Trump Says He’s Still on Schedule in Iran Because He Took “a Break”

Donald Trump would get around to ending the bloody conflict in Iran, but come on—we all deserve a break once in a while!

That was essentially what the president told reporters on Thursday when asked about the ongoing war. After Trump falsely claimed the United States had been involved with Iran for only “five and a half weeks,” a reporter piped up.

“It’s [been] eight weeks that the U.S. now has been involved with Iran,” the reporter said. “You initially had said it would be four to six weeks and it would be over.”

“Well, I hoped that, but I took a little break,” Trump retorted. “I gave them a break.”

If true, the idea that Trump took a two-week-long break from dealing with the war is pretty insane. What was he doing during that period? Watching TV? Brushing up on his figure drawing? DoorDashing McDonalds to the White House? (He actually did do that last one.)

In terms of Trump’s claim that we’ve been at war for less than six weeks, we should note how easily the man elected to lead our country finds it to lie to the public. The reporter is correct in that the U.S. and Israel began launching military strikes on Iran on February 28. Including that day, it has been 55 days since the conflict began, or one day less than eight weeks.

If you wanted to be kind to Trump, you could argue that the ceasefire he announced on April 7—after threatening to destroy Iranian civilization earlier that day—means he is technically correct and the war is already over. Trump indefinitely extended the ceasefire on Tuesday.

But the Strait of Hormuz is still closed amid contentious peace talks, and the Marines fired at and seized an Iranian cargo ship on Sunday. While there is potential for both sides to come to an agreement soon, the conflict isn’t over yet.

Trump admitted as much when a different reporter asked how long he was willing to wait to get a response from Iran during his peace talks.

“Don’t rush me,” Trump said. “We were in Vietnam for 18 years. We were in Iraq for many, many years.” Oh well. At least now he’s actually calling it a war.

Our nearly 80-year-old president appears to have nodded off during a meeting, for the umpteenth time. 

President Trump’s eyes grew visibly heavy around the halfway point of his televised announcement of a deal with drug company Regeneron on Thursday afternoon, closing fully and reopening multiple times while suited Cabinet members and pharmaceutical executives stood behind him in the Oval Office. 

This is the same man who keeps calling former President Joe Biden “Sleepy Joe.” 

The last time Trump dozed off publicly was last month during a Cabinet meeting while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ranted against the media’s coverage of the U.S.-Israeli joint war on Iran and Lebanon. And just days before that, he seemed to fall asleep at a press conference about his Memphis Task Force. From the power naps to the unhinged, genocidal Truth Social posts, there is a wealth of evidence that would—at the very least—lead us to question Trump’s present mental acuity.  

The Department of Justice is auditing itself over the chaotic rollout of the Jeffrey Epstein files, the Associated Press reported on Thursday.

The Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was pushed through Congress by an eclectic bipartisan group even after Donald Trump dismissed it as a “hoax,” made millions of government files on the convicted sex trafficker publically available.

But the slow, sloppy, and still incomplete rollout of the files led to serious questions about what the hell the Department of Justice was doing under then–Attorney General Pam Bondi. The DOJ continues to face accusations it is covering up evidence of Trump’s involvement with Epstein.

Now the department’s Inspector General’s Office is looking into the matter, particularly “how the department collected, reviewed and redacted materials in preparation for their release.”

The first issue relating to the rollout of the files is that the DOJ blew past the 30-day deadline it was given by Congress in November, claiming it needed more time as it had coincidentally discovered more records.

Bondi was also caught lying about the files. She bragged to Fox News in February 2025 that Epstein’s client list was “on her desk”—only for the DOJ to backtrack months later and say the list never existed.

In January, the department released approximately three million files. Great—except nearly 100 victims’ names and nude pictures were mistakenly left visible, while information that might have actually led to some justice being done was redacted. The DOJ withdrew thousands of the files, vaguely blaming the mistake on “technical or human error.” (When an individual releases dozens of nude photos of someone without consent, they go to jail. When Trump’s DOJ does it, no one is even fired!)

The aftermath of the rollout has also been frustrating. No one has been arrested in the U.S. for involvement in Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring, even with all the documents outlining his crimes as potential evidence. There are also 2.5 million files that have not yet been released, meaning tons of information about Epstein’s circle is still being withheld from the public.

In a perfect world, this audit would determine what went wrong and be the first step to a full release of the files. But the fact that the review is coming from inside the DOJ gives one little hope that anything will change within the department. Trump has also fired or demoted over 20 inspectors general during his second term, greatly limiting who is able to watch over his corrupt government.

President Donald Trump professes to be tough on crime, yet his administration has let go over 4,000 federal law enforcement employees.

Reuters, citing records it obtained from the Department of Justice’s management unit through the Freedom of Information Act, reports that several agencies have significantly cut their workforce. The FBI has lost 7 percent of its employees, 2,600 in all, since the 2024 fiscal year, while the Drug Enforcement Administration has lost about 6 percent. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives has lost 14 percent of its employees.

The DOJ division that handles intelligence and terrorism, the National Security Division, has lost 38 percent of its workers, and told Congress in its last budget request that it had “unprecedented personnel constraints.”

Even the Bureau of Prisons hasn’t been spared: It lost 6 percent of its workforce, or 2,200 employees, with no reduction in the prison population. The bureau now has a staffing crisis, and has been forced to use teachers and nurses as prison guards, while leaving other posts empty.

“The administration talks a big game when it comes to crime and terrorism, but the fact ​that it’s hollowing out agencies tasked with addressing them shows that they don’t stand behind their words,” Stacey Young, a former DOJ lawyer, told Reuters. She now leads Justice Connection, a group that offers support to departing DOJ staff.

In addition to having fewer employees, many of these agencies have been tasked with assisting the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda instead of conducting their agency’s specific duties. Drug prosecutions are at their lowest levels in over 20 years. Meanwhile, the budget for the Department of Homeland Security has gone up by billions, with ICE becoming the highest-funded federal law enforcement agency in U.S. history.

On Thursday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was once again confronted with his elaborate lie regarding his close personal and business relationship with sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein. His answer was pathetic.

“In October, you told the New York Post with colorful narration that the last time you saw Jeffrey Epstein was in 2005 when you took a tour of his house, which happened to be right next door to yours,” Democratic Representative Madeleine Dean said during Lutnick’s hearing before the House Appropriations Committee. “You claimed you and your wife were ‘so grossed out’ by this disgusting person, you swore you would never go back. But when the Epstein files came out, it turned out that was a lie.… You had visited Epstein’s private island in 2012, four years after Epstein pled guilty [to] soliciting a minor for prostitution and was labeled a sex offender. You brought along your wife, your kids, your nannies to the predator’s island.”

Dean also noted that just days after that 2012 island visit, Lutnick and Epstein signed a business deal together as “coinvestors in a digital advertising company,” collaborating on it until 2018.

“Secertary Lutnick, why did you lie to the New York Post about your relationship with Jeffrey Epstein?” Dean asked.

Lutnick began to offer a canned nonanswer, but his microphone was not turned on.

“Please don’t repeat your gracious offer to speak behind closed doors, not under oath, without the ability of this committee to question you,” Dean quipped. “The American people want to know. Why did you lie about your relationship with Epstein?”

Lutnick offered the canned nonanswer again, looking a bit uncomfortable.

“The House Oversight Committee and I have agreed—”

That was quickly shot down by Dean. “Reclaiming my time, I do not accept that answer,” she said. “We’ve heard that one.… Please answer the question. Why did you lie to the Post?”

“I have voluntarily agreed to spend the time and talk about it,” Lutnick replied, as if he was doing Dean some favor by offering to speak off the record about the massive, damning lie he told.

“Let the record reflect you’re dodging the question,” Dean replied. “The cover-up continues.”

Lutnick also refused to answer the other two direct questions Dean asked him about his connection to Epstein—particularly his financial connections, and whether President Trump was “concerned” about the commerce secretary’s chummy relationship with perhaps the most infamous predator of the century. It’s an absolute embarrassment that he is still operating in full capacity as commerce secretary.