Overview

• In an Aug. 19 Fox & Friends call, the president said he wants to “try to get to heaven” and linked that hope to brokering a Ukraine peace deal, citing a desire to save “7,000 people a week.”
• Press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters the comment was not a joke and said the president was serious about the spiritual framing.
• Religious reactions ranged from Franklin Graham’s gospel clarification to criticism from Justin Peters and Jenna Ellis over works-based salvation, while Bishop Robert Barron praised the president’s humility.
• On Aug. 21, the president elaborated on faith during a radio interview, saying there must be “some kind of a report card” in the afterlife and questioning why any evangelicals would oppose him.
• Public reaction included social-media ridicule and health speculation, and on the policy front his outreach to Vladimir Putin followed White House talks with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders without a ceasefire or concrete peace terms so far.