President Trump said Monday that Hamas played a role in helping locate the remains of the last Israeli hostage, saying the group must now fulfill its pledge to lay down its weapons as the process moves into its next phase.
Speaking in a joint interview with Axios and Israel’s Channel 12, Trump said the recovery of Ran Gvili’s body завершed the return of all Israeli hostages — both alive and deceased — under the first stage of his peace framework. He noted that many Israeli officials had initially doubted that every hostage could be accounted for, assuming some remains would never be found.
Trump said the operation to locate and identify the body was harrowing and complex. He told Axios and Channel 12 that teams faced a grim reality on the ground, explaining that the work was “very tough” because they “had to go through hundreds of bodies.” He added, “It was a hard scene.”
Despite years of enmity, Trump said Hamas cooperated during the search. “They worked very hard to get the body back. They were working with Israel on it,” he said, adding that details shared by Hamas helped make the recovery possible.
With the first phase now completed, Trump said there are no longer barriers standing in the way of the next steps. He recalled that the effort to bring back every hostage had been widely doubted, but said those doubts have now been put to rest. “Nobody believed we would bring back all the hostages. It was a great moment,” he said, stressing that only the families and the people of Israel can fully grasp what it means to bring home every last trace of those taken.
Trump said the focus must now turn to enforcing the next part of the agreement, which calls for Hamas to disarm. “Now we have to disarm Hamas as they promised,” he said.
He said he received updates Monday morning from advisers Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and later spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, whom he said “was thrilled.” Trump also pointed back to comments he made last week suggesting that the sides were close to finding the final hostage.
Recalling a recent meeting with the family, Trump asked that his reaction be conveyed to Gvili’s parents. “Please tell the parents I am very happy,” he told Axios and Channel 12.
Trump later spoke with Channel 13 reporter Neria Kraus after Gvili’s remains were returned to Israel. “We are very happy about Gvili’s return,” Trump said, describing it as “a great honor to be part of this process and to be involved in it.”
He said he had spent time with Gvili’s parents and with other families who lost loved ones, calling the recovery something few believed could be achieved. “I got to know Ran Gvili’s parents and his family, and other families as well,” he said. “It’s an amazing achievement. Nobody thought it was possible.”
Asked about the arrival of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the region, Trump told Channel 13 that “the process in the Middle East is significant and very important.”
{Matzav.com}The chief executive of one of the world’s leading artificial intelligence companies has issued a stark warning about the dangers posed by the very technology his firm is developing. Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, published a 38-page essay cautioning that the next major threat from artificial intelligence may come from AI companies themselves as the technology rapidly accelerates.
“It is somewhat awkward to say this as the CEO of an AI company, but I think the next tier of risk is actually AI companies themselves,” wrote Dario Amodei, who leads Anthropic, on Monday.
Amodei warned that if current trends continue, artificial intelligence could soon outperform humans at “essentially everything,” a shift he said could have sweeping and destabilizing consequences. Among the risks he outlined were widespread job displacement, heightened terror threats, increased power for authoritarian governments, and a political environment in which leaders are reluctant to impose limits because of the immense influence and financial stakes tied to AI.
He explained that the purpose of the essay was to shake policymakers, industry leaders, and the public into confronting those dangers before they become unmanageable. “The years in front of us will be impossibly hard, asking more of us than we think we can give,” he wrote.
The essay builds on earlier efforts by Amodei and others to push for stronger guardrails on artificial intelligence. It follows a “Statement on Superintelligence” released in October that called for limits on AI development and has since been signed by more than 100,000 people, including prominent figures from the worlds of technology, entertainment, royalty, politics, and business.
{Matzav.com}
President Trump voiced disbelief that California Gov. Gavin Newsom is contemplating a run for the presidency, saying the governor’s stewardship of the state makes such ambitions hard to fathom. Trump argued that California’s problems under Newsom’s leadership would undermine any national campaign.
“I’m amazed Gavin wants to run for office,” Trump told The California Post in an Oval Office interview following his administration’s legal action against California over sanctuary policies, allegations of fraud, and the move to reclaim federal funds.
Trump, who owns a golf course in the state, said his view of California has soured as conditions there have deteriorated during Newsom’s tenure.
“People love the dream of California, but they hate what’s happening to them,” Trump said.
He added that the state is suffering from a lack of effective leadership, contending that its current governor has failed to deliver.
“Gavin’s incompetent,” he said.
Newsom has been adopting a sharper social media approach as he builds a national profile and currently tops early polling for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, according to RealClearPolitics averages.
Those figures show Newsom with 24% support among Democrats, ahead of former Vice President Kamala Harris at 21%, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg at 11%, and New York City Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at 8%.
Trump predicted that Newsom’s tenure in California would be a central issue on the campaign trail, pointing in particular to the state’s troubled high-speed rail initiative intended to link Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The rail effort, now estimated to cost $135 billion, is the most expensive train project in U.S. history.
Earlier this month, Newsom touted progress on the project during his State of the State address.
“Speaking of tracks, we’re finally laying them,” Newsom said, citing more than 60 miles of guideway completed in the Central Valley, land acquisitions, and environmental approvals for much of the route.
Trump dismissed those claims and reiterated his criticism of the project.
“He has the train, the train to nowhere, that was supposed to be a simple train that went from San Francisco to Los Angeles,” he said. “It’s the greatest cost run over that I’ve ever seen.”
“I could have built that thing, and I could have built that thing in one year,” Trump said.
Originally slated for completion in 2020, the rail line is now projected to reach a limited Central Valley segment between Bakersfield and Merced sometime around 2030, well short of California’s largest cities.
The project has also faced persistent financing troubles, with federal funding repeatedly withdrawn and reinstated, leaving state taxpayers responsible for keeping construction moving.
Trump suggested that the rail project is emblematic of broader issues in the state.
He also said his personal relationship with Newsom has deteriorated sharply since his first term.
“I used to get along with him, but now it’s sort of a hopeless situation. They’ve gone radical left. They’re crazy,” he said.
Newsom, as he weighs a 2028 presidential bid, attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, at the same time as Trump.
During the gathering, Newsom publicly criticized Trump’s actions in office and accused global leaders of yielding to the U.S. president.
Trump confirmed to The NY Post that he briefly spoke with Newsom in Davos but declined to elaborate.
“I saw him in Davos,” he said. “I spoke to him. I spoke to him fine.”
{Matzav.com}
President Donald Trump said Monday that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz reached out to him directly and expressed support for sending border czar Tom Homan to the state amid intensifying confrontations between protesters and federal immigration agents, the NY Post reports.
“Governor Tim Walz called me with the request to work together with respect to Minnesota. It was a very good call, and we, actually, seemed to be on a similar wavelength,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
“He was happy that Tom Homan was going to Minnesota, and so am I!,” the president added.
The exchange marked a shift in tone following weeks of sharp public criticism between the two leaders after Trump ordered expanded ICE operations in Minnesota last month.
Trump struck an optimistic note about future coordination, indicating the conversation would not be a one-off.
“Both Governor Walz and I want to make it better!,” he declared.
Walz later characterized the discussion as constructive, saying Trump agreed to “look into reducing the number of federal agents” operating in the state. The governor also said he pressed the president to allow a state-level investigation into recent incidents.
Walz said he reminded Trump that the Minnesota Department of Corrections routinely notifies ICE “when a person committed to its custody isn’t a U.S. citizen.”
The conciliatory tone contrasted sharply with Walz’s remarks just a day earlier, when he likened Trump’s immigration actions in Minnesota to those of Nazi Germany.
“We have got children in Minnesota hiding in their houses, afraid to go outside,” Walz said at a press conference. “Many of us grew up reading that story of Anne Frank.”
Minnesota has emerged as a focal point of Trump’s nationwide immigration enforcement push. About 3,000 ICE agents are currently operating in Minneapolis, and a senior ICE official told CBS News that roughly 3,400 arrests have been made in the area.
The heightened enforcement has coincided with rising unrest following the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse. Video from the scene showed officers restraining Pretti on the ground amid shouts that he had a gun. An officer was seen removing Pretti’s 9mm handgun, with the slide appearing to move during the struggle, suggesting the weapon may have discharged before officers opened fire.
The incident occurred just 17 days after the death of Renee Good, also 37, who was killed after accelerating her vehicle toward an ICE officer in Minneapolis.
In the wake of the shootings, protests intensified across the city.
Trump announced Monday that Homan would be dispatched to oversee federal operations in Minnesota.
“[Homan] has not been involved in that area, but knows and likes many of the people there,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Tom is tough but fair, and will report directly to me.”
The move prompted questions about Trump’s confidence in Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who has described Pretti and Good as domestic terrorists. A White House official told The Post that the president maintains full confidence in Noem, adding that Homan “is uniquely positioned to drop everything and focus solely on Minnesota.”
According to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, Homan will oversee ICE activity on the ground to help “continue arresting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens,” while also coordinating with officials handling “the massive, widespread fraud” investigations underway in the state.
Despite the cooperative language following Monday’s call, Trump has continued to criticize Walz publicly. Last month, he referred to the governor as “seriously retarded.”
{Matzav.com}
President Donald Trump escalated his criticism of what he calls “fake and fraudulent polling” on Monday, arguing that the practice should be treated as a criminal matter and accusing major media outlets of intentionally misleading voters and attempting to sway election outcomes.
In an extended post on Truth Social, Trump said large news organizations knowingly circulated inaccurate polling data during the 2024 election cycle in order to dampen voter enthusiasm and manipulate public opinion.
“Fake and Fraudulent Polling should be, virtually, a criminal offense,” Trump wrote, singling out surveys promoted by The New York Times, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and MSNBC, which he said were “knowingly wrong” and reflected “nothing even close to the final results.”
According to Trump, the polls were designed to influence the election narrative despite what he described as a sweeping victory at the ballot box.
“I won in a Landslide, including winning the Popular Vote, all 7 of the 7 Swing States, the Electoral College was a rout, and 2,750 Counties to 525,” he wrote. “You can’t do much better than that.”
Trump said that while he has also taken issue at times with polling from Fox News and The Wall Street Journal, independent pollsters who accurately gauged voter sentiment were largely ignored by mainstream outlets.
“There are great Pollsters that called the Election right, but the Media does not want to use them in any way, shape, or form,” Trump wrote, describing the situation as a “Polling SCAM” and criticizing what he sees as the decline of American journalism.
The comments come as Trump continues to pursue legal action against The New York Times. Last week, he said he plans to add the Times/Siena poll to his defamation lawsuit, accusing the paper of publishing “fake results” skewed heavily in favor of Democrats.
The most recent Times/Siena survey showed Trump with a 40% approval rating and 56% disapproval one year into his current term. The poll also reported that nearly half of respondents believe the country is worse off under Trump, a conclusion he strongly disputed.
“The Times Siena Poll, which is always tremendously negative to me, especially just before the Election of 2024, where I won in a Landslide, will be added to my lawsuit,” Trump wrote in a separate post Thursday.
Trump said his legal team has formally demanded documentation detailing how the poll was conducted and how its results were calculated.
Trump originally filed suit against The New York Times and several of its reporters last year, alleging defamation tied to coverage of his 2024 campaign. Although a federal judge dismissed the initial case, Trump refiled the lawsuit in October, and the matter remains pending.
For years, conservatives have argued that establishment polling consistently undercounts Republican voters, particularly those in working-class and rural communities, while overstating Democratic turnout. A series of high-profile polling failures in recent election cycles has further fueled doubts about the reliability of mainstream surveys.
Trump said he plans to continue confronting media organizations he believes are misusing their influence.
“They have become deranged and sick,” he wrote. “They suffer from TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME. They have to pay a price for FAKE AND FRAUDULENT NEWS — and hopefully, they will.”
{Matzav.com}
