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White House proposes new underground visitor screening facility

Updated on: March 14, 2026 / 5:50 PM EDT / CBS News

The Trump administration has proposed the construction of an underground facility to screen visitors to the White House.

The National Capital Planning Commission is scheduled to consider plans for the approximately 33,000-square-foot visitor screening facility that would be built entirely on federal land in Sherman Park, which is located southeast of the White House. The NCPC is the commission that approves construction projects on federal land in the Washington, D.C., region.

The plans, listed on the agenda for the NCPC’s April 2 meeting, were developed by the Executive Office of the President in conjunction with the U.S. Secret Service, the Interior Department, and the National Park Service. Construction could begin as early as this fall, and could be completed by July 2028.

The new facility would allow visitors to queue in multiple entry lanes for an initial ID check, before proceeding to a new lobby and another checkpoint. The proposed screening area would be built to accommodate large groups.

Visitors to the White House previously lined up in the nearby park before entering security checkpoints inside trailers and tents. Due to the construction of the White House’s new East Wing ballroom, visitors currently gather at an alternate location in Lafayette Park.

Construction work continues on President Trump’s White House East Wing ballroom, as seen from the Washington Monument, on March 8, 2026, in Washington, D.C. Aaron Schwartz / Getty Images

In its plans, the NCPC did not provide an estimated cost for the project, or where the funding would come from.

“For far too long, visitors to the White House have had a reduced experience where they were required to begin their tours by entering temporary, double wide trailers and tents outside, often in uncomfortable weather conditions,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle told CBS News in a statement. “This President took it upon himself to modernize the experience for visitors touring the People’s House from beginning to end. President Trump is committed to giving all visitors to the White House the best experience possible. The new Visitor Center will be state of the art in design and highlight the beautiful history of the White House and our Nation’s Capital.”

The NCPC says it is working to mitigate the facility’s impact on historic sites. According to the plans, the existing statue of Union General William Tecumseh Sherman in the park would remain in place. There are, however, plans for landscape restoration to “enhance the park’s character.” At least six trees will be removed and replaced with “suitable native species and landscaping,” according to the plans.

The plans also take into account “visitor use and aesthetic appeal” by maintaining public access to the park and avoiding structures that would detract from the surrounding buildings and monuments.

The move comes as the administration faces backlash and legal challenges over other major construction projects in Washington including construction of the White House ballroom, a two-year renovation of the Kennedy Center, and the possible construction of a triumphal arch.

伊朗外长称最高领袖身体无任何问题

发布时间 / 来源

伊朗外交部长阿拉格齐说，最高领袖穆杰塔巴的身体状况“没有任何问题”。

阿拉格齐星期六（3月14日）在美国MS Now新闻频道采访中，针对穆杰塔巴的状况发表上述回应。

美媒和以色列方面近日报道称，3月8日获推举为最高领袖的穆杰塔巴，在美以空袭中受伤。

阿拉格齐在采访中表明，穆杰塔巴已经发表声明，并会继续根据宪法履行职责。

伊朗国家电视台星期四（12日）播放穆杰塔巴的声明。穆杰塔巴强调，伊朗不会放弃复仇，而且会继续封锁霍尔木兹海峡。

阿拉格齐说，美方声称伊朗官员躲在避难所里，但全世界看到，伊朗总统、伊斯兰议会议长、最高国家安全委员会秘书等高级官员星期五（13日）走到示威民众中，参加声援巴勒斯坦民族解放事业的公开活动。

他强调，伊朗伊斯兰共和国的体制不依赖于某个人或某个特定团体，伊朗一切井然有序。

Trump seeks to replace White House visitor screening center with underground facility | CNN Politics

By Riane Lumer
3 hr ago
PUBLISHED Mar 14, 2026, 4:29 PM ET

Concept photo shows what entrance to proposed underground White House visitor’s center would look like.

NCPC

The White House is planning to build a sprawling 33,000-square-foot underground security screening facility for visitors, part of a larger renovation effort in President Donald Trump’s makeover of the campus.

The new seven-lane entrance would require visitors and tour groups to pass under a nearby park before accessing the grounds for tours or events, according to plans sent Friday to the National Capital Planning Commission, which is responsible for approving construction for federal land and buildings.

The proposal will be discussed at the NCPC’s April 2 meeting, according to the commission’s tentative agenda. Will Scharf, chairman of the commission, also serves as Trump’s staff secretary.

The new facility would be built on the site of the old East Wing, which was suddenly demolished last fall to make way for an planned 90,000-square-foot ballroom as part of Trump’s proclaimed “legacy project.” The upcoming NCPC meeting will also include a vote on the proposed ballroom.

There have been discussions about building an underground screening complex for decades. The National Park Service began conducting studies to do so after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks. But even though a similar structure was added at the US Capitol, multiple efforts to build the White House iteration were shut down due to a lack of appetite for funding the massive project.

Those plans, one source familiar with the matter told CNN, were “just shot down left and right” by Congress, the Secret Service, and the White House.

“Can’t afford it, nobody would work on it, Department of Interior wouldn’t approve it,” the source said.

Instead, all visitors would enter through trailer-like structures, their first view into the People’s House.

The Associated Press first reported the latest renovation plans by the administration.

Visitors would arrive just southeast of the White House to have their tickets and IDs checked and enter through a ramp and queue into a proposed 5,000-square-foot sunken plaza to minimize congested lines and wait times.

Civil War Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman’s monument, which stands at the center of the park, will be “protected in place,” the plans said.

“The permanent facility will strengthen campus security and enhance the overall visitor experience,” the White House’s plan says. A large portion of the proposed building is positioned below ground.

Before the demolition began, the visitor’s office and tour entrance were in the East Wing, where visitors walked through a wood-paneled entryway to the visitor lobby and proceeded along the East Colonnade. Now, visitors line up across Pennsylvania Avenue near Lafayette Park by the White House.

The White House said site preparations as early as August with a goal of opening the facility by July 2028, six months before the end of Trump’s second term.

While Trump said the ballroom project would be fully funded by private donations, the price has steadily climbed from $200 million to $300 million to now $400 million since he first announced it last July.

Approval for Trump’s ballroom was postponed after there were more than 32,000 comments from the public that were mostly against the construction.

CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.

CNN’s Betsy Klein, Samantha Waldenberg and Kevin Liptak contributed to this report

Repairs have been completed after the historic Potomac River sewage spill in Washington, D.C., less than a month after President Donald Trump approved a disaster declaration that allowed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to help.

“Emergency repairs to the Potomac Interceptor are complete,” DC Water said Saturday. “Full flow has been restored, and the C&O Canal has been fully drained as part of site restoration. Since Jan 19, crews worked around the clock to stabilize the site and protect the Potomac River.”

The declaration came after a sewage pipe interceptor ruptured Jan. 19, releasing more than 240 million gallons of raw sewage into the Potomac River. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a disaster emergency over the Potomac sewage spill and requested federal assistance with the cleanup.

Trump said he was worried the Potomac River would still stink when America250 celebrations kick off this summer, according to the White House.

The president had directed his ire toward Democratic Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and other local leaders in Virginia and Washington, D.C., on the issue, claiming incompetence led to the disaster.

Moore and his office, however, pushed back on Trump’s assertions, claiming the federal government has oversight over the sewer utility.

“This is a Washington, D.C., pipe on federal land,” Moore told Fox News Digital last month. “Maryland has nothing to do with this. In fact, the only thing Maryland did was when we saw a neighbor who was in need. That’s why I ordered people, our people to go support them, and that’s what we’ve been doing the past month.

“We’ve been doing essentially the federal government’s job because it’s the federal government’s job to be able to protect the Potomac interconnector because that’s federal land,” Moore said. “For the president now to come and attack me on this, I find that to be … absurd.”

The sewage pipes are managed by DC Water, an independent utility based in the District of Columbia.

A class action lawsuit was filed by a Virginia resident on March 6 that accused DC Water of negligence.

The plaintiff, Nicholas Lailas, who is a recreational boater, is seeking compensation for people “whose property interests in and use and enjoyment of the Potomac River … have been impaired by Defendant’s conduct,” the lawsuit said.

He is seeking unspecified damages.

Fox News’ Stephen Sorace and Jasmine Baehr and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

路透社：特朗普拒绝中东盟友斡旋谈判努力 | 联合早报

发布/2026年3月15日 07:21

多名知情人士透露，美国特朗普政府拒绝了中东盟友为启动外交谈判、结束伊朗战争所作的努力。

路透社星期六（3月14日）引述三名知情人士报道这一消息。两名消息人士说，战前曾担任调解国的阿曼已多次试图建立沟通渠道，但白宫明确表示不感兴趣。

一名白宫高级官员证实，特朗普拒绝了这些开启对话的努力，并专注于推进战争，从而进一步削弱伊朗军事能力。“也许将来会有那一天（指谈判），但不是现在。”

另一名白宫高级官员则说：“特朗普总统说，伊朗潜在的新领导层已表示愿意谈判，最终也会谈判。目前，‘史诗怒火行动’仍在持续进行。”

据两名伊朗高级消息人士称，德黑兰则表明，在美国和以色列空袭结束之前，绝不考虑任何停火可能。

伊朗方面还说，已有若干国家试图斡旋，以期结束这场冲突。

三名安全和外交消息人士透露，曾在战前参与调解的埃及也试图重启沟通渠道。其中一名消息人士称，虽然这些努力似乎未取得进展，但已促使受伊朗袭击的邻国在军事行动上有所克制。

报道指出，美伊双方都无意谈判，说明都在为长期冲突做准备。

自2月28日以来，这场不断扩大的战争已造成2000多人死亡，其中大部分在伊朗境内；霍尔木兹海峡的航运活动几乎陷入停滞，引发有史以来最严重的石油供应中断。

3 more members of Iran women’s soccer team change course, decline to accept asylum in Australia

March 14, 2026 / 7:44 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Another three members of the Iran’s women’s soccer team who accepted refugee visas to stay in Australia have decided to return to their homeland, an Australian government minister said on Sunday local time.

The departure leaves three of an initial seven squad members in Australia.

“Overnight, three members of the Iranian Women’s Football Team made the decision to join the rest of the team on their journey back to Iran,” Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said in a statement.

“After telling Australian officials they had made this decision, the players were given repeated chances to talk about their options,” Burke added.

Iran’s team arrived in Australia for the Women’s Asian Cup last month, before the war in the Middle East began on Feb. 28.

Initially, six players and a support staff member from a squad list of 26 players accepted humanitarian visas to stay in Australia before the rest of the Iranian contingent flew from Sydney to Malaysia on March 9.

One later changed her mind and left Australia. The other three left Sydney for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Saturday night, a government official said. The rest of the team has remained in Kuala Lumpur since they left Australia.

Members of Iran’s women’s soccer team as they arrive at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia, after taking part in the Asian Cup tournament in Australia, on March 11, 2026. Mohd RASFAN /AFP via Getty Images

Iran’s Tasnim News Agency said the latest three to leave Australia were two players and the support staff member. The three were “returning to the warm embrace of their family and homeland,” the news outlet said in a statement.

Concerns about the team’s safety in Iran heightened when the players didn’t sing the Iranian national anthem before their first match.

The Australian government was urged to help the woman by Iranian groups in Australia and by President Trump.

The Iranian news agency described the women’s return to the team as the “disgraceful failure of the American-Australian project and another failure for Trump.”

Meanwhile, the Iranian men’s national soccer team’s participation in the World Cup this summer in the U.S. is in doubt.

U.S. officials told CBS News on Tuesday that Mr. Trump had informed FIFA representatives, including FIFA President Gianni Infantino, that Iran was welcome to play in the tournament.

Infantino later wrote on social media that during the meeting Mr. Trump “reiterated that the Iranian team is, of course, welcome to compete in the tournament in the United States.”

However, Iran’s sports minister Ahmad Donyamali, in response to Infantino’s comments, said that the country cannot participate in the World Cup given the war.

And on Thursday, Mr. Trump appeared to reverse course, saying he believed it would not be “appropriate” for the Iranian team to take part due to concerns “for their own life and safety.”

Lobbyist tied to pardon from Trump charged with attempted extortion

By Kara Scannell, Holmes Lybrand | 17 min ago | PUBLISHED Mar 14, 2026, 7:42 PM ET

Federal prosecutors charged a lobbyist with trying to extort a former client and his son to recover half a million dollars in debt, according to court filings.

Joshua Nass, a lobbyist who worked to obtain a client’s pardon from President Donald Trump, was arrested Friday outside his hotel in New York on charges of attempted extortion.

Nass, of South Carolina, appeared before a judge in federal court in Brooklyn on Saturday and was released on a $5 million bond. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Neither Nass nor his attorney could immediately be reached for comment.

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York is seen in Brooklyn in 2015.

Mary Altaffer/AP

The FBI affidavit and court filings do not identify the name of the former client Nass allegedly tried to extort.

According to an FBI affidavit, in January, Nass contacted an individual, who is cooperating with federal authorities, to threaten and physically harm a former client and the client’s son to recover $500,000 in owed fees.

Nass’ former client agreed to pay $600,000 for lobbying services, according to court filings. The former client’s son transferred $100,000 but said he was unable to come up with the rest of the money.

According to reports filed under the Lobbying Disclosure Act, the only payment Nass received as a lobbyist in 2025 for $100,000 was from Joseph Schwartz, a former nursing home executive who was convicted of tax crimes and later pardoned by Trump. Nass had been paid $100,000 to pursue clemency for Schwartz, who began serving his sentence in August before being pardoned by Trump in November. Court filings, however, do not name Nass’ alleged victims.

In late January, Nass and the informant, who communicated in English and Russian, discussed approaching the former client’s son, according to text messages included in court filings.

Initially they discussed having the informant approach the former client’s son at his home to intimidate him into paying the debt.

“Let’s say – give me the address, let me see and, er er listen, if I need to sock him a few times,” the informant said.

Nass replied, according to the court filing, “I will give you the right to do anything and everything.”

After the informant falsely told Nass that he went to the son’s home to collect the debt but was rebuffed, Nass allegedly escalated the threat.

Nass agreed to pay the informant $15,000 if he would physically assault the former client’s son, potentially by forcing him into a car from his home, according to the affidavit. Nass offered to pay an additional $5,000 for any additional men the informant needed, according to the affidavit.

If the former client’s son refused to pay, Nass allegedly told the informant that he did not want him to behave “like a human being with” the son.

Nass, who runs a political consulting firm called Merkava Strategies, bills himself as a problem solver to help people navigate “complex political, regulatory, and reputational environments.”

以军称杀死伊朗军方两名情报高官 | 联合早报

发布/2026年3月15日 07:38

以色列军方说，在对德黑兰的一次空袭中击毙两名伊朗情报高官。

法新社报道，以军星期六（3月14日）说，在前一天空袭中击毙的两名男子确认为贾拉里-纳萨布（Abdollah Jalali-Nasab）和沙里亚特（Amir Shariat），他们是伊朗武装部队哈塔姆安比亚中央总部情报局的高级官员。

以军称，伊朗武装部队哈塔姆安比亚中央总部情报局局长阿萨迪（Saleh Asadi）在2月28日战争首日死亡，这两人正是接替他职务的。

Former U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema admits romance with her security guard as she fights his ex-wife’s lawsuit

March 14, 2026 / 2:18 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Former U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema acknowledges having a romantic relationship with a member of her security detail that began while she was a lawmaker, according to legal documents. But she also contends she shouldn’t be subject to a lawsuit by the man’s ex-wife, who blames Sinema for the marriage ending.

The North Carolina federal court litigation seeks financial damages from Sinema, who represented Arizona in the U.S. House and later the Senate for one term that ended early last year.

Heather Ammel contends in a lawsuit that she and husband Matthew had “a good and loving marriage” and “genuine love and affection” existed between them before Sinema interfered, pursuing him despite knowing he was married.

In a signed March 7 declaration attached to a lawsuit response filed this week, Sinema said her relationship with Matthew Ammel “became romantic and intimate” at the end of May 2024 and “physically intimate” over the next several months in California, New York, Colorado, Arizona and Washington, D.C. The Ammels separated in November 2024, the lawsuit said.

North Carolina is one of a handful of states that allow jilted spouses to sue for “alienation of affection” to seek damages from a third party responsible for the breakup of their marriage.

Sinema’s declaration rejects allegations by Heather Ammel that Sinema made phone calls and sent internet communications to her husband with the knowledge that he was physically present in North Carolina and at times with his wife and the couple’s children.

Sinema sent Matthew Ammel a message while he was in North Carolina after he had already found a new place to live and “when the marriage was already over,” Sinema’s attorney Steven Epstein wrote in a filing to dismiss the lawsuit.

Sinema’s “conduct related to her romantic relationship with Mr. Ammel does not connect her to North Carolina in a meaningful way,” Epstein wrote Thursday, adding that no jury would believe that the one message “had any bearing on the destruction of marital love and affection.”

Sinema’s head of security hired Ammel after he retired from the Army in 2022, according to the lawsuit. In early 2024, Heather Ammel discovered messages between Sinema and her husband on the Signal messaging app that were of “romantic and lascivious natures.” That summer, Matthew Ammel stopped wearing his wedding ring and Sinema gave him a job on her Senate staff while he continued to work as her bodyguard, the lawsuit alleges.

Sinema also paid for psychedelic treatment for Ammel, who has struggled with post-traumatic stress, substance abuse and traumatic brain injuries tied to his military deployments in Afghanistan and the Middle East, according to the lawsuit.

The complaint alleges that Sinema suggested that he should bring MDMA on a work trip “so that she could guide him through a psychedelic experience.”

According to the lawsuit, the affair lasted between the fall of 2023 and the end of 2024, and the pair allegedly went to numerous concerts together, including Green Day, Taylor Swift and U2.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema testifying before a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing in 2023. Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP

The lawsuit was initially filed late last year in North Carolina state court, but it was moved to federal court in January.

Sinema declined to seek Senate reelection in 2024 following a term in which she left the Democratic Party to become an independent. She now works for a Washington-based legal and lobbying firm.

Pope Leo moves into papal residence eschewed by Pope Francis

March 14, 2026 / 1:06 PM EDT / AFP

Ten months after taking office, Pope Leo XIV on Saturday finally moved into his apartments in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace, a historic papal residence that his predecessor had eschewed.

“This afternoon, Pope Leo XIV will take possession of the apartment in the Apostolic Palace, moving, with his closest collaborators, into the spaces previously used by his predecessors,” the Vatican said in a statement.

Leo, the first U..S pope, decided to move into the apartments in the wake of his May 8, 2025, election as head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.

But after being abandoned under the late Pope Francis, who chose a more modest dwelling elsewhere in the Vatican, they required extensive renovation.

Pope Leo XIV visits the papal apartments at the Apostolic Palace on May 12, 2025 in Vatican City, Vatican. Francesco Sforza / Getty Images

During the interim, the 70-year-old Leo continued staying at the Palace of the Holy Office, near the Vatican, where he had lived as a cardinal.

The large apartment he has moved into includes bedrooms, a chapel, a vestibule, a library, an office, a dining room and a room from which the pontiff recites the Angelus prayer every Sunday through a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square.

Francis had shocked traditionalists when he decided on his election in 2013 to live in a simple apartment in the Santa Marta guesthouse in the Vatican, where he remained until death.

The gesture was acclaimed by supporters of a humble pope but attracted criticism from conservatives, who accused him of divesting the papacy of a sacred element.

The papal apartments are in the heart of the Apostolic Palace, which houses the Sistine Chapel, the Apostolic Library and the Secretary of State, the central hub of the Holy See’s administration.

Pope Leo XIV walks in the corridor of the Third Loggia of the Apostolic Palace. Francesco Sforza – Vatican Media Vatican Pool / Getty Images

Leo has also returned to the papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, outside Rome, that Francis declined to use.

He spends most Tuesdays there, playing tennis and swimming alongside his work.