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President Donald Trump is expected to announce Monday an agreement for Washington D.C. to host the 2027 NFL draft, a person familiar with the plans told NBC News. The aim is for the event to take place on the National Mall.

Axios was first to report the news. The NFL declined to comment.

The announcement comes just days after Commanders owner Josh Harris and D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser went public with plans to return to the district and build a new stadium after 27 years in Maryland.

The NFL draft is an annual selection of the top college football players by individual teams. To be eligible, players must have been out of high school for at least three years. 

From 1965-2014, the draft took place in New York City but has since rotated to different host cities. More than 600,000 people were on site in Green Bay, Wis. in April for the most recent three-day event.

Trump, who once owned a United States Football League team and aspired (but failed) to own an NFL franchise, followed the 2025 draft from afar. He took to social media to criticize NFL owners for not taking Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders in the first round.

“What is wrong with NFL owners, are they STUPID?” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “Deion Sanders was a great college football player, and was even greater in the NFL. He’s also a very good coach, streetwise and smart! Therefore, Shedeur, his quarterback son, has PHENOMENAL GENES, and is all set for Greatness. He should be ‘picked’ IMMEDIATELY by a team that wants to WIN. Good luck Shedeur, and say hello to your wonderful father!”

Sanders, the son of NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, was expected to be a top pick but fell to the fifth round before being taken by the Cleveland Browns.

President Donald Trump announced plans Sunday to implement a 100% tariff on movies made in other countries that are imported to the United States, decrying other nations for offering financial incentives meant to “draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States.”

“Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated. This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, referring to foreign films as “messaging and propaganda.”

“I am authorizing the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands,” he continued.

Trump told reporters at the White House on Sunday that “other nations have been stealing the movies, the moviemaking capabilities from the United States,” blaming California Gov. Newsom for the decline in film production in Hollywood specifically over the last several years.

A spokesman for Newsom did not respond to a request for comment Sunday night.

“If they’re not willing to make a movie inside the United States, we should have a tariff when movies come in,” Trump said. “I can tell you one thing, moviemakers love it.”

The American film industry has suffered a series of economic blows in recent years, including the Hollywood labor strikes and the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Physical production has declined in California amid budget cuts and more generous tax incentives elsewhere. FilmLA, a nonprofit organization that coordinates film permits and supports on-location production in the Los Angeles region, reported lower-than-average soundstage occupancy in recent years. The report notes that competing jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom and Ontario, Canada, have more than doubled their stage production capacity over the last years, alongside other U.S. states, such as New York and Georgia.

However, while overall production was down in Los Angeles, the report found that the production of feature films specifically was up 18.8% last year, though the category is still well below its five-year average.

“Unfortunately for all involved, fewer film, television and commercial projects in production makes it harder to fill studio vacancies,” the report read.

Trump appointed actors Jon Voight, Mel Gibson and Sylvester Stallone as special ambassadors to Hollywood in January, calling the industry a “great but very troubled place.” Their job, Trump said at the time, was to bring business back to Hollywood, which he said “has lost much business over the last four years to foreign countries.”

Last month, Voight’s manager, Steven Paul, confirmed to NBC News that he and Voight intended to present Trump with a suite of ideas to ramp up American film and television production. It is unclear whether that meeting has occurred.

NBC News did not immediately receive responses to requests for comment from Paul; the Motion Picture Association, a trade group that represents studios; Cinema United, a trade group that represents movie theaters; and several distributors that release foreign-made films, including Netflix.

China announced new tariffs on Hollywood films imported into the country about a month ago, though Reuters reports the move was unlikely to have a significant financial impact on Hollywood given steadily declining box office returns from China.

British authorities are investigating two plots involving mostly Iranian nationals in the United Kingdom that appear at this stage of the investigation likely to be state-sponsored, according to a senior official briefed on the threat. 

Eight people have been arrested in London and in other parts of the U.K. over the weekend, according to statements from local authorities. Seven of them are Iranian nationals, officials said.

Police said three of the men were arrested under Section 27 of the U.K.’s 2023 National Security Act, which law allows police to arrest people suspected of acting in association with a foreign power.

Officials said the two plots were separate, but the senior official briefed on the threat said British law enforcement is now trying to determine whether the same entity was directing both plots.  

The CIA and the U.S. National Intelligence Director’s office did not respond to requests for comment.

Some information about one of the two plots came to light early Sunday local time.

In the first announcement of arrests, Metropolitan Police said they took five men into custody, four of whom are of Iranian descent, in connection with what they called “an alleged terror plot in the U.K.”

The men range, who are 29 to 46, were arrested in various areas around the U.K. — including Swindon, London, Stockport, Rochdale and Manchester — under the Terrorism Act “on suspicion of preparation of a terrorist act,” police said. The age and the nationality of the fifth man is still being determined.

All remain in police custody. A motive was not immediately clear.

Police said a “fast moving” investigation into the first potential attack was underway. Counterterrorism police alleged the first group was targeting a specific site but declined to say where.

Details about the other purported attack plan have not been revealed.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper called the two attacks “major operations” and said they reflect “some of the biggest counter-state threat and counterterrorism operations that we have seen in recent years,” according to video of the statement from Sky News. She also called the ongoing investigation “immensely important.”

Iranian nationals in the past have targeted U.K.-based Iranians. In one case, an independent television named network Iran International — which broadcasts in Farsi and had been critical of the Iranian government — moved from London to the United States after its journalists received state-backed threats from Iran, the BBC reported in 2023.

According to an ITV News investigation of that plot, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps planned to kill two journalists at the network using a people smuggler, whom they paid $200,000 to carry out the attack. The plan was ultimately foiled when the smuggler became a “double agent” for an unnamed Western intelligence agency, according to the investigation.

In March 2024, another Iran International journalist was targeted and stabbed outside his London home, The Associated Press reported at the time. Two Romanian men were later charged in the attack.

The U.K. has responded to 20 Iran-backed plots since the start of 2022, which present “potentially lethal threats to British citizens and UK residents,” U.K. Minister of State Dan Jarvis said in an update last month, citing MI5 officials.

Jarvis said Iran is targeting dissidents, media organizations and journalists reporting on the violent oppression of the Iranian regime.

He added that Iran could also be planning attacks on Jewish or Israeli target, citing a “long-standing pattern of targeting Jewish and Israeli people internationally by the Iranian Intelligence Services.”

“It is clear that these plots are a conscious strategy of the Iranian regime to stifle criticism through intimidation and fear,” Jarvis said.

President Donald Trump played down the fears of his critics — from the potential harms of a recession to worries about rising prices due to his tariffs to the possibility that he would seek a constitutionally forbidden third term — in a wide-ranging, exclusive interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker.

With his approval numbers sliding modestly amid a flurry of executive actions, Trump waved away concerns about rising prices on some goods in the wake of his expansive program of tariffs.

Asked about small businesses concerned about pain from tariffs on Chinese goods, Trump said “many businesses are being helped” and that there was no need for the relief some small businesses are seeking.

“They’re not going to need it. They’re going to make so much money,” he said.

The president suggested that Americans ought to be able to make do with fewer common goods, like dolls or pencils. Asked about rising prices on items like tires or strollers, Trump pivoted to gasoline, saying that was “thousands of times more important.”

In the interview, he also:

• Clarified that he wants to be “a two-term president,” acknowledging the constraints preventing him from seeking a third term in 2028.
• Defended the high cost of a “big, beautiful” military parade in Washington, D.C., to commemorate Flag Day, which also happens to fall on his birthday.

You can read a fact-check of Trump’s interview here. You can also read the full transcript here.

Notable quote

I don’t know. I’m not, I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know.

President Donald Trump

Trump, when asked if he has to “uphold the Constitution,” argued that fulfilling his ambitious campaign promise to rapidly carry out mass deportations may take precedence over giving immigrants the right to due process under the Constitution, as required by courts.

Kentucky Derby winner overcame injuries and the odds

On a muddy track at Churchill Downs, 9-to-1 outsider Sovereignty won the 151st running of the Kentucky Derby, with favorite Journalism ending up in second place.

Jockey Junior Alvarado, who takes home $3.1 million in winnings, had already pulled off an upset of his own, bouncing back from a hairline fracture in his shoulder two months ago that left him sidelined for weeks.

He said: “Every day since I got the injury I kept telling God, ‘Please heal me, please heal me. If it’s meant to be, I know you’re going to put me right back in action before the Derby.’”

Alvarado spoke of Sovereignty’s loyalty, noting how the horse stuck by him when he couldn’t ride.

“I didn’t have any reservations about him,” Sovereignty trainer Bill Mott said in reference to the horse. “Everything had gone smoothly. Ordinarily to win these kinds of races, you can’t have any hiccups in your training schedule or the way the horse is doing.”

But the derby didn’t just bring high-stakes races. It also, of course, brought a host of fabulous outfits and mint juleps galore.

The ‘Asian Pope Francis’ who could be next

Luis Antonio Tagle, a Filipino cardinal known for his emphasis on poor and marginalized people, has emerged as a leading contender as cardinals prepare to meet Wednesday to begin the process of electing Francis’ replacement.

Like Francis, the Jesuit-educated Tagle, 67, adopted a simple life that has led to comparisons to the late pontiff.

If chosen as pope, Tagle could carry with him some lessons from the Philippines. Despite being the biggest Catholic nation in Asia — about 80% of Filipinos are Catholic — and the third-largest in the world, it is also one of the more LGBTQ-friendly countries in the region.

Edwin Valles, former president of Courage Philippines, an LGBTQ organization under the Archdiocese of Manila, says he is certain that Tagle would continue embracing the gay community.

But Noel Asiones, an academic researcher from the University of Santo Tomas, a Catholic university in Manila, told NBC News that Tagle lacks the “prophetic voice” that saw Francis exert moral authority on issues like capitalism or the injustices of war.

In case you missed it

• Lady Gaga says she was unaware of a thwarted bomb threat in Rio de Janeiro until learning about it from media reports.
• The Trump administration on Monday will resume the collection of defaulted student loan payments from millions of people for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
• The administration also plans to significantly shrink the workforce at spy agencies, with about 1,000 to 1,200 jobs to be cut at the CIA, two sources with knowledge of the matter told NBC News.
• Warren Buffett, 94, will step down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway at the end of the year, with designated successor Greg Abel taking the reins.
• A magnitude-5.3 earthquake struck West Texas on Saturday night, part of a swarm of earthquakes to rock the area near the state’s border with New Mexico. No injuries were reported.
• People in Gaza have been pushed into increasingly crowded areas, and a humanitarian zone once deemed safe is no longer designated as such, according to an NBC News analysis of maps, evacuation orders, statements and interviews.
• A community in south Texas voted Saturday to become a new city centered around Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Oscar Piastri won an action-packed Formula 1 race full of wheel-to-wheel battles on Sunday, extending his championship lead over fellow McLaren driver Lando Norris, who finished in second place.

The Miami Grand Prix secured the city’s place on the Formula 1 calendar with a contract extension through 2041, reflecting a huge bet by the sport on the growing U.S. market.

The opening sequence proved crucial for Piastri. He qualified fourth, two positions behind Norris, but got ahead of his teammate as Norris tangled with Red Bull pole-sitter Max Verstappen in the first few corners and lost positions. The British driver fell to 6th place, accusing his Dutch competitor of pushing him off the track.

Verstappen, the reigning four-time world champion, aggressively defended against the charging McLarens of Piastri and then Norris, but was ultimately unable to keep the two behind. Verstappen and Norris battled for second place over multiple laps and traded positions before Norris ultimately won out. Meanwhile, Piastri built up a 9-second gap out front that was important to his win.

Norris closed the gap significantly in the final stretch of the race but he ran out of laps and finished 4.6 seconds behind Piastri.

“It was a good thing that I built that gap in the first stint,” Piastri said after the race, adding that he was struggling later in the race.

Piastri now leads Norris by 16 points in the championship standings, having won four out of the opening six races.

Mercedes driver George Russell completed the podium in third place. Verstappen finished fourth after falling behind Russell during the pit stops.

There was drama between Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, leading to curt radio messages by Hamilton accusing Ferrari of poor teamwork when he got stuck behind his teammate while on faster tires. Leclerc finished 7th, and Hamilton 8th.

F1 will race in Miami through at least 2041

The Miami Grand Prix, which held its first race in 2022, is now the longest-contracted race on the calendar, the promoters said.

F1 President and CEO Stefano Domenicali called Miami “one of the most important and spectacular events on our calendar.”

“Extending this agreement until 2041 is a strategic milestone of enormous importance, which strengthens our presence in America and consolidates the ever-deepening bond with our fan base there, which is constantly growing and passionate like never before,” Domenicali said in a statement.

The Miami paddock and weekend party circuit were abuzz with celebrities and VIPs, including former football players Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski, Olympic medalist Lindsey Vonn, comedian Andrew Schulz, singer Jelly Roll and Lisa, the Thai singer and actress who appeared in the recent season of the White Lotus.

While President Donald Trump didn’t make an appearance as he did last year, his Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard attended and was photographed speaking to Verstappen after the Saturday qualifying session.

The weekend included a shortened “sprint” race on Saturday that turned chaotic amid rain and was won by Norris. One of the stars in Miami was the 18-year-old Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli, who made history as the youngest-ever pole-sitter in the Saturday sprint.

Antonelli finished sixth in the Sunday race, behind Alex Albon of Williams who scored an impressive fifth place.

Cadillac F1 team launches

On the night before before the race, the Cadillac F1 team unveiled its logo at a swanky red-carpet launch party in Miami Beach as it prepares to join the grid next year.

“This decision was made with the fans in mind and continues to push the boundaries of motorsport to the highest level. Cadillac’s entry represents a powerful fusion of American engineering excellence, heritage, and innovation and I look forward to welcoming them,” said Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the president of the FIA, the sport’s governing body.

In attendance was Mario Andretti, the 1978 F1 world champion who is advising the team on driver selection and other matters.

“Seeing the Cadillac Formula 1 team come to life was an adrenaline rush, coming from my passion and love for it. It was a celebration of teamwork, dedication and resilience. A night to acknowledge the effort and perseverance of so many people,” Andretti told NBC News. “My congratulations to Cadillac and to each individual who helped navigate and offer reassurance about the future. I’m so proud to be on this team with them.”

Jerry Bruckheimer previews the F1 movie

The paddock featured a garage experience aimed at promoting the upcoming F1 movie, starring Brad Pitt, which is slated to be released by Warner Bros in the U.S. on June 27. The area included an immersive opportunity, produced by the Los Angeles-based creative agency Sturdy.co, for VIPs and attendees to listen to the F1 movie’s album. It also offered F1 race simulators decked out in style of the fictional “APXGP” team for which Pitt’s character races.

“It’s romantic, it’s exciting, and it’s most authentic racing movie ever made because of the technology we were able to use,” producer Jerry Bruckheimer said in an interview in the paddock. “The story is emotional. It’s a comeback story — the kind of stuff that inspired me to go see movies and make movies.”

Pitt plays a retired F1 driver named Sonny Hayes who unexpectedly returns to racing years after a horrible crash.

Bruckheimer said Pitt trained for three months to learn to drive an F1 car. “[Brad] did all his own driving,” he said. “He loves driving cars. And I think the saddest day for Brad is when he had to step out of the car and we wrapped the movie. I was more relieved than anybody else, that everything was safe.”

WASHINGTON — Days before cardinals are set to gather for the papal conclave to select the next head of the Catholic Church, President Donald Trump posted a seemingly AI-generated image depicting himself as pope.

The image, posted on Friday and amplified by the White House, didn’t sit well with a group of Catholics, who took to social media over the weekend to condemn the portrayal.

“There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr. President,” said the X account for the New York State Catholic Conference, which represents bishops in the state who work on public policy initiatives.

“We just buried our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a new successor of St. Peter,” the post continued, referring to the first pope. “Do not mock us.”

The image, which appears to have been generated by artificial intelligence, depicts the president in white Catholic regalia, similar to what Francis and his predecessors wore. In the picture, the president also wore a large cross necklace and sat on a chair with golden accents.

Trump posted the image to Truth Social on Friday evening, and the White House amplified the post on X shortly after.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, who was named a member of the White House’s Religious Liberty Commission on Thursday, told NBC News’ Anne Thompson that the image “wasn’t good.” Dolan added in Italian that the image made a bad impression.

Dolan will be among the more than 100 cardinals who are gathering in the Vatican starting May 7 to elect a new pope.

Former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, a Trump critic, said in a post to X that the image posted by the president “offends believers, insults institutions and shows that the leader of the global right enjoys being a clown,” according to a Google Translate interpretation.

James Martin, a Jesuit priest who serves as the editor-at-large for the Jesuit publication America Magazine, also said in a post to X that “even though I find this deeply offensive, I will presume that Mr. Trump meant this light-heartedly.”

“But imagine the incandescent outrage, the swift condemnation, and the individual and joint protests from the US bishops if this had been done by Joe Biden or Barack Obama,” Martin added.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday afternoon.

But Vice President JD Vance, who is Catholic, weighed in on the controversy. He responded to a post from Bill Kristol, the editor-at-large of The Bulwark and the director of Defending Democracy Together, who tagged Vance and asked whether he was “fine with this disrespect and mocking of the Holy Father.”

“As a general rule, I’m fine with people telling jokes and not fine with people starting stupid wars that kill thousands of my countrymen,” Vance responded.

The Associated Press also reported that White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to the criticism, saying, “President Trump flew to Italy to pay his respects for Pope Francis and attend his funeral, and he has been a staunch champion for Catholics and religious liberty.”

Last week, Trump also joked that he would like to be Pope Francis’ successor.

“I’d like to be pope. That would be my number one choice,” Trump told reporters. 

Francis died on April 21 of a cerebral stroke, coma and “cardiocirculatory collapse,” according to the death certificate issued by the Vatican. He was 88.

PARIS — French police rescued the father of a wealthy cryptocurrency entrepreneur in a nighttime raid after he was taken hostage for ransom, the latest alleged criminal effort in France to extort people involved in the management of digital assets.

The man was kidnapped Thursday morning in Paris, the prosecutor’s office said Sunday.

“The victim turned out to be the father of a man who made his fortune in cryptocurrencies, and the incident was accompanied by a ransom demand,” its statement said, without giving their names or other specifics about their identities.

Police investigators located the hostage in a house in the Essonne region south of Paris, from which he was rescued on Saturday night, the prosecutor’s office said.

It said he was treated for injuries but gave no details. French media reported that the alleged hostage-takers cut off one of the man’s fingers.

Police detained 5 people — four were in or close to the house where the man was held captive, while the fifth was at the wheel of a vehicle thought to have been used for the alleged abduction, the prosecutor’s office said.

It said the police investigation is looking at an array of possible criminal charges, including kidnapping “with torture or a barbaric act.”

In January, police said a co-founder of French crypto-wallet firm Ledger, David Balland, was also kidnapped with his wife from their home in the region of Cher of central France.

Police said they made 10 arrests and that the alleged kidnappers demanded a ransom in cryptocurrency from another of Ledger’s co-founders.

A raid by France’s elite National Gendarmerie Intervention Group unit that specializes in hostage situations freed Balland the next day, followed the day after that by the liberation, again by the GIGN, of his wife, found tied up in a vehicle, police said.

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