PRESIDENT TRUMP and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky were cordial in front of the cameras for their high-stakes summit in the Oval Office on Monday, despite key differences over how to bring an end to the Russia-Ukraine war.
The two leaders entered the meeting with clear divisions over the contours of a potential peace deal following Trump’s meeting last week with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump insists that Ukraine will have to agree to some sort of “land swap,” while Zelensky views the ceding of territory as a set-up for further Russian incursions.
“We… need to discuss the possible exchanges of territory taking into consideration the current line of contact, that means the war zone, the war lines that are pretty obvious — very sad, actually, to look, at them,” Trump said.
And Trump says he has no interest in the temporary ceasefire Zelensky is advocating for. Instead, Trump wants a broad agreement to bring a permanent end to the war, even if it comes at the expense of more near-term fighting.
“I wish they could stop, but strategically that could be a disadvantage for one side or the other,” Trump said Monday.
Still, the press conference between the two leaders went far better than their last encounter in the Oval Office in February, which ended in a shouting match.
Trump commented on how he liked Zelensky’s suit Monday, after the Ukrainian leader showed up dressed in his standard all-black military outfit earlier this year.
“I cannot believe it, I love it. Look at that,” Trump said upon greeting Zelensky, putting his arm around the Ukrainian leader and saying “we love” the Ukrainian people.
The U.S. president also passed on a chance to dig at Zelensky for not holding wartime elections, instead making a joke about how it’s something he might consider.
Time after time, Trump and Zelensky dodged tough questions about their disagreements, instead staying on message about the importance of bringing an end to the fighting between Moscow and Kyiv.
“When it ends? I can’t tell you, but the war is going to end,” Trump said. “And this gentleman [Zelensky] wants it to end and Vladimir Putin wants it to end. I think the whole world is tired of it, and we’re going to get it ended.”
Vice President Vance was also in attendance for the meeting. He initiated the confrontation with Zelensky in front of the cameras earlier this year, scolding the Ukrainian leader for not being more thankful for U.S. support.
On Monday, Zelensky proactively expressed gratitude to the U.S. for arms sales to NATO that are being passed along to his country.
“We have the ability now to buy weapons. … we are thankful for this,” Zelensky said.
The meeting took place as European leaders waited outside the Oval Office.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, President of the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte later joined a roundtable discussion with Trump.
“We’re all working for the same goal,” Trump said, with Macron and Meloni sitting on either side of him.
Trump said he’d already spoken with Putin on Monday and would call him again at the conclusion of Monday’s meetings, saying he hopes to set up a trilateral meeting between himself, Putin and Zelensky soon.
“If everything works out well today we’ll have a trilateral, and I think there will be a reasonable chance of ending the war when we do that,” Trump said.
Zelensky said he’s ready for the trilateral meeting.
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LAND SWAPS AND SECURITY GUARANTEES
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U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said Sunday that Russia-Ukraine land swaps are the “fundamental issue” that will be discussed at Monday’s summit.
“Hopefully we have some clarity on it, and hopefully that ends up in a peace deal very, very soon,” Witkoff said.
Trump has said Zelensky has no hope of reclaiming Crimea.
Zelensky, meanwhile, said he would not accept any peace deal that could set up potential future attacks by Russia.
“Peace must be lasting,” Zelensky posted on X. “Not like it was years ago, when Ukraine was forced to give up Crimea and part of our East—part of Donbas—and Putin simply used it as a springboard for a new attack. Or when Ukraine was given so called ‘security guarantees’ in 1994, but they didn’t work.”
Trump says NATO membership for Ukraine is off the table.
However, Witkoff said Trump and Putin agreed to “robust security guarantees” for Ukraine during their summit last week, which he said would effectively give them NATO-style protections.
“We were able to win the following concession, that the United States could offer Article 5-like protection, which is one of the real reasons why Ukraine wants to be in NATO,” Witkoff said, referring to the alliance’s core mutual defense article.
Trump on Monday said: “I think that the European nations are going to take a lot of the burden, we’re going to help them and make it very secure.”
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TENSIONS BUBBLE BENEATH THE SURFACE
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Only hours before the meeting, Trump and Zelensky fired off aggressive social media posts.
Trump put the onus squarely on Zelensky, saying he “can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight.”
Trump also lashed out at his critics and the news media.
“I know exactly what I’m doing, and I don’t need the advice of people who have been working on all of these conflicts for years, and were never able to do a thing to stop them,” Trump said in one post. “They are ‘STUPID’ people, with no common sense, intelligence, or understanding, and they only make the current R/U disaster more difficult to FIX. Despite all of my lightweight and very jealous critics, I’ll get it done — I always do!!!”
In another post, Trump said that even if Putin fully surrendered and handed over Moscow, “the Fake News Media and their Democrat Partners would say that this was a bad and humiliating day.”
Zelensky, meanwhile, lashed out at Putin over a Russian attack that happened early Monday, calling it “demonstrative and cynical.”
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Former Attorney General Bill Barr answered questions about Jeffrey Epstein in a Monday deposition with the House Oversight Committee that kicked off the panel’s probe into matters relating to the late sex offender — an interview that fueled GOP defenses of Trump while leaving the panel’s Democrats hoping to call additional witnesses.
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Versant is rebranding MSNBC as “MS NOW,” which stands for “My Source for News, Opinion, and the World,” and dropping the iconic Peacock logo as part of the change.
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Nationwide protests erupted throughout Israel over the weekend as hundreds of thousands of demonstrators called for the safe return of hostages still held in Gaza after nearly two years of war.
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© iStock / Getty Images Plus
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Texas Dems return, ending redistricting standoff
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Texas state House Democrats returned home on Monday, ending a weeks-long standoff over the GOP’s efforts to redraw congressional maps ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
The new gerrymandered maps are still expected to pass, but the Texas Democrats declared victory, saying they’d “rallied Democrats nationwide to join this existential fight for fair representation.”
“We’re returning to Texas more dangerous to Republicans’ plans than when we left,” Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu said in a statement. “Our return allows us to build the legal record necessary to defeat this racist map in court, take our message to communities across the state and country, and inspire legislators across the country how to fight these undemocratic redistricting schemes in their own statehouses.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) first special session to redraw the state’s maps ended last week, with the state legislature unable to vote because the fleeing Democrats denied the legislature a quorum.
Abbott immediately called a second special session.
Texas Republicans said they’d move quickly on redistricting after reaching a quorum Monday afternoon.
“No one here needs a reminder that the last few weeks have been contentious, but from this point forward, the rules of engagement are clear: Debate is welcome, but personal attacks and name calling will not be tolerated,” Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R) told his colleagues.
Over the weekend, state senators in Texas launched a public hearing on the bill to redraw voting districts in the state, the first step in the process of passing new maps.
President Trump has urged Texas Republicans to draw the new maps, saying it could help the GOP win five more House seats in the midterm elections as the party seeks to defend its slim majority.
While the new maps are expected to pass, Texas Democrats believe they’ve drawn national attention to the issue and spurred blue states into action.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has called a special election for November to redraw his state’s maps to be more favorable for Democrats.
California Democrats released their proposal for new congressional districts on Friday.
Newsom is hoping to bypass his state’s popular independent redistricting commission by taking the new map straight to voters, although its passage is no sure thing.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Monday slammed California Democrats’ proposed House map, saying he’ll take measures to stop the new congressional lines from advancing.
“Democrats across the nation have played politics with redistricting for decades, and this is just the latest example,” Johnson posted on X. “Republicans who are following state and federal laws will not be lectured by people who abused the system.”
Johnson said he instructed the House campaign arm to “use every measure and resource possible to fight the California Democrats’ illegal power grab.”
The Hill’s Jared Gans writes: “The plan comes as Newsom positions himself as the most vocal Trump critic on the national stage — and amid speculation he’s planning to mount a White House bid in the coming years. But it also represents a political gamble that could backfire on the governor, as the state’s independent redistricting commission remains popular with voters and several high-profile figures, including former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), have vowed to campaign against the initiative.”
Newsom has urged other blue states, including New York, New Jersey and Illinois, to redraw their maps.
Other red states, including Florida and Indiana, are also looking at a potential mid-decade redistricting.
Redistricting typically happens at the end of the decade when new census numbers are released.
MORE POLITICS…
• Trump said Monday he plans to sign an executive order to eliminate mail-in ballots and “seriously controversial” voting machines ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
• Former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) launched a comeback bid on Monday, giving Democrats a boost in their effort to unseat Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio).
• The return of earmarks to the annual appropriations bills sparked a new battle among Republicans on Capitol Hill, which could endanger the chances of passing appropriations bills ahead of the government funding deadline at the end of September.
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Trump officials tout hundreds of arrests in DC
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Attorney General Pam Bondi says there have been more than 300 arrests in Washington, D.C., since President Trump unilaterally took over the District’s police department and dispatched the National Guard to deal with crime in the nation’s capital.
That includes 68 arrests made Saturday night, with Bondi saying charges were brought against homicide suspects and alleged drug traffickers.
Trump alleged over Truth Social that the District has been fudging statistics to create the appearance that crime was on the decline.
“This is a very bad and dangerous thing to do and they are under serious investigation for doing so!” he posted.
Meanwhile, National Guard troops from four red states — South Carolina, West Virginia, Ohio and Mississippi — have been dispatched to Washington to join the estimated 2,000 federal and local agents currently patrolling the streets.
There have been pockets of protests, with Trump relishing a political fight over crime in one of the most Democratic-leaning regions in the country.
Restaurant attendance in the District has plunged since the streets have filled with law enforcement.
Trump on Monday denied that local business are being hurt.
“The press says, ‘he’s a dictator, he’s trying to take over.’ No, all I want is security for our people,” Trump said during a press conference in the Oval Office. “But people who haven’t gone out to dinner in Washington, D.C., in two years are going out to dinner, and the restaurants the last two days were busier than they’ve been in a long time.”
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Sunday dismissed Trump’s crackdown on crime as a “stunt” meant to distract from his political problem spots.
“Donald Trump didn’t like the fact that the walls were closing in on him, that his own base was questioning why he wouldn’t release the Epstein files, why he was protecting very powerful people,” Murphy said on “Meet the Press.”
“He didn’t want to talk anymore about the fact that our health care system is about to collapse because of the cuts that they have made, that premiums are going to go up by 75 percent on Americans,” Murphy added. “And so, true to form, he just decided to create a new news cycle.”
Still, The Hill’s Amie Parnes reports that Democrats are struggling to mount a response to Trump’s moves on crime, which were a major selling point for his successful 2024 presidential campaign: “Some Democrats have expressed frustration with their party’s emphasis on decreasing crime rates instead of focusing on the way voters feel walking the streets of their city.”
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💡Perspectives:
• Washington Monthly: The lies behind Trump’s D.C. troop surge.
• Washington Times: Big cities are the face of the Democratic Party.
• New York: Why Trump will dispatch the National Guard to New York City.
• The Hill: Trump sends troops to cities already making progress on crime.
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