The Latest: Trump meeting with South Africa's president in White House

House Republicans are pushing to vote on their multi-trillion-dollar tax breaks package as soon as Wednesday, grinding out last-minute deal-making to shore up wavering GOP support and deliver on President Donald Trump's top legislative priority.

The Trump administration acknowledged in court that it deported eight migrants after being called to answer questions Wednesday about a deportation flight of Asian migrants to the African nation of South Sudan that potentially violated a judge's order. Immigration authorities told the judge that their home countries would not take them back. They refused to say what the migrants' final destinations would be.

And Trump hosted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House after accusing the country's government of allowing a ''genocide'' to take place against minority white farmers. Afrikaner farmers in the country say this claim is false and there's no evidence of it.

Here's the latest:

‘Real' point of Ramaphosa's White House visit was the closed-door portion, aide says

Ramaphosa's spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, told South African TV station Newzroom Afrika that the Oval Office meeting was ''an orchestrated show for the cameras'' and that the ''real business'' of the trip was the bilateral closed-door meeting.

''President Ramaphosa came here not for a TV show, he came here to discuss with President Trump in earnest how we can reset the strategic relationship between South Africa and the U.S,'' Magwenya said.

Here's how some of South Africa's leading news sites view Ramaphosa's White House visit

— Daily Maverick: Ramaphosa keeps his cool as Trump launches multimedia ambush in Oval Office

— The South African: Donald Trump ambushes Cyril Ramaphosa with ‘genocide' accusation

— The Sowetan: Trump blindsides Ramaphosa with clips of Malema singing ‘kill the Boer'

— News24: Ramaphosa charms Trump, seeks a US-SA trade reset in the Oval

— Daily Sun: Ramaphosa crushes Trump's SA claims in US!

Army readies tanks to take part in a DC parade on Trump's birthday

The Army has started to load M1 Abrams main battle tanks onto rail cars to head to Washington.

The 28 tanks will take about 10 days to travel from Fort Cavazos in Texas and will take part in the Army's 250th anniversary celebration parade. It's being held June 14, which is President Donald Trump's birthday.

The many heavy military vehicles in the parade will drive over thick metal plating to protect the city's streets at certain points.

The Army said it's also planning some additional asphalt work and putting new rubber padding on the tanks' metal tracks to try to minimize street damage.

Democrats grill Rubio over proposed aid cuts

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has spent hours in front of congressional committees defending the Trump administration from Democrats' harsh criticism of his administration's proposed severe cuts to the State Department's budget, including cuts to humanitarian and development assistance.

During two House hearings, Rubio faced hostile questioning Wednesday from Democrats, including some who noted the former senator's support for such programs when he served in Congress.

Rep. Gregory Meeks, ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said ''Senator Rubio'' appeared to have far different priorities than ''Secretary Rubio.'' Rubio brushed aside charges of hypocrisy and said the Trump administration was moving to streamline U.S. diplomacy and foreign assistance.

He said repeatedly that even with massive State Department budget cuts envisioned by the Trump administration, the U.S. would remain the world's largest provider of foreign aid and humanitarian assistance.

The questioning grew heated at times and Rubio struggled to answer questions amid repeated interruptions.

Ramaphosa leaves the White House and says his meeting with Trump went ‘very well'

South Africa's leader departed the White House around 3 p.m. after a roughly three-hour visit that included a confrontational Oval Office meeting with Trump.

Asked how the meeting went as he climbed into a black SUV, Ramaphosa said, ''very well, thank you.''

He offered a similar reply when asked if he thought Trump had heard him out.

''Yes he did and it went very well,'' Ramaphosa said.

Johnson says Republicans are ‘on schedule' before heading to the White House

House Speaker Mike Johnson said before heading to the White House for last-ditch talks to salvage Trump's ''big, beautiful bill '' on Wednesday that Republicans are ''on schedule.''

''We've been saying this for many months that we would do it before Memorial Day and I intend to hold it to schedule,'' said Johnson.

Johnson added that a lot of the discussions have been ''very productive'' and the ''guys that still have concerns we're working through.''

''It's a very deliberative, slow process. Sometimes it goes slower than most of us want, but that's how the founders designed this,'' said Johnson.

Democrats line up to weigh in on Trump bill

A committee debating President Donald Trump's tax cut and immigration bill began its work at 1 a.m. Wednesday and was still going strong into the mid-afternoon.

Democratic lawmakers have used the hours to go into detail about features of the bill they oppose.

Rep. George Whitesides, a freshman lawmaker from California, said rolling back clean energy tax credits, as the bill proposes to do, would ''undermine our future'' by killing future domestic and international investment.

Rep. Paul Tonko, of New York, said a quarter of his constituents rely on Medicaid ''and every single one of them will be impacted by this heinous package.''

Rep. Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania, meanwhile, decried the proposed removal of a $200 tax on gun silencers, saying it's clear the tax was put in place nearly a century ago to discourage their purchase and that the committee should be increasing the tax rather than removing it.

Democrats couldn't stop the bill on their own, but they are intent on making passing it as painful as possible for Republicans.

UN says migrants shouldn't be sent to countries where they face risks

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, hasn't been consulted about the U.S. deportation of eight migrants to South Sudan, where fears of civil war have escalated.

A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that the Trump administration violated a court order on deportations to third countries. Judge Brian E. Murphy in Boston said the eight migrants, accused by the U.S. of being dangerous criminals, were not given a meaningful opportunity to object that the deportation could put them in danger.

Dujarric told U.N. reporters that since the U.N. wasn't consulted he had no comment ''except to say that, obviously, as a principled position, refugees or people in need of international protection must not be sent back to a place where they face risk.''

White House statement of support for bill comes with a pointed warning

The White House has issued a statement of support for the massive tax cut and immigration bill before the House that came with a pointed message for Republicans considering voting against it.

''President Trump is committed to keeping his promises, and failure to pass this bill would be the ultimate betrayal,'' the statement from the Office of Management and Budget said.

The White House notes that the bill would make permanent the tax cuts passed during Trump's first term. It says it would also advance key campaign promises to not tax tips and overtime, provide more tax relief to senior citizens on Social Security, increase investments to fund border fencing, increase deportations and boost defense.

The statement says House members should ''immediately pass this bill to show the American people that they are serious about ‘promises made, promises kept.'''

Speaker Mike Johnson is looking to pass the bill before Memorial Day. It would then go to the Senate for consideration.

The part of Trump's tense meeting with South Africa's president that was open to the media ends

The U.S. president's lengthy discussions with Ramaphosa got especially tense after Trump showed a video that he said showed politically motivated killings in South Africa.

Trump suggested it means white farmers are being targeted, but he also said repeatedly that he has ''not decided'' if such killings constitute genocide.

After the meeting, Ramaphosa and Trump were set to talk privately and have lunch.

Will Trump go to the G20 summit?

The U.S. has sent mixed signals about participating in this year's G20 summit, which is being hosted by South Africa.

On Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during a Senate hearing that ''we chose not to participate.''

But Trump suggested that he wasn't ruling it out, and described the U.S. as a key player for both the G7 and the G20.

''It's important that the United States is in both of them,'' he said.

Trump also reiterated his belief that Russia should be added back into the G7, making it the G8. Russia was removed in 2014 after annexing Crimea from Ukraine, a precursor to the war there.

South Africa says there is no evidence that whites are being targeted

Some white farmers have been killed during violent home invasions, but South Africa's government says the Trump administration doesn't understand why that has happened.

The government says those killings are part of its severe problem with crime and that the killing of whites isn't motivated by race. Black farmers have also been killed, the government says.

Trump's allegations are based on misinformation, the government says.

South Africa's agriculture minister, John Steenhuisen, who is white and a member of a different political party than Ramaphosa, told The Associated Press that no land is being seized from farmers and that the claims of genocide are false.

South African leader tells Trump he's sorry he doesn't ‘have a plane to give you'

Ramaphosa, continuing to try to smooth things over with Trump, says he is sorry he doesn't have a jet to offer.

As Trump continued to complain about being questioned on his acceptance of the Qatari jet, criticizing the reporter to as an ''idiot,'' Ramaphosa told Trump, ''I'm sorry I don't have a plane to give you.''

''If your country was offering the United States Air Force a plane, I would take it,'' Trump said.

White House uses an official social media account to amplify a South African video Trump showed in the Oval Office

The White House is promoting a video Trump showed during his meeting with South Africa's president which the U.S. president suggests shows politically motivated slayings occurring in that country.

The official White House X account posted an emoji of a siren and the title ''JUST SHOWN IN THE OVAL OFFICE: Proof of Persecution in South Africa'' over a video Trump had showed during his meeting with Ramaphosa. Trump said the video showed killings and suggested that white South African farmers were being targeted.

The post of the video came even as Trump's meeting with Ramaphosa was still happening.

Trump sidesteps question on Gaza war

South Africa has been pursuing allegations of genocide against Israel in the International Court of Justice.

Although the White House has criticized the case, Trump did not address the issue in the Oval Office.

Asked what he wanted to see happen, Trump said ''I don't know.''

''There's a lot of anger there. I don't expect anything. We'll see what happens.''

Trump administration violated court order on third-country deportations with flight linked to South Sudan, judge says

A federal judge says the Trump administration violated a court order on deportations to third countries with a flight linked to South Sudan.

Judge Brian E. Murphy says the eight migrants aboard the plane weren't given a meaningful opportunity to object that the deportation could put them in danger.

The group was flown out of the United States just hours after getting notice, leaving them no chance to contact lawyers to object in court.

Government attorneys argued that the men had a history with the immigration system, giving them prior opportunities to express a fear of being deported to a country outside their homeland.

Trump says he doesn't want to involve Musk in South African policy discussions

During his tense meeting with Ramaphosa, Trump noted ''I have a great feeling for South Africa'' and many friends in that country.

The president said some of his South African friends were at the meeting in the Oval Office, including billionaire Elon Musk.

''Elon is from South Africa,'' Trump said, though he suggested that involving Musk in U.S.-South African relations could cause more controversy.

''I don't want to get Elon involved,'' Trump said. ''I don't want to talk to him about that. I don't think it's fair to him.''

Trump unloads on NBC reporter

It's not uncommon for the U.S. president to criticize representatives of the ''fake news,'' but he was especially angry when NBC's Peter Alexander asked him about Qatar's donation of a 747 for Trump to use as Air Force One.

The Pentagon's announcement about accepting the plane came during Trump's meeting with the South African president. Alexander asked about it right after the White House staff played a video about allegations of persecution against white farmers.

''What does this have to do with the Qatari jet?'' Trump said. ''You're a terrible reporter.''

He also called for retaliation against Comcast, the corporate owner of NBC, and its chief executive.

''Brian Roberts and the people who run that place they ought to be investigated,'' he said.

Trump administration accepts free Air Force One replacement from Qatar

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has accepted a gifted Boeing 747 from Qatar for Trump to use as president, Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said.

Parnell said the plane was accepted ''in accordance with all federal rules and regulations.''

Trump was asked about the acceptance Wednesday while he was in the Oval Office with South Africa's president and said, ''They are giving the United States Air Force a jet.''

He then insulted the reporter who asked about the jet.

JUST IN: Trump at White House confronts South Africa's Ramaphosa, accusing country of failing to address killing of white farmers

South African president plays to Trump's fondness for golf

Ramaphosa said he brought major-winning golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen after Trump requested he bring them along and that he also attempted to bring legendary 89-year-old player Gary Player, who declined the trip, citing his age.

Ramaphosa told Trump he brought the president ''a really fantastic book'' that weighs 14 kilograms (about 31 pounds) showcasing South Africa's golf courses. He said he's also started practicing golf, at Trump's suggestion.

''I've started practicing so I'm ready,'' he told Trump.

South African president says the goal is to ‘reset' his country's relationship with the US

Trump opened by remarking that Ramaphosa ''is a man who is certainly, in some circles, really respected.''

He also said he and Ramaphosa will discuss ''many things,'' including some of the issues that have been in the news to see if he can help.

''We want to help,'' he said.

Ramaphosa, meanwhile, said it was ''a real joy'' to be at the White House and that he wants to take the opportunity to ''recalibrate'' ties between the two countries.

He said he's hoping for more trade with the much larger American economy.

''We are essentially here to reset the relationship between the United States and South Africa,'' Ramaphosa said.

South Africa's leader visits the White House in an effort to salvage relationship with Trump

President Donald Trump is hosting South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House on Wednesday for a meeting that might be tense after Trump accused the country's government of allowing a ''genocide'' to take place against minority white farmers.

South Africa has strongly rejected the allegation and Ramaphosa pushed for the meeting with Trump in an attempt to salvage his country's relationship with the United States, which is at its lowest point since the end of the apartheid system of racial segregation in 1994.

Ramaphosa arrives late for White House face-to-face with Trump

It was minutes after noon when the South African leader's car pulled up to the West Wing entrance in the rainy weather, about a half hour behind a scheduled 11:30 a.m. arrival. During the wait, a uniformed, flag-bearing member of the honor guard appeared to faint and fall backwards into a grassy area in front of the entrance to the West Wing. The individual was roused and walked way for closer examination.

Trump was waiting at the door to greet Ramaphosa, who got out of the car and shared an extended handshake.

Both presidents then walked inside after Trump answered a couple of questions on other issues.

Trump asks Supreme Court to block orders requiring DOGE turn over documents

Wednesday's emergency appeal to the high court concerns whether Elon Musk 's Department of Government Efficiency, which has been central to Trump's push to remake government, is a federal agency subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

The administration argues DOGE is merely a presidential advisory body and thus exempt from FOIA requests. It wants the justices to freeze orders that would force DOGE to turn over documents to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington or obligate acting DOGE administrator Amy Gleason to answer questions under oath by June 13.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper found that DOGE's role is likely more than just advisory, noting its claims to helping shutter USAID, cut billions of dollars in government contracts and fire thousands of federal employees.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer urged the justices to act quickly, calling Cooper's orders ''extraordinarily overbroad and intrusive.''

Justice Department moves to cancel police reform settlements

The settlements with Minneapolis and Louisville called for departmental overhauls following the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor that set off nationwide racial injustice protests in the summer of 2020.

The Trump administration also announced it's retracting the findings of Justice Department investigations into six other police departments that the Biden administration had accused of civil rights violations. In a court motion in Minnesota, it said ''the United States no longer believes that the proposed consent decree would be in the public interest.''

''It's our view at the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division under the Trump administration that federal micromanagement of local police should be a rare exception, and not the norm,'' said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon.

Police and city officials in Minneapolis and Louisville said they remain committed to reforms regardless of what the Trump administration does.

▶ Read more on the Trump administration canceling police reform efforts

House Speaker and GOP holdouts heading to White House

Mike Johnson and conservatives from the House Freedom Caucus are heading to the White House this afternoon over Trump's big bill, according to a person familiar with the meeting who was granted anonymity to discuss it.

Johnson is struggling to shore up support for the bill. Hard-right GOP lawmakers are against how it will pile onto the national debt.

Meanwhile, action continues in a cramped House hearing room where lawmakers have been meeting all night and all day.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his team settled into the witness table to decry the GOP's insistence on big tax breaks and spending cuts.

''We believe it's one big, ugly bill that's going to hurt the American people,'' Jeffries of New York told the panel. ''Hurt children, hurt families, hurt veterans, hurt seniors, cut health care, cut nutritional assistance, explode the debt.''

How could US deportees survive in South Sudan — a country in disarray, threatened by full-scale civil war?

In this Sunday, July 10, 2011 file photo, Southern Sudanese wave the national flag in the capital Juba. (AP Photo/Pete Muller, File)

The Trump administration's pressure on South Sudan to take in deportees, including foreign ones, comes as cuts in U.S. aid leave its population of 11 million people in even grave danger.

Some Western countries have closed their embassies. The U.S. reduced its embassy staff and warned that ''violent crime, such as carjackings, shootings, ambushes, assaults, robberies, and kidnappings are common throughout South Sudan.''

Recently, the Trump administration abruptly revoked the visas of all South Sudanese, saying the country's government failed to accept the return of its citizens ''in a timely manner.'' South Sudan pushed back, saying the person in question was Congolese. It later allowed admitted this person ''in the spirit of maintaining friendly relations.''

▶ Read more on what's to know about the situation in South Sudan

Marathon hearing as Trump's big bill hits trouble

It's rounding the 10th hour at the House Rules Committee, what's supposed to be a last stop for the Republicans' big tax breaks package before a House floor vote.

President Donald Trump, right, is joined by Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., left, as he speaks with reporters upon his departure from the Capitol following a meeting with the House Republican Conference, Tuesday, May 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

Instead, lawmakers have been up all night as trouble mounts from all fronts.

GOP conservatives refuse to back the package. Democrats, as the minority party unable to stop it, are doing all they can to drag out the process with a lengthy hearing that is expected to stretch into the day.

Speaker Mike Johnson wanted a ''big'' vote as soon as Wednesday but that's now in doubt.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will bring golf diplomacy to the White House

A South African news outlet, News24, reports that in an attempt to defuse a possibly tense meeting with the golf-loving Trump, major-winning golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen will be part of the South African delegation at the White House on Wednesday. Both Els and Rupert have played golf with Trump before, the outlet reported.

Els and Goosen will be familiar to golf-loving Americans having both won the U.S. Open during their careers. They also are Afrikaners, the white minority group Trump has accused South Africa of persecuting. And they have residences in the United States. News24 says billionaire Johann Rupert, South Africa's richest man, a prominent Afrikaner figure and another avid golf fan, also will attend.

Justice Department is probing former NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo over his congressional testimony, source says

The criminal investigation of Cuomo, who is now running for New York City mayor, follows a request by Rep. James Comer that the Democrat be charged with lying about his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, a person familiar with the matter said Tuesday.

The investigation by the U.S. attorney's office now led by Cuomo's political rival Jeanine Pirro follows a referral from Rep. James Comer, Republican chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, over statements Cuomo made to lawmakers investigating his management of the pandemic when the virus was spreading through nursing homes, the person said. The person was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

A spokesperson for Cuomo, Rich Azzopardi, called this leaked probe ''lawfare and election interference plain and simple.''

Trump is still irritated with Bruce Springsteen

The Republican president posted a doctored video on his social media network on Wednesday that tried to make it appear he teed off on the golf course and struck The Boss with his golf ball.

Trump has been lobbing insults at the rock star as Springsteen, a longtime Trump critic, has been lambasting the president while on stage.

Trump administration tells judge it deported eight migrants, but refused to say where they'll end up

The Trump administration says it has deported eight migrants convicted of crimes in the United States after reports of a migrant flight to South Sudan.

In a 12-minute briefing, immigration authorities refused to say what their final destinations would be, but said their home countries would not take the migrants back.

Elon Musk will attend Trump meeting with South African leader

The U.S. president's powerful adviser, who was born in South Africa, is expected to be in the room when Trump sits down with Ramaphosa.

This plan was disclosed by a White House official who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Musk has harshly criticized his native country's government as racist against white people.

South Sudan is enduring waves of violence, has ‘significant human rights issues'

South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 amid hopes that large oil reserves could bring prosperity amid endemic poverty. Instead, violence ensued.

Nicholas Haysom, who leads the nearly 20,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission, has warned that fighting between forces loyal to the president and a vice president threatens to spiral again into full-scale civil war of the kind that took 400,000 lives a decade ago.

The U.S. State Department's annual report on South Sudan, published in April 2024, says ''significant human rights issues'' include arbitrary killings, disappearances, torture or inhumane treatment by security forces and extensive violence based on gender and sexual identity.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem recently extended Temporary Protected Status to a small number of South Sudanese already living in the United States until November, to allow for a more thorough review of whether conditions in South Sudan are unsafe for return.

South Sudan police spokesman says no migrants have arrived in the country

Major General James Monday Enoka also told The Associated Press on Wednesday that if they do, they would be ''redeported to their correct country'' if found not to be South Sudanese.

Trump administration lawyers ordered to appear on apparent deportations to South Sudan

U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy in Massachusetts called Wednesday's hearing to get answers about the apparent deportation of immigrants to South Sudan and other countries.

Murphy, who was nominated by Democratic President Joe Biden, previously found that any plans to deport people to Libya without notice would ''clearly'' violate his ruling. He wants the Trump administration attorneys to:

1. identify the migrants impacted

2. provide information about the whereabouts of migrants already removed

3. address when and how the migrants were told they'd be removed to a third country

4. explain what opportunity the migrants were given to raise a fear-based claim

The Department of Homeland Security and the White House did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

Big military parade in DC for Army's 250th birthday next month will be an evening affair

Organizers announced some details on Wednesday for the parade on June 14 — which is also Flag Day and Trump's 79th birthday.

The parade will run from 6:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. ET that Saturday, along Constitution Avenue between 15th and 23rd Streets. A fireworks display and daylong festival on the National Mall are also being planned.

The procession will trace the Army's evolution from the Revolutionary War to modern times with historical U.S. Army personnel reenactors, period-accurate equipment, vehicles, flyovers and military bands.

Trump is scheduled to deliver remarks.

A White House list of issues Trump might raise with South Africa's president

5. Classifying farm attacks as a priority crime. South Africa's government counters that the relatively small number of homicides against white farmers are misunderstood by the Trump administration; they're part of the country's severe problem with crime and aren't racially motivated.

6. South Africa's race-based barriers to trade. The Trump administration would like U.S. companies to be exempt from laws requiring foreign companies to allow 30% of their South African subsidiaries to be owned by shareholders who are Black or from other racial groups that were disadvantaged under apartheid, South Africa's former system of white-minority rule.

7. Condemning politicians who promote ''genocidal rhetoric.'' While Ramaphosa's party doesn't use the ''kill the farmer'' or ''shoot the farmer'' apartheid-era chants, the government hasn't condemned it.

Trump and South Africa's president are meeting at the White House amid tensions

Trump is hosting Cyril Ramaphosa amid tension after accusing South Africa of allowing a ''genocide'' against minority white farmers. South Africa has strongly rejected Trump's allegations. Afrikaner farmers in the country say there's no evidence of this — that white and Black farmers alike have been murdered.

Ramaphosa pushed for Wednesday's Oval Office meeting to try to set the record straight and salvage his country's relationship with the United States. It's at their lowest point since the nation enforced its apartheid system of racial segregation, which ended in 1994.

Trump has cut all U.S. assistance to South Africa and welcomed several dozen white South African farmers to the U.S. as refugees.

▶ See an AP Photo package on Afrikaner farmers

Trump's Wednesday schedule, according to the White House

8. 11:30 a.m. - Trump welcomes South Africa's president, Cyril Ramaphosa

9. 11:45 a.m. - Trump and Ramaphosa will have lunch

10. 12:45 a.m. - Trump and Ramaphosa will have a meeting in the Oval Office

11. 4:00 p.m. - The NCAA men's college basketball champions, the University of Florida Gators, will visit the White House

Trump drafts America's business titans to burnish his image at home and abroad

With Trump back in the White House, a jaunt with the president or a stop in the Oval Office is now as routine for America's business leaders as a speech to an industry conference.

Corporate titans are spending more time than ever working to curry favor with the administration as part of their effort to score relief from regulations — and tariffs — from the transactional president. He, in turn, is happy to use them as supporting cast members as he tries to project the economy as booming at a time when growth is slowing.

But putting in time with the U.S. president has not fully insulated companies such as Apple, Amazon, Walmart and others from Trump's anger. It's a sign that the public commitments they make to create U.S. jobs may be doing more to burnish the president's image than to protect their own profitability.

▶ Read more about Trump's relationship with business titans

South Africa's leader aims to salvage relationship with Trump in White House visit

Trump will host South Africa's leader at the White House on Wednesday for a meeting that might be tense after Trump accused the country's government of allowing a ''genocide'' to take place against minority white farmers.

South Africa has strongly rejected the allegation and President Cyril Ramaphosa pushed for the meeting with Trump in an attempt to salvage his country's relationship with the United States, which is at its lowest point since the end of the apartheid system of racial segregation in 1994.

Trump has launched a series of accusations at South Africa's Black-led government, including that it is seizing land from white farmers, enforcing anti-white policies and pursuing an anti-American foreign policy.

Ramaphosa said he hopes to correct what he calls damaging mischaracterizations during the meeting, which is Trump's first with an African leader at the White House since he returned to office.

▶ Read more about Ramaphosa's visit

Trump selects concept for $175 billion ‘Golden Dome' missile defense system

Trump has announced the concept he wants for his future Golden Dome missile defense program — a multilayered, $175 billion system that for the first time will put U.S. weapons in space.

Speaking Tuesday from the Oval Office, Trump said he expects the system will be ''fully operational before the end of my term,'' which ends in 2029, and have the capability of intercepting missiles ''even if they are launched from space.''

It's likelier that the complex system may have some initial capability by that point, a U.S. official familiar with the program said.

Golden Dome is envisioned to include ground- and space-based capabilities that are able to detect and stop missiles at all four major stages of a potential attack: detecting and destroying them before a launch, intercepting them in their earliest stage of flight, stopping them midcourse in the air, or halting them in the final minutes as they descend toward a target.

▶ Read more about the ''Golden Dome''