MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — President Donald Trump, who for years has played Elvis Presley's music at his campaign rallies across the country and who has often compared himself to Presley, said on Monday he's heading to the King of Rock and Roll's Memphis home while in town for an official event.
“I’m going to see Graceland after this, I think. Is that right?” Trump said during a meeting of the Memphis Safe Task Force. “I love Elvis.”
Trump's side trip to a top tourist attraction — which has at times ranked as the second most-visited private home in the U.S. after the White House — is a stark contrast to the domestic and international issues on which the president gave updates at the beginning of his remarks in Memphis.
Thousands of Americans across the country are wading through long lines at security checkpoints at airports, where Trump sent federal immigration officers to assist the Transportation Security Administration during an ongoing Homeland Security shutdown. And although Trump in Tennessee on Monday noted that he had ordered a “temporary” halt to planned strikes on Iranian power plants, American forces are still embroiled in the sprawling regional conflict, in which at least 13 U.S. service members have been killed.
The late singer's stately home, with its stone facade and white columned entrance, is just a few miles from the site of the roundtable meeting, which was also attended by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Attorney General Pam Bondi. Graceland opened as a museum and tourist attraction in 1982 as a tribute to Presley, the singer and actor who died in August 1977 at age 42, and draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.
Visitors see rooms including the kitchen, the Jungle Room and other parts of the home kept in the state they existed in when Elvis died. A large Presley-themed entertainment complex across the street from the museum is owned by Elvis Presley Enterprises and includes the singer's automobiles and airplanes.
Saying that sometimes he was tempted to “tell a little fib” and say he had met the iconic performer, Trump said he assumed his stay at Graceland was “not going to be a very long stay, but I want to see that.”
Trump's campaign rally pre-show set list often includes some of Presley's music, such as “Suspicious Minds,” “I Want You, I Need You, I Love You,” and a medley of “Dixie” and “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” At times, massive digital screens at his rallies would play videos of Presley's concerts.
Trump has often compared himself to Elvis through the years, as well. In early 2024, Trump on social media posted a composite photograph with half Presley’s face on one side and his own on the other.
“For so many years people have been saying that Elvis and I look alike. Now this pic has been going all over the place,” Trump wrote. “What do you think?”
Later that year, he shared on social media a black-and-white image that depicted Trump standing alongside the singer as he played guitar.
Trump has also shouted out the late musician from the stage, opening a 2018 rally in Tupelo, Mississippi — Presley's birthplace — by joking that people used to say that at one time he resembled him.
“We love Elvis. I shouldn’t say this, you’ll say I’m very conceited because I’m not, but other than the blonde hair when I was growing up they said I looked like Elvis, do you see that, can you believe it?”
Kinnard reported from Chapin, S.C., and can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP
President Donald Trump arrives onstage to participate in a roundtable discussion on public safety at a Tennessee Air National Guard Base, Monday, March 23, 2026, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
NEW YORK (AP) — A jet landing at New York City’s LaGuardia Airport collided with a fire truck on the runway, killing the pilot and copilot and injuring several others. Here’s what you need to know:
The crash occurred around 11:45 p.m. on Sunday when an Air Canada regional jet arriving from Montreal struck an airport fire truck traveling across the runway to respond to a separate incident aboard another plane involving a concerning odor.
Audio recordings from the airport control tower indicate the truck was initially cleared to cross the runway before a controller tried to pull it back to avoid a collision. The unnamed controller repeatedly told the vehicle to stop and diverted incoming aircraft from landing.
Photos and videos from the crash's aftermath show the jet’s nose crushed and tilted upward, with debris hanging from the mangled cockpit. Stairways used to evacuate passengers were pushed up to the emergency exits and the damaged emergency vehicle lay on its side nearby.
The pilot and copilot were the only confirmed fatalities. Their names have not been released, but both were based in Canada, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport.
About 40 passengers and crew members were also taken to area hospitals, some with serious injuries, the authority said. Most were released as of Monday morning.
Two Port Authority employees traveling in the fire truck also suffered injuries, but they were not believed to be life-threatening.
The Jazz Aviation flight, which was operating on behalf of Air Canada, had about 70 passengers and four crew members on board as it landed from Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport.
LaGuardia was shut down following Sunday’s crash and all air traffic was diverted as the National Transportation Safety Board investigated. It reopened Monday afternoon.
The crash and temporary closure adds further misery as U.S. airports struggle under a shutdown over government funding during the busy spring break season.
LaGuardia is a major transit hub — the 19th busiest out of more than 500 airports in the country in 2024, according to the FAA.
The airport opened to commercial traffic in 1939 and is located in the New York City borough of Queens, some 9 miles (14 kilometers) from Manhattan.
It’s too early to say what factors contributed to the deadly mishap, but the crash underscores the challenges air traffic controllers have faced in recent years.
Air traffic controllers are not directly affected by the current shutdown, but they are considered essential workers and have been forced to work their stressful jobs without pay during prior shutdowns.
The partial shutdown has lasted more than a month and has caused long lines and frustration among travelers at airports across the country.
Hundreds of Transportation Security Administration agents have called in sick or quit their jobs rather than be forced to work without pay.
President Donald Trump, in response, deployed immigration enforcement officers to supplement TSA agents on Monday.
Congress remains deadlocked over approving funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the TSA.
Follow Philip Marcelo at https://x.com/philmarcelo
An Air Canada Jet sits on the runway at LaGuardia Airport, Monday, March 23, 2026, after colliding with a Port Authority aircraft rescue and firefighting vehicle after landing in New York. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)
Firefighters and investigators examine the site, Monday, March 23, 2026, where an Air Canada jet came to rest after colliding with a Port Authority firetruck at LaGuardia Airport, after landing Sunday night in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
A Port Authority firetruck lays on its side just off the runway at LaGuardia Airport, Monday, March 23, 2026, after colliding with an Air Canada jet shortly after it landed late Sunday night in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
