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In today’s edition, Kristen Welker digs into what comes next for the Trump administration after the latest Cabinet shake-up. Plus, we report on what appears to be the first U.S. aircraft that has gone down inside Iran during the war.
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— Adam Wollner
Cabinet shake-ups mark a new phase for Trump’s administration
Analysis by Kristen Welker
Former Attorney General Pam Bondi’s firing suggests that President Donald Trump’s administration is entering a new phase.
Bondi’s ouster came just a few weeks after the dismissal of former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the first Cabinet official to leave during the president’s second term.
The relative stability of Trump’s inner circle is a departure from his first term. Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon suggested in a recent interview with Semafor that this was by design, dubbing the president’s posture as a “no scalps policy,” saying Trump is not inclined to quickly dismiss officials facing controversies.
Bondi and Noem’s firings raise more questions about whether that policy may be shifting — and whether other administration officials could be next.
The more immediate question swirling is who will take Bondi’s job as head of the Justice Department.
One potential replacement is Todd Blanche, now the acting attorney general, who has served as the deputy AG and the president’s personal attorney. He’s also been the public face of the Justice Department on some of the thorniest issues, from the Epstein files to federal immigration operations in Minneapolis.
The president is also eyeing Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin for the job. Trump has referred to Zeldin, a former congressman and Army veteran with a background in law and crisis management, as the administration’s “secret weapon.”
Whoever the president picks is expected to aggressively pursue prosecutions against Trump’s political rivals. And they will have to navigate the complicated legal issues hanging over the White House. Not surprisingly, Republicans are hoping to move quickly to confirm Trump’s eventual nominee.
We’ll delve more into what’s next for the Trump administration, and the ongoing war in Iran, on “Meet the Press” this Sunday with Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif.
U.S. fighter jet downed over Iran, one pilot rescued, official says
By Courtney Kube, Mosheh Gains, Garrett Haake, Patrick Smith and Matthew Mulligan
One F-15E crew member was rescued and a search was underway for a second one after a fighter jet went down over Iran today, a U.S. official said.
Iran shot down the two-seater F-15E Strike Eagle, a U.S. official said, and the American military was scrambling to find the second aviator after a regional governor offered a bounty for its crew.
A U.S. aircraft that was mobilized to support the search and rescue mission was struck by Iranian fire after the F-15E jet was downed, a U.S. official told NBC News.
That aircraft, a single-pilot A-10 Thunderbolt, known as a Warthog, made it to Kuwaiti airspace, where the pilot ejected and the aircraft crashed, the official said. The pilot is safe and the A-10 is down in Kuwait, according to the official.
Two U.S. military helicopters that were involved in search and rescue efforts were also struck by Iranian fire, but the service members were unharmed, according to a U.S. official.
In a brief phone interview, President Donald Trump declined to discuss specifics of the rescue operation, but said Iran’s actions wouldn’t negatively affect any negotiations.
“No, not at all,” he said. “No, it’s war.”
Trump did not immediately mention the U.S. fighter jet on his Truth Social account, instead referencing Iran’s oil. “Keep the oil, anyone?” he posted this afternoon.
This is the first time it appears that a U.S. aircraft has gone down inside Iran as part of this conflict, dispelling the notion that the U.S. has complete control over the Iranian airspace. In recent days, the U.S. has ramped up the number of bombing runs over the country.
Trump has declared success and pressured Iran to agree to a deal to end the war, while massing new troops in the Middle East and threatening intense escalation if Tehran doesn’t reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz trade route. Trump claimed in a Truth Social post this morning that “with a little more time,” the U.S. “can easily OPEN THE HORMUZ STRAIT, TAKE THE OIL, & MAKE A FORTUNE.”
Read more →
More on the Iran war:
- Trump is proposing $1.5 trillion for the military in his 2027 budget request, a 42% increase from current levels, Rebecca Shabad writes. The budget blueprint also calls for $73 billion in reductions to domestic programs.
- NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is heading to the White House next week as Trump lashes out over European allies’ refusal to join the war, Colleen Long, Dan De Luce and Abigail Williams report.
- Follow live updates →
🗞️ Today’s other top stories
- 📈 Jobs report: The U.S. added 178,000 jobs in March, blowing past expectations and showing a resilient labor market just as the war with Iran began escalating, sending up oil prices. Read more →
- 🪖At the Pentagon: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ousted the Army chief of staff, Gen. Randy George, who has served in the position since September 2023. Hegseth has also intervened in military promotions for more than a dozen senior officers, possibly because of their race, gender or perceived affiliation with the Biden administration.
- ⚖️ SCOTUS watch: Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito became ill during an event in Philadelphia on the evening of March 20, a spokesperson for the high court said. Alito, 76, underwent an examination and received fluids for dehydration. Read more →
- 🗳️ Vote watch: Georgia lawmakers did not delay the required implementation of a new elections system by July before their legislative session ended, raising urgent questions about how votes in the battleground state will be cast and counted in the November midterm elections. Read more →
- ➡️ ICE crackdown: Salah Sarsour, a Palestinian-born legal permanent resident of the U.S. who is the president of Wisconsin’s largest mosque, was detained by federal immigration agents: Read more →
- ⛪ For subscribers: Evangelicals widely backed Trump. Now pastors are denouncing his ICE operations after they hit their churches. Read more →
That’s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner and Owen Auston-Babcock.
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