Trump will sit for a pregame interview Donald Trump will take part in a presidential pregame interview even though he says he will not attend the Super Bowl in person. The interview will run on NBC and in snippets on related news shows. That is a small fact with a big PR footprint. The White House playbook and the network edit room will get to shape how the conversation lands with viewers. How this tradition began The habit of a president doing a pregame TV chat goes back to 2004 with George W. Bush. Barack Obama followed that pattern. Trump also sat for interviews during parts of his first term. Then the sequence hit a pause when the Biden White House declined the interview in 2023 and again in 2024. Traditions in Washington seem to last only as long as they are useful to press teams. Why Biden skipped the on-camera spot The official explanation from the White House was to avoid distracting from the game. Media critics and some commentators saw another reason. They said the choice fits a broader strategy of limiting the president's unscripted encounters with reporters. That is a standard tactic when staffers prefer control over…

What happened U.S. forces shot down an Iranian unmanned aircraft after it closed on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln while the carrier sailed in the Arabian Sea. Officials said the drone ignored U.S. efforts to de-escalate and behaved aggressively as it approached. The engagement ended when an F-35C from the carrier intercepted and destroyed the drone. The carrier was operating roughly 500 miles from Iran's southern coast at the time. How the Navy responded CENTCOM described a stepwise response. Sailors and aviators first used measured warnings and other de-escalatory actions. When those attempts failed and the drone continued its approach, commanders authorized a shoot-down to protect the ship and crew. An F-35C launched from the carrier executed the intercept, which is the kind of quick, on-scene decision sailors train for and the public mostly learns about afterward. What officials said The White House and CENTCOM framed the action as necessary and proportionate. Press officials stressed the drone was unmanned and acted aggressively. U.S. spokespeople also flagged a later incident in the Strait of Hormuz where two Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps gunboats threatened a U.S.-flagged tanker and attempted to board it. That sequence underlines how one episode can be followed…