White House defends Trump’s ‘joke’ about canceling 2026 elections: latest

Today, we’re covering President Donald Trump as he meets with Venezuela’s opposition leader María Corina Machado in the early afternoon and the Stanley Cup-winning Florida Panthers later on.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is also expected to brief the press mid-afternoon.

Thursday morning, the president threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota unless state lawmakers intervened in anti-ICE protests.

Trump asserted that protesters, whom he described as “professional agitators and insurrectionists,” were “attacking” ICE officers.

The Insurrection Act allows the president to utilize federal military troops or federalize National Guard troops in order to suppress uncontrollable protests or other civil disturbance situations.

It is not one piece of legislation; rather, it is the combination of a series of laws enacted by Congress between 1792 and 1871 that specifically address utilizing the military within the U.S.

The president claimed “many Presidents have done before,” however, the laws are rarely invoked. The last time it was used was 1992, when George H. W. Bush sent active-duty troops into Los Angeles after citywide unrest following the acquittal of four white officers in the alleged assault of Rodney King.

The U.S. Coast Guard, in collaboration with the Departments of State, Justice and Defense, seized another oil tanker in the Caribbean Thursday morning that they claim had violated U.S. sanctions on Venezuela.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the tanker, named “Veronica,” had “previously passed through Venezuelan waters, and was operating in defiance of President Trump’s established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean.”

According to records, “Veronica” is flown under the Guyana flag.

President Donald Trump has occasionally threatened to invoke a centuries-old law that would authorize him to deploy the United States military to assist law enforcement in carrying out his domestic policies.

His latest threat is directed at Minnesota, where the heavy presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers has heightened tensions and led to unrest.

President Donald Trump’s approval rating among Gen Z has dropped a massive 42 points in the past year, new polling has found.

Trump won over more young voters in the 2024 election than in his two previous runs for president, helping him return to the White House. But nearly a year into Trump’s second presidency, Gen Z, those born between 1997 and 2012, are turning on him.

On Wednesday, CNN Chief Data Analyst Harry Enten announced shocking results from new polling, which showed Trump’s net approval rating among Gen Z at negative 32 percentage points. That is a huge dip from his plus-10 net approval rating with young people in February 2025, shortly after the start of his second term.

Enten said Trump was “falling off that cliff” among Gen Z.

“My goodness gracious. This is, I said, a very swinging group and it has swung very much away from Donald John Trump,” the data guru said.

Republican Rep. Andrew Garbarino of New York told Fox Business Thursday morning that “the last thing we should do” is utilize the Insurrection Act after Trump threatened to do so in Minnesota.

“I think that should be the last thing that we do. We should try to get these governors to realize what they’re doing is wrong,” Garbarino said.

The lawmaker said Congress was investigating whether the governors were instructing police officers “not to help” the ongoing situation.

“If we get that answer and they are doing that, maybe the only thing they can do is the Insurrection Act. But hopefully, that is not the case,” he added.

“Having troops on the ground is not the best thing to do.”

When asked if ICE officers are going “too far” in Minnesota, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told reporters at the White House this morning that ICE officers in Minnesota are defending themselves.

“Our ICE agents are following the law and running their operations according to training. Last night what we saw was three individuals weaponize shovels and brooms and attack an ICE officer that had to defend himself,” Noem said.

We’re hopeful that we don’t see that again, that protesters and violent rioters will be held accountable for the actions they’re taking.”

Noem denied allegations that ICE officers may be violating people’s 4th Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure, saying officers were doing “everything correctly.”

Some have accused ICE of violating the 4th Amendment by asking for people’s “papers” even without reasonable suspicion.

However, Noem said officers were following protocol.