SCALING BACK: Trump announced Sunday that he directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “substantially reduce” joint military exercises with South Korea, citing his “very good relationship” with North Korean authoritarian leader Kim Jong Un.
“These exercises are not only costly, with much of these costs paid for by the United States of America (as usual!), but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile, to a Country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been President, has been unthreatening and respectful,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
The president said it is too late to cancel the exercises, but he told Hegseth to scale them back. Trump also hinted at the U.S.-South Korean relationship as the U.S. continues its war with Iran.
“While somewhat unrelated (?), I recently asked the President of South Korea if they would like to join us in the Denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and they said, ‘No thanks!’” Trump said.
The joint exercises are annual large-scale defensive drills that take place in the spring and summer to strengthen the alliance between the U.S. and South Korea and improve readiness to respond to regional threats, The Hill’s Mallory Wilson notes.
Trump and Kim have had an up-and-down relationship throughout Trump’s first and second terms. Despite ridiculing him frequently, Trump met with Kim on three occasions in 2018 and 2019, marking the first ever meetings between the leaders of the U.S. and North Korea.
Trump previously commented at the 2018 summit with Kim in Singapore that he wanted to suspend the military exercises. He posted a photo of himself with Kim on Saturday on Truth Social.
“Despite the unfriendly look on this particular picture, there are many where we’re smiling, Kim Jong Un and I get along GREAT!” he said.
North Korea fired a ballistic missile Wednesday toward the sea off the Korean peninsula’s east coast in a show of force and protest against the planned joint exercises, which the north has for years denounced.
▪ The Guardian: South Korean president pushes talks to finally end Korean War.
PUSHING BACK: U.S. Central Command (Centcom) head Adm. Brad Cooper challenged concerns that have been raised about the conditions of service members on board the USS Abraham Lincoln as it is returning home from deployment.
Cooper said in a statement Sunday that his visit the day before to the aircraft carrier was “awe-inspiring” and that Americans would “beam with pride” over the service members’ work.
He said of the Navy’s 11 active aircraft carriers, the Lincoln currently has “among the lowest number of cases” related to mental health.
“This doesn’t mean that all is perfect. Find any of the nearly 4 million Navy veterans in America today and they will likely tell you that service at sea for long periods isn’t for everyone,” Cooper said.
His comments come as reports have indicated that the crew have had to deal with increasingly worsening conditions during their 265-day deployment amid the Iran war. That’s included moldy showers and rotten food, and some sailors have even attempted to jump off the Lincoln into the sea.
Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao announced Friday that the carrier was returning home, months after its initially planned return in May, but congressional Democrats have launched inquires into the physical and mental states of the service members.
▪ The New York Times: Carrier’s problems are tied to attacks on U.S. base.
▪ The Hill: Former Joint Chiefs chair says truth on Lincoln ‘somewhere in the middle.’
MAKING THE ROUNDS: The president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today, a day after a rare conference with the leader of the militant group Hamas in Egypt.
The meetings come as the Trump administration tries to hold together its deal for Hamas to disarm as part of the broader plan for the group to gradually transfer power to a committee to oversee “civilian and security functions” in the Gaza Strip. The deal calls for the removal of Israeli forces from Gaza as the disarmament process takes place.
Netanyahu has rejected the proposal, insisting that Hamas disarm before Israel withdraws.
Two Hamas officials and another official briefed on the meeting told The New York Times that Kushner met with Hamas leaders in Egypt, including Khalil al-Hayya, the chair of Hamas’s political bureau.
Kushner and Hamas didn’t immediately share details about the meeting. Kushner is now expected to huddle in Israel with Netanyahu to discuss the Gaza situation, the Times reported.
▪ Haaretz: Eight Muslim countries condemn Israel’s rejection of Gaza plan.
THE HILL EXCLUSIVE: Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is endorsing Brian Poindexter in his congressional race against the controversial Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio).
Buttigieg told The Hill’s Caroline Vakil in an exclusive that Poindexter, a Brook Park City Council member, understands the difficulties that working families are facing because he’s a “card-carrying union ironworker.”
“He’s an example of somebody who walks the walk,” he said.
Poindexter is challenging the two-term incumbent Miller in Ohio’s 7th Congressional District, based south of Cleveland and west of Akron. The district leans conservative as Trump carried it by 11 points in the 2024 election.
But Miller has refused calls to drop out as he faces allegations of domestic abuse from his ex-wife. That has contributed to Democratic hopes of possibly being able to flip the district in November.
▪ The Hill: Democrats hold slim leads in Ohio Senate, governor races, poll finds.
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