President Donald Trump is delaying a diplomatic trip to China that was planned for months but began to unravel as he pressured Beijing and other world powers to form a military coalition to protect the vital Strait of Hormuz. Trump said Tuesday while meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin in the Oval Office that he would be going to China in five or six weeks' time instead of at the end of the month. Trump's visit to China is seen as an opportunity to build on a fragile trade truce between the two superpowers, but it became tangled in his effort to find an endgame to his war in Iran.

President Donald Trump and his team are increasing the pressure on journalists to cover the war in the Middle East the way the administration wants. The Republican president has complained on social media about stories he doesn't like and berated a reporter on Air Force One over the weekend. The government's top media regulator warned broadcasters risk losing their licenses to operate if they don't stay away from "fake news." Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have questioned the patriotism of some news outlets because of their reports. Antagonism between presidential administrations and the press isn't unusual, but Trump's team has shown a hostility toward the very idea of being questioned.

Republicans have launched an unprecedented effort to hold the Senate floor and talk for days about a bill that they know won't pass — an attempt to capture public attention on legislation requiring stricter voter registration rules as President Donald Trump pressures Congress to act before November's midterm elections. The talkathon began Tuesday and could last a week or longer as Senate Majority Leader John Thune tries to navigate Trump's insistence on the issue and Democrats' united opposition. The legislation would require Americans to prove they are U.S. citizens before they register to vote and to show identification at the polls, among other new voting requirements.

Attorney General Pam Bondi has been subpoenaed to answer questions from Congress about the Justice Department's sex trafficking investigation of Jeffrey Epstein and the agency's handling of millions of files related to the disgraced financier. Bondi was ordered Tuesday to appear for a deposition on April 14 by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform after a vote earlier this month that was supported by five Republicans. The Justice Department's failure to fend off the subpoena from the Republican-led committee underscores widespread discontent among President Donald Trump's own base over Bondi's management of the review and release of a trove of documents from the criminal investigation into Epstein.

The Iran war has scrambled the Federal Reserve's outlook on inflation and unemployment and will likely further delay interest rate cuts this year, putting off any relief for consumers struggling with high borrowing costs for home and car purchases. The spike in oil and gas prices presents already-divided Fed officials with a worst-case scenario as they conclude a key meeting Wednesday. Costlier gas will raise inflation in the short run, which typically causes the central bank to raise borrowing costs — or at least leave them unchanged. Yet if the spike is high enough or lasts long enough, it could hammer the economy and push up unemployment, which the Fed would typically respond to by cutting its key rate.

President Donald Trump is pushing back against claims by the director of the National Counterterrorism Center about the motivations for the Iran war. In announcing his resignation Tuesday, Joe Kent claimed Iran "posed no imminent threat" to the United States. Trump says Iran is a "tremendous threat." Kent also says it's clear the U.S. started the war "due to pressure from Israel." The Republican president previously has denied Israel forced the U.S. to act. Kent is a former Washington state political candidate with connections to right-wing extremists. As head of the National Counterterrorism Center, Kent was in charge of an agency tasked with analyzing and detecting terrorist threats.