Trump creates military spouse commission; talks Iran, Reflecting Pool, more

(TNND) — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday to establish a commission focused on supporting military spouses.

The commission will be chaired by Jennifer Hegseth, the wife of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and include spouses of senior military leaders across the various branches, representing both federal and National Guard troops.

Jennifer Hegseth said at the signing ceremony that the President’s Military Spouse Commission will tackle “generational issues that are long overdue to address.”

The commission will serve as the voice of the military spouse in the White House.

The commission will address challenges to housing, employment, health care, education and more, acknowledging the difficult job of holding down the home front through frequent moves and service members’ long deployments.

“America cannot have the strongest military in the world without the love and devotion of our remarkable military spouses, who make the extraordinary sacrifices for our country,” Trump said at the ceremony.

The Defense Department’s surveys of active duty spouses found they earn nearly 40% less than their civilian counterparts and face a 20% unemployment rate – over four and a half times the national unemployment rate.

Military spouses spend an average of 23 weeks looking for employment, despite being a highly educated bunch. The survey found 82% have completed at least some college, while another 5% have a vocational or technical diploma.

But nearly a quarter of military spouses reported having to move within the previous year, because their partner got a new duty station. And such a move more than doubled the odds that a civilian active duty spouse was unemployed, according to the military.

The Defense Department already has efforts to connect military spouses with hundreds of partner employers who have committed to recruit, hire, promote and retain them as employees.

And USAA launched a $500 million, multiyear effort last fall to help veterans and military spouses achieve meaningful careers, financial security and, ultimately, well-being.

“If your family’s not taking care of, then it causes hesitations and complications for the war-fighters up front,” Pete Hegseth said at the signing ceremony. “And so, as we say often, and we mean it, no soldier, no Marine, no member of the joint force serves alone.”

Trump took questions from a pool of reporters in the Oval Office following the signing ceremony, touching on a number of other topics.

Trump said “last chance” talks are underway with Iran.

The president said the American military held off this weekend on stronger strikes against Iran after calls from Iran, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and others to give diplomacy more time.

“I don’t want to use the word ‘begging,’ but some were,” Trump said. “In particular, Iran did not want to be hit. And they said, ‘We want to talk. We want to talk about the Strait (of Hormuz),’ but more importantly from my standpoint, ‘We want to talk about the denuclearization of Iran.’”

Trump touched on the GOP voter identification bill he’s championed, adding that he believes Congress should stay in Washington through its August recess to pass the SAVE America Act.

The topic came up when a reporter asked Trump about the possibility of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani requiring ID to access city-operated grocery stores despite Democratic opposition to the SAVE America Act.

Trump was asked about the $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund,” which has been terminated via a formal order from Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, as he seeks to win over GOP holdouts for permanent confirmation to the role.

Trump talked about immigration and border enforcement in light of the migrant surge in Spain.

And he was sharply critical of U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro for dropping felony charges against former Olympian David Hearn, whom he has accused of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool in the nation’s capital.

“The judge was extremely unfriendly to Jeanine, and frankly, I think she choked because the judge was really vicious,” Trump told reporters.