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By Kit Maher, Sarah Ferris, CNN

(CNN) — President Donald Trump is reshaping a Colorado Republican primary by offering one of the candidates a role in his administration and returning his endorsement to the incumbent, whom he called a “RINO” just last month.

On Friday, Trump said that he met with Hope Scheppelman, who is running for Colorado’s 3rd District, and her husband, Steven, “to discuss various opportunities to serve our Country in a different capacity than her current run for the United States Congress.”

“Hope and Steven are wonderful and patriotic Veterans of our U.S. Navy, and loyal supporters of our Historic MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN Movement. Therefore, I am proud to announce that they will be leaving the Campaign trail in order to join my Administration, in a capacity to be determined,” Trump wrote on social media, adding that they decided nothing should impede GOP Rep. Jeff Hurd’s race.

Trump has used his endorsement as a tool to exert power or threaten members of Congress who go against him, but despite Trump making good on that threat, House Speaker Mike Johnson appeared to demonstrate how the president can also be convinced to change his mind.

Two sources familiar with the matter said that Johnson made a strong case to the White House to support Hurd, who represents a competitive district that Trump won by about 10 points in 2024.

“The Speaker advocated vigorously for Jeff who has been a great colleague and great member of the House Republican Conference,” one of the sources said.

It’s not clear yet what roles Scheppelman and her husband will serve in the administration. The White House did not respond to CNN’s request for comment on what capacity the Scheppelman’s will be serving, why her husband was also offered a role and whether the president directly offered them jobs in exchange for stepping out of the race.

In a statement, Scheppelman announced she suspended her campaign and cited Trump’s “request to withdraw,” due to the slim GOP majority in the House. Calling on Hurd to “correct his naive voting record and support President Trump,” she vowed to run again in 2028 if indeed Hurd wins this fall and fails to do so.

It was a significant flip for Trump, who in February publicly withdrew his endorsement of Hurd based on “lack of support” for his tariffs, calling him “one of a small number of Legislators who have let me and our Country down.” He then gave Scheppelmam his “Complete and Total Endorsement.”

Another source familiar told CNN Johnson shared with the president he had to stand by Hurd, and the president told him he understood and wouldn’t object to that.

Trump made clear that his decision was fueled by preventing a Democratic alternative from winning, writing, “It is time to stand together against the people that want to destroy our Great Nation, and vote for Jeff Hurd.”

“I’m grateful for President Trump’s support and appreciate his efforts to unify Republicans in Colorado’s Third District. The President and I share the same goals: securing the border, American energy dominance, and helping working families,” Hurd wrote in part on X.

Hurd was one of the six Republicans who voted to effectively repeal Trump’s tariffs on Canada, and the president attempted to punish Hurd in the midterms by pulling his support. Trump warned of the consequences of going against his tariffs, writing on Truth Social, “Any Republican, in the House or the Senate, that votes against TARIFFS wi

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By Haley Britzky, CNN

(CNN) — While Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has repeatedly stated that the number and intensity of the strikes the US is carrying out against Iran is only increasing, data provided by the US military shows a pace of operations that has ebbed and flowed over the last three weeks.

As Hegseth has gone to the podium alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine in a series of press conferences, he has repeatedly asserted that the coming day would bring the most US strikes on Iran yet.

Starting on March 4, his second briefing on the war which began on February 28, Hegseth said “more and larger waves” of strikes were coming, and that the Defense Department was “accelerating, not decelerating.”

“Iran’s capabilities are evaporating by the hour,” he said. On March 10, he said that “today will be yet again our most intense day of strikes inside Iran.” And on Thursday, Hegseth said, “today will be the largest strike package yet, just like yesterday was.”

But data released publicly by US Central Command has not shown that the number of strikes has increased daily the way Hegseth has indicated, which could partly be due to the need to adjust the frequency of flights as aircraft and ships receive maintenance while operations continue, or because the military started with a set target list and is now working to identify and confirm new targets.

US Central Command referred questions from CNN to the Defense Department. The Defense Department did not respond to a request for comment.

The discrepancy speaks to a disconnect between how the war is being messaged and the reality on the ground. During briefings to the press, Hegseth has said the US is “winning decisively”; that Iran’s air defenses have been “flattened” and industrial base “overwhelmingly destroyed”; and that Iran has “no air defenses…no air force….no Navy.”

Undoubtedly, Iran’s military capabilities have been degraded significantly and Israel has killed senior Iranian leaders including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Ali Larijani, the head of Iran’s National Security Council.

However, the US has struggled to secure safe passage for commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively closed due to threats from Iran. Tehran has continued retaliating against neighboring nations and US forces throughout the region. On Thursday, a US F-35 fighter jet made an emergency landing after sources said it was believed to have been struck by Iran during a combat mission, raising questions about Hegseth’s claim on March 4 that by the end of that week, the US and Israel would have “complete control of Iranian skies.”

And the public strike numbers released by US Central Command reveal that the waves of attacks since Hegseth’s first briefing have not been increasing steadily, despite Hegseth’s rhetoric indicating otherwise.

It’s not particularly surprising that the number of strikes would increase or decrease over time, Mark Cancian, a retired Marine Corps colonel and senior adviser to the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Defense and Security Department told CNN. It could reflect that the operation is moving into a sustained air campaign, meaning the military will need to provide maintenance to aircraft and ships as the operations continue, whereas a

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