Trump criticizes White House for Houthi strikes. Donald Trump blasted the Biden administration on Friday for conducting strikes against Houthi militants in Yemen Thursday night. The former president took aim at the escalation in the Middle East and the controversy around Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s hospitalization.“So, let me get this straight. We’re dropping bombs all over the Middle East, AGAIN (where I defeated ISIS!), and our Secretary of Defence [sic], who just went missing for five days, is running the war from his laptop in a hospital room,” wrote Trump, the leading GOP presidential candidate, in a Truth Social post.