President Trump said in a post to Truth Social on Sunday that he is ordering the Bureau of Prisons to reopen and expand the famed Alcatraz Island prison, which lies off the coast of San Francisco, “to house America’s most ruthless and violent offenders.” Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary closed in 1963 after nearly 30 years in operation primarily due to high operating costs and the deteriorating condition of the facility, according to the Bureau of Prisons.

President Donald Trump on Sunday that he doesn’t know if he is supposed to uphold the Constitution and relies on his lawyers to follow the law.

“I don’t know. I have to respond by saying, again, I have brilliant lawyers that work for me, and they are going to obviously follow what the Supreme Court said,” Trump told NBC in an interview that aired Sunday on “Meet the Press.”

Trump also said that he wouldn’t seek a third term as president, though he has teased the possibility several times, and that he wouldn’t fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell before his term ends in 2026.

Trump says judges he appoints won’t demand deportation ‘trials’

President Donald Trump addressed judicial nominations while speaking with reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday evening, saying, “Well, we’re putting them in rapidly. We’re trying to get very good ones.”

“We need judges that are not going to be demanding trials for every single illegal immigrant. We have millions of people that have come in here illegally, and we can’t have a trial for every single person. That would be millions of trials,” the president said of the administration’s sweeping deportations.

President Donald Trump waves as he steps off of Air Force One upon arrival at Tuscaloosa National Airport in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, May 1, 2025.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Trump said his overhaul of U.S. immigration policies was “the No. 1 issue” he campaigned on, claiming “radicalized” judges are delaying that process.

“So, they come into our country illegally, and then we’re supposed to take weeks, I guess, and months to have a trial on every criminal that we have, murderers all over the country. I don’t think the Supreme Court will stand for that. I can’t believe it, because, you know what, if they do, we’re not going to have a country,” Trump claimed.

Trump names Stephen Miller as top candidate for next national security adviser

While speaking with reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday evening, President Donald Trump said he’s considering tapping White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller to be the next national security adviser.

“Stephen Miller’s at the top of the totem pole,” Trump said. “I mean, I think he sort of, indirectly, already has that job, you understand, because he has a lot to say about a lot of things. He’s a very valued person in the administration, Stephen.”

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller speaks to reporters during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, May 1, 2025.
Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

Trump also defended his decision to remove Mike Waltz from the role and nominate him to be the U.S. ambassador to the U.N.

“I actually think it’s a higher position, if you want to know the truth,” Trump said of Waltz’s new nomination. “I think it’s an upgrade.”

Trump said his official nomination for the next national security adviser would come “within six months.”

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