White House officials are firmly denying that Donald Trump’s apparent absence is health-related and insisting that the president is working overtime amid the hunt for a missing U.S. fighter pilot in Iran after rumors swirled online about the president’s whereabouts.
“There has never been a President who has worked harder for the American people than President Trump,” White House communications director Steven Cheung wrote on X. “On this Easter weekend, he has been working nonstop in the White House and Oval Office. God Bless him.”
The administration’s “rapid response” X account also shut down speculation on the missing president.
“Deranged liberals cook up insane conspiracy theories when @POTUS goes 12 hours without speaking to press,” the account wrote. “Fear not! President Trump literally never stops working.”
Trump has not been addressed the public about the search-and-rescue operation, and he last appeared publicly at the Supreme Court on Wednesday, after which he delivered a national address about the war. He is staying at the White House through Easter weekend, rather than at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, and does not have any public events scheduled.
In a brief Friday phone interview with The Independent, the president declined to say what his course of action might be if Iranian forces get to the downed airman, marking the first U.S. pilot shot down behind over enemy territory since 2003 during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Asked what he’d do if the pilot is captured or harmed by Iranians, Trump replied: “Well, I can’t comment on it because — we hope that’s not going to happen,” and ended the call shortly thereafter.
The press “lid” — a cutoff for White House press pool reporters covering the president’s activities — was called at 11 a.m. Saturday, driving speculation about his whereabouts. The president’s official schedule for Sunday lists only “executive time” at 8 a.m. and a “Family Easter Dinner” with the First Lady Melania Trump at 7 p.m.
A desperate race to find the airman is stretching into a third day as the war enters its 37th.
Iranian authorities are offering a bounty to anyone who hands over the missing pilot alive, a state television anchor announced. White House officials have remained largely silent so far on the search, though the situation remains fluid.
Trump did, however, find time to post on his social media platform Truth Social, where he shared video of a “massive strike” on Tehran.
“Many of Iran’s Military Leaders, who have led them poorly and unwisely, are terminated, along with much else, with this massive strike in Tehran! President DONALD J. TRUMP,” the president wrote Saturday afternoon.
