President Donald Trump says not only does he not know if his war against Iran will help win him the Nobel Peace Prize, he also doesn’t care, and doesn’t want to talk about it.

“Trump claimed to have ‘no idea’ if Operation Epic Fury will ‘get him over the finish line’ with committee members,'” the Washington Examiner reported on Thursday, after a telephone call with the president.

“I don’t know,” Trump told the Washington Examiner. “I’m not interested in it.”

“No, I don’t talk about the Nobel Prize,” Trump also said, when asked if the topic came up in his recent talks with foreign leaders.

The Examiner’s Christian Datoc, who spoke to the president, reported via video that Trump “appears to be having a massive about-face about winning the Nobel Peace Prize amid his war with Iran.”

“He told me over the phone that he’s not sure if he’s deserving of this award anymore,” Datoc added. “This is a massive change in the president’s rhetoric from really anything he’s said over the past thirteen months.”

EXCLUSIVE – President Donald Trump tell WEX’s @TocRadio that he’s unsure if he deserves Nobel Prize after Iran strikes.

MORE: https://t.co/GjoL4nJSJD pic.twitter.com/bRkAL814pr

— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) March 12, 2026

READ MORE: ‘Trying to Look Cool’: Patel Roasted for Inviting UFC Stars to Train FBI Agents

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FBI Director Kash Patel is facing criticism after inviting Ultimate Fighting Championship, better known as the UFC, stars to Quantico to train his agents.

New FBI agents already receive some of the most intense training in the world — more than 800 hours at Quantico, according to the bureau’s website.

In a statement, Variety reported, Patel called the training seminar a “tremendous opportunity for our FBI agents to learn and train with some of the greatest athletes on earth — helping the world’s premier law enforcement agency be even better prepared to protect the American people.”

UFC CEO Dana White, Patel added, “has changed the game in the mixed martial arts industry and we’re extremely honored to be partnered with him, the professionals and the UFC. We are grateful for their shared love of our nation, so that we can better defend her.”

READ MORE: GOP Senator Demands TSA Funding—Then Blocks Bill Funding TSA

Critics slammed Patel online.

“Hey maybe instead of playing karate with celebrities @Kash_Patel could do his f — — job for once and manage the terrorist threats from Iran?” commented former Obama National Security Council spokesperson Tommy Vietor.

“With a pressing counter intelligence/terrorist need, Kash Patel deems training agents to fight in cages as a priority. We are not a serious country,” remarked former U.S. Ambassador Luis Moreno.

“Expect ridiculous photos and content of Patel training jiu jitsu and shamelessly boondoggling around UFC fighters while trying to look cool and tough,” noted political commentator Paul Rieckhoff, the founder of several veterans’ nonprofits. “While Nancy Guthrie remains missing, a makeshift bomb was thrown near Gracie Mansion, and homeland threats coming out of Iran from drones and other attack methods skyrocket nationwide.”

Rieckhoff called Patel “not a serious leader,” whose “incompetence is making us all less safe.”

“And no way UFC tactics will be used against protesters and dissenters, right?” asked journalist Nancy Levine Stearns.

READ MORE: Trump Slammed for Trip Targeting Republican Who Backed Epstein Files Release

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A Republican senator who has almost daily has been demanding funding for the Transportation Security Administration on Wednesday blocked Democratic legislation that would fund the TSA — and other Homeland Security agencies such as FEMA and the Coast Guard — but not Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

“Daily reminder that Democrats blocked funding for HOMELAND SECURITY including the Coast Guard, Secret Service, and TSA,” U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-AL) wrote on Wednesday morning, as she has done almost daily for the past several weeks.

In her posts, Britt notes that “ICE and CBP are still funded and will continue to deport criminal illegal aliens.”

But on the Senate floor on Wednesday afternoon, Senator Britt said that the Democrats’ bill she blocked would “defund” the two agencies she regularly notes are “still funded.”

READ MORE: Trump Slammed for Trip Targeting Republican Who Backed Epstein Files Release

“We have political games being played by our Democratic colleagues instead of putting the people of this nation first,” Britt declared. She called the bill, by U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), legislation that “would effectively defund our law enforcement officers that are charged with keeping Americans safe.”

“It would also defund our border patrol, our customs protection,” she said — the very agencies she states are still funded.

“Look, we’re not going back to the era of ‘defund police,'” Britt insisted.

Senator Murray, lamenting her bill being stalled, wrote: “Senate Republicans just blocked my bill to fund TSA and FEMA… AGAIN. This isn’t complicated: if Republicans won’t agree to rein in ICE & CBP, they should AT MINIMUM work with us to fund TSA. But they won’t.”

According to The Hill, Murray called the idea that her bill would “defund” CBP or Homeland Security investigations “absurd.”

READ MORE: How Trump’s ‘Delusional Faith in Himself’ Drove His Decision to Wage War: Columnist

“All the bill I just offered does is fund the rest of DHS while talks continue on ICE and Border Patrol, and the simple fact is Republicans have already funded these agencies when they gave them more money, than most militaries by the way, in their Big Ugly Bill,” she said.

Attorney and immigration policy expert Andrea R. Flores wrote, “The defund argument just doesn’t make sense after Congress already gave ICE and Border Patrol $170 billion, which means they are at zero risk of stopping any of their core security functions any time soon.”

Pablo Manríquez, editor of Migrant Insider, mocked the Alabama GOP lawmaker: “Britt blocked TSA funding after complaining all month that TSA needs funding,” he wrote.

.@SenKatieBritt objects to Sen. Murray’s push for unanimous consent to fund DHS without ICE or CBP: “We’re not going back to the era of defund police…We’re going to secure our border. We’re going to enforce our laws. And we are going to stand with the people of this country.” pic.twitter.com/GoLMAnvTOO

— CSPAN (@cspan) March 11, 2026

READ MORE: How Trump Fumbled What Should Be a ‘Rally Around the Flag’ Time in America: Columnist

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