President Donald Trump sidestepped a question about putting U.S. troops on the ground in Iran when asked by a reporter on Monday morning.

“I don’t wanna say that,” the president told PBS News’ Liz Landers when asked about putting boots on the ground in what has become a nearly three-week war.

Landers reported that when she asked if his thinking had changed, he said, “No it’s not changed,” but he did not  want to discuss strategy with a reporter.

Landers also reported that Trump “noted when he answered” the phone that it was not a good time to chat because he was in the middle of a “very important meeting” about Iran, but he took time to answer several questions.

Trump insisted that “we’re doing very well” in the Iran war, although he has recently pressured NATO nations and China to help his efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil shipping lane.

The president also told Landers that the Iran war is a “very small price to pay” after years of terror from the regime and “the oil prices will drop like a rock as soon as it’s over.”

Landers noted that when she asked for a timeline on oil prices dropping, he said, “Well as soon as the war is over… I don’t believe it will be long.”

On Friday, a national security and defense expert called the president’s decision to send a Marine expeditionary unit and additional warships to the Middle East a “key indicator” of a “possible ground operation.”

The Marine expeditionary unit is expected to consist of several warships and about 5,000 Marines.

Image via Reuters 

Two prominent Democrats on Capitol Hill are expected to file a recommendation with Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate outgoing Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem for possible perjury.

The referral, according to investigative reporter Scott MacFarlane, will allege some of her remarks “appear to violate criminal statutes prohibiting perjury and knowingly making false statements to Congress.”

Senate Judiciary Committee Vice Chair Dick Durbin and House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin will provide multiple examples of what they suggest are possible evidence of perjury by the DHS chief during her controversial congressional testimony earlier this month, MacFarlane reported.

“The recommendation for a criminal investigation will cite at least four statements made by Noem, including her responses to questions about a controversial, taxpayer-funded $220 million ad campaign, which prominently featured Noem,” MacFarlane reported. Other topics will focus on her remarks on the “conditions of U.S. immigrant detention facilities, the Trump Administration’s detention of U.S. citizens and the Department of Homeland Security’s alleged defiance of federal court orders.”

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During a March 3 hearing, Republican U.S. Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana asked Noem if President Donald Trump was aware of her plans for the $220 million advertising campaign. Noem responded, “Yes,” but later, President Trump told reporters, “I never knew anything about it.”

Senator Kennedy had told Noem that the ads were “effective in your name recognition.”

Also at issue for Durbin and Raskin are Noem’s statements that the bidding process for the $220 million ad was competitive.

“New public reporting, however, indicates that those statements may have been false,” the recommendation reportedly will say. “It has been reported that not only did the Secretary ‘handpick’ four companies for the ad campaign, but procurement records show the ‘ad work was awarded using ‘other than full and open competition,’ and the four companies were politically connected to Noem and her allies.'”

Attorney General Pam Bondi is not legally obligated to open an investigation and a DHS spokesperson told MacFarlane that “Any claim that Secretary Noem committed perjury is categorically false.”

Some tough questions for Kristi Noem from Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) about taxpayer-funded advertisements by Dept of Homeland Security

====> pic.twitter.com/a9A3C7NoSC

— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) March 3, 2026

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President Donald Trump’s own social media posts harmed the Department of Justice’s efforts to criminally investigate Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, according to a Washington, D.C. reporter.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg “quashed a pair of subpoenas tied to the investigation and ordered the docket in the case to be unsealed,” The Washington Post reported, calling it “a significant setback” for the Trump administration’s inquiry.

“A mountain of evidence suggests that the Government served these subpoenas on the Board to pressure its Chair into voting for lower interest rates or resigning,” Judge Boasberg wrote. “On the other side of the scale, the Government has produced essentially zero evidence to suspect Chair Powell of a crime; indeed, its justifications are so thin and unsubstantiated that the Court can only conclude that they are pretextual.”

Washington correspondent and investigative journalist Scott Macfarlane reported, “Trump’s Truth Social posts appear to have gravely injured his attempt to get a criminal case against Jerome Powell.”

Judge Boasberg’s 27-page memorandum opinion began with a Trump Truth Social post:

“Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell has done it again!!! He is TOO LATE, and actually, TOO ANGRY, TOO STUPID, & TOO POLITICAL, to have the job of Fed Chair. He is costing our Country TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS… Put another way, ‘Too Late’ is a TOTAL LOSER, and our Country is paying the price!’ ” Trump wrote on July 31, 2025, as Boasberg noted.

“That is one of at least 100 statements that the President or his deputies have made attacking the Chair of the Federal Reserve and pressuring him to lower interest rates,” the judge wrote.

The words “Too Late,” as in Trump’s nickname for the Fed chairman, appear in Boasberg’s opinion eighteen times.

The judge cited numerous Trump posts.

“‘Too Late’ Jerome Powell is costing our Country Hundreds of Billions of Dollars. He is truly one of the dumbest, and most destructive, people in Government…. TOO LATE’s an American Disgrace!” Trump wrote on June 19, 2025.

On August 1, 2025, as Boasberg wrote, Trump posted: “Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell, a stubborn MORON, must substantially lower interest rates, NOW. IF HE CONTINUES TO REFUSE, THE BOARD SHOULD ASSUME CONTROL, AND DO WHAT EVERYONE KNOWS HAS TO BE DONE!”

Boasberg also noted that as he “considered whom to appoint as the Fed’s next Chair,” Trump vowed, “Anybody that disagrees with me will never be the Fed Chairman!”

In his opinion, as MacFarlane reported, Boasberg wrote that Trump “spent years essentially asking if no one will rid him of this troublesome Fed Chair. He then suggested a specific line of investigation into him, which had been proposed by a political appointee with no role in law enforcement, who hinted that it could be a way to remove Powell. The President’s appointed prosecutor promptly complied.”

Boasberg also suggested that federal prosecutors had issued subpoenas improperly.

“Did prosecutors issue those subpoenas for a proper purpose? The Court finds that they did not. There is abundant evidence that the subpoenas’ dominant (if not sole) purpose is to harass and pressure Powell either to yield to the President or to resign and make way for a Fed Chair who will.”

Image via Reuters