one has that level of visibility. All I can say is, everything they’ve asked of us, we’ve compiled,” he said.

This story has been updated with additional details.

CNN’s Manu Raju, Alison Main, Kendall Wright and Arpita Dasika contributed to this report.

Hospice fraud hearing exposes toll of suspected scams: “The American people are demanding answers”

April 21, 2026 / 6:18 PM EDT / CBS News

By Laura Geller
Laura Geller is a multi-award-winning investigative journalist. She joined the CBS News Innovation Lab as a national investigative producer in September 2023.

Lawmakers are demanding answers and looking for recommendations on how to crack down on hospice fraud, a problem costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.

At a hearing on Capitol Hill Tuesday, representatives on both sides of the aisle agreed they need more accountability to protect the Medicare hospice programs, which have been raided by fraudulent operators who often use fake or stolen names to bill for end-of-life care.

“We are holding this hearing because the American people are demanding answers about the theft of their tax dollars and their Medicare benefits. To the fraudsters: your time operating in the dark is way over,” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, a Republican from Missouri, said.

Tuesday’s four-hour hearing came after a CBS News investigation uncovered widespread signs of potential fraud across Los Angeles County and tracked a doctor whose Medicare reimbursement claims were spread over 126 hospice providers.

One witness who testified at the hearing, Dr. Lynn Ianni, described how she became a victim of hospice fraud after her Medicare number was stolen and used to enroll in hospice care she did not need. Ianni discovered her identity had been stolen when she sought treatment for a pickleball injury.

“My message is simply because you here have the capacity and the ability, I would like to entrust you with a responsibility as well, to take action by working together to solve this problem,” Ianni said.

Medicare fraud has become a hot political topic, with Republicans and Democrats each blaming the other party for the problem. But the reality is that fraud occurs in states led by governors from both parties.

“Tough talk is just not a substitute for an effective congressional response and effective enforcement,” said Rep. Lloyd Doggett, a Democrat from Texas.

CBS News examined the business and financial records of every hospice currently operating in LA County, applying the same indicators identified by state auditors as potential red flags for fraud.

The analysis revealed that over 700 of the roughly 1,800 hospices in LA County trigger multiple red flags for fraud as defined by the state.

The CBS News investigation also found one Los Angeles County hospice physician’s name, Dr. Rajiv Bhuva, on Medicare claims for nearly 2,800 patients across 126 California hospices in 2024, according to the last full year of available data. Bhuva told CBS News he doubted the figures and said there was no statutory limit to the number of hospices any one physician can staff. But after a brief exchange, he declined to speak further. Bhuva is no longer allowed to bill Medicare.

Sheila Clark, president and CEO of the California Hospice and Palliative Care Association, focused on what advocates call “ground zero” for hospice fraud in LA County, telling lawmakers about empty offices with mail piled up, whose owners purport to be providing hospice services.

When someone is fraudulently enrolled in hospice care, it can be difficult to get unenrolled. Many victims spend hours trying to get someone to help them remove the care they do not need and were fraudulently signed up for. Hospice care enrollment also often disqualifies them from getting other medical care they do need through Medicare.

Clark recommended Congress create a mechanism for people to get out of a fraudulent hospice enrollment, so they’re not left trapped in the system unable to get other care.

“We need better enforcement on entry. We need better enforcement at licensure, at the state level. We need it at the certification, the accreditation agencies,” Clark said. “We’re not going to convict our way out of this. We have to stop them from entering the system.”

Lawmakers asked about the long-term consequences for providers who are not fraudulent and are trying to provide desperately needed services to people at the end of their lives.

“We are rebuilding California home health and hospice; if we don’t do that, it will collapse,” Clark added.

Caitlin Huey-Burns, Rachel Gold and Adam Yamaguchi contributed to this report.

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/congress-probing-hospice-fraud-california-cbs-news-investigation/

Senate takes first step to fund ICE, Border Patrol in bid to cut Dems out of the funding process

April 21, 2026 5:01pm EDT / Fox News

The move comes after Democrats blocked ICE and Border Patrol funding during weeks of DHS shutdown negotiations

By Alex Miller, Fox News

Tensions grow as GOP lawmakers seek to pass DHS funding through reconciliation

Former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus discusses the DHS shutdown and weighs the potential impact on the 2026 midterm elections on ‘Sunday Night in America.’

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Senate Republicans launched their party-line gamble Tuesday to fund immigration operations for the remainder of President Donald Trump’s time in office.

The GOP took its first step in the budget reconciliation process, which is meant to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol for the next three-and-a-half years. The party-line vote sets up a forthcoming marathon vote on amendments in the upper chamber before the budget blueprint is shipped to the House.

It’s a maneuver meant to cut Democrats out of the process, as they refused to fund immigration operations absent stringent reforms during weeks of negotiations to end the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown.

SENATE REPUBLICANS UNVEIL IMMIGRATION FUNDING PLAN WITH $140 BILLION PRICE TAG AS GOP AIMS TO SPEND LESS

Senate Majority Leader John Thune spoke to the media outside the Senate chamber at the U.S. Capitol after the Senate passed a Department of Homeland Security funding bill by unanimous consent on April 2, 2026, in Washington, D.C.(Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

“Republicans are doing something that must be done quickly, and that our Democrat colleagues are trying to prevent us from doing,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who crafted the resolution. “That something is simple: fully fund Border Patrol and ICE at a time of great threat to the United States.”

Republicans earlier unveiled their budget resolution, which will serve as the guiding framework as the GOP moves forward to fund immigration enforcement. It sets instructions for the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to spend up to $70 billion each.

While the combined sum of $140 billion is eye-popping, Republicans are eyeing between $70 billion and $80 billion as the final total for immigration enforcement and want to give both committees maximum flexibility as they craft the legislative meat of the package.

Senate Democrats argue that the money could go toward tackling affordability issues in the country, citing healthcare, housing, and soaring gas prices stemming from President Donald Trump’s war in Iran as examples.

SENATE GOP READYING PARTY-LINE FUNDING BILL DESPITE DIVISIONS, ANGER AT THE HOUSE

President Donald Trump spoke to the media before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on April 16, 2026, in Washington, D.C.(Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“No reforms, no accountability, no strings attached, let it sink in,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said. “One hundred forty billion for ICE, $0 to lower your costs. That’s these days what the Republican Party seems to stand for. Senate Republicans are choosing to follow Trump and Stephen Miller instead of the needs of the American families.”

Turning to the party-line process to fund immigration operations was not the first choice for Republicans, but one made out of necessity given Democrats’ blockade of funding for ICE and much of CBP.

Still, some are worried about the precedent that could be set for how Congress is supposed to fund the government.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., raised that concern and argued, “I don’t see any way, in a Trump administration, that they’re gonna come to the table and fund those two agencies.”

SENATE REPUBLICANS RACE TO FUND ICE, CBP WITHOUT DEMOCRATS AS SHUTDOWN DRAGS

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks at a news conference following Senate Democrat policy luncheons at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on March 3, 2026.(Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“We tried to avoid this. But at some point, we recognized that they’re just not gonna get to ‘yes,’” Thune said. “And that was pretty clear after spending weeks trying to negotiate with them.”

Still, Republicans have a long way to go before they advance the budget resolution to the House — and even further before the final product lands on Trump’s desk. He’s demanded that the GOP produce the package no later than June 1.

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Not every Republican in the upper chamber is thrilled with the narrow scope of the plan, with some wanting to front-load several issues into one package out of concern they may not get another shot.

For now, however, they’re moving full speed ahead.

“It’s not am I OK with it, is the president’s administration OK with it,” Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., a fiscal hawk who was critical of the GOP’s previous reconciliation attempt. “I mean, do they think they have enough through fiscal year 2029? That’s their call, not mine.”

Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.

GOP Senator responds to Trump’s latest attacks on Jerome Powell

2026-04-21 7:17 PM EDT / CNN

GOP Senator responds to Trump’s latest attacks on Jerome Powell

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Contract reveals fundraising deal for financing Trump’s East Wing overhaul

April 21, 2026 / 6:24 PM EDT / CBS News

Washington— A newly revealed agreement between the White House, the National Park Service and the nonprofit Trust for the National Mall shows the inner workings of how President Trump and his allies are financing a $400 million overhaul of the White House East Wing.

The 14-page document, which was obtained by the left-leaning advocacy group Public Citizen and shared with CBS News, empowers the Trust to “accept donations in an amount sufficient to cover all costs” of the project, as determined by the White House. The agreement was signed by the parties in October 2025.

The agreement says that the Trust stands to receive a 2.5% fee on funds collected for the project, which CBS News reported soon after it was signed. That fee dips to 2% for any money raised in excess of $200 million. President Trump has said the $400 million renovation is fully financed, meaning the Trust stands to yield around $9 million.

Public Citizen sued to obtain the document under the Freedom of Information Act.

“This is the first time we don’t have to take the word of the White House — we can see details of this scheme in black and white,” said Jon Golinger, a democracy advocate for the group.

The agreement ensures that all parties involved will “preserve the anonymity and privacy of any donor who wishes to remain anonymous.” So far, the White House has provided the names of about three dozen individual and corporate donors, but declined to say how much each has given.

Under the October arrangement, the White House is responsible for “identify[ing] potential donors for the Project on behalf of the NPS” and referring them to the Trust, while specifying “whether the potential donor wishes to donate anonymously.”

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“This document reveals that anonymous donations are the heart of this agreement,” Golinger said.

“As required by law and standard philanthropic best practices, the Trust shares the names of donors to the Trust in our annual impact report, on our website, and in our IRS 990 tax filings,” a spokesperson for the Trust said. “Some donors may wish to remain anonymous and we respect donor wishes, while in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.”

The spokesperson emphasized the Trust’s role is limited to managing donations and it has no hand in the design, planning, construction or execution of the project.

Foreign donors are prohibited from giving. For donations in excess of $25,000, the Trust is responsible for making “reasonable efforts to determine” whether the donor has pending litigation involving the Interior Department or is “engaged in or seeking a business or permit relationship” with the NPS.

Nothing in the contract prevents contributions from donors who have business before other components of the federal government. Amazon, for instance, donated to the project and has billions in federal contracts.

Fundraisers began soliciting contributions nearly a month before the Trust signed the agreement with the administration. Potential donors received pledge forms around Sept. 15, 2025, but the contract with the White House wasn’t fully signed until Oct. 8.

The mid-September pledge form made no mention of the 90,000-square-foot East Wing makeover. It said only that donations “shall be used in support of the White House Ballroom.” The October contract, though, specifies that donations are to be used for the “funding needs for the East Wing Modernization and State Ballroom project at the White House.”

Demolition crews began dismantling the East Wing on Oct. 20, despite the president’s earlier promise that the addition would not “interfere with the current building.” A White House official said in January that structural instability, water damage and mold made tearing down the building the most cost-efficient option.

In addition to the new ballroom, the design plans call for office space, a movie theater, kitchen and a two-story colonnade connecting the facilities to the main White House building. An underground bunker will also house sensitive military and medical infrastructure.

The agreement does not mention the underground construction, indicating that those components will likely be refurbished using taxpayer dollars. White House officials have yet to specify how much the below-grade modernization will cost.

A White House official said the East Wing contract has not been changed since it was signed in October.

The Trust has been a longstanding philanthropic partner of the NPS and has previously collaborated with the White House on smaller construction projects like the tennis pavilion and upgrades to the Rose Garden.

Late last week, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ordered a halt to above-ground construction until the East Wing overhaul gets congressional approval. But an appellate court has since allowed construction to continue until at least early June.

Leon has also questioned the funding mechanism, which calls on the Trust to collect hundreds of millions in private donations and turn the money over to the NPS, which then hands it off to the White House. Leon described the arrangement as a “Rube Goldberg contraption” in a recent ruling.

Read the agreement

Page of 14

Trump fought to keep the ballroom fundraising contract secret. Here’s what’s in it.

2026-04-21T22:03:53.685Z / The Washington Post

Exclusive

The agreement governing hundreds of millions in private donations was kept secret until a watchdog group sued and a judge ordered it disclosed.

April 21, 2026 at 6:03 p.m. EDT 57 minutes ago

8 min

334

Construction cranes loom over the area where the East Wing of the White House once stood, in February. (Peter W. Stevenson/The Washington Post)

By Jonathan Edwards

and

Dan Diamond

The Trump administration’s contract governing hundreds of millions of dollars in private donations to build President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom shields donors’ identities, excludes the White House from conflict of interest protections and was disclosed only after a lawsuit and a judge’s order, records obtained by The Washington Post show.

特朗普宣布延长停火到伊朗提交“统一方案”完成谈判

2026年4月22日 06:57 / 联合早报

特朗普星期二（4月21日）下午在社媒贴文宣布延长与伊朗的停火协议。图为特朗普星期二在白宫国宴厅，向美国大学体育协会大学联赛全国冠军发表讲话。 （路透社）

美国总统特朗普在美国与伊朗的停火协议即将到期的数小时之前宣布，应斡旋方巴基斯坦的请求，他同意延长停火期限，直至伊朗方面提交一个“统一方案”，完成谈判；他同时指示美军继续对伊朗实施海上封锁并保持战备状态。

特朗普星期二（4月21日）下午在社媒平台Truth Social贴文说：“鉴于伊朗政府内部严重分裂——这是意料中事——巴基斯坦陆军参谋长穆尼尔和总理谢里夫请求我们暂缓对伊朗发动攻击，直到伊朗领导人和代表能够拿出一个统一方案。因此，我已指示美军继续实行封锁，并在其他所有方面保持战备状态，同时将停火期限延长到他们提交一份方案并结束谈判为止。”

谢里夫对特朗普“欣然接受我们延长停火的请求”表示感谢。谢里夫在线上发布声明说，巴基斯坦将继续真诚地致力于通过谈判化解双方冲突，并希望双方继续遵守停火协议，在伊斯兰堡举行的第二轮谈判中达成一项全面的和平协议，以永久结束冲突。

《纽约时报》报道，在特朗普宣布延长停火前，美国副总统万斯原定前往巴基斯坦进行第二轮和平谈判的行程已被搁置。一名美国官员透露，搁置原因是德黑兰未回应美方立场。

特朗普的这份声明与他同日早前对美国消费者新闻与商业频道（CNBC）的说法截然不同。他告诉CNBC， 如果伊朗不满足美国的条件，他预计会轰炸伊朗，并称美军“已在摩拳擦掌”。而在20日的一次电话采访中，特朗普说，如果美伊无法达成协议，他“极不可能延长”停火。

伊朗议会议长卡利巴夫的顾问穆罕默迪在特朗普宣布延长停火后率先做出回应，他在社媒平台写道：“特朗普延长停火毫无意义。战败方无权制定条件。”

特朗普延长停火导致油价下跌超过3美元（约3.80美元），股指期货21日跌幅收窄。

美伊两周停火协议从美东时间4月7日傍晚6时开始生效，原定在21日傍晚到期。但特朗普20日告诉媒体，停火将于美东时间22日晚上8时（新加坡23日早上8时）结束。