President Trump signs several executive orders and holds a press conference to take questions from the assembled press pool on a variety of issues. [Video Prompted]
According to the rough schedule, President Zelenskyy will be coming to the White House on Friday. The agreement to create a surety for repayment of taxpayer funds has apparently been reconciled.
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President Donald Trump and French President Macron hold a joint press availability together with their diplomatic counterparts in the oval office.
President Trump and Macron took questions from the U.S. and European media. Interestingly, you can see how important it is for Macron to hear how the USA will be part of a peacekeeping effort. WATCH:
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CBSs Margaret Brennan is shocked, flummoxed, stunned and perplexed at the amount of time President Trump’s personal envoy Steve Witkoff spent in trust building conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
This CBS interview comes on the heels of reporting about Volodymyr Zelenskyy losing his cool and angrily shouting at Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and provides quite a contrast. Envoy Steve Witkoff patiently outlines the framework for his respectful discussions with Vladimir Putin.
CBS is really concerned about the details of these meetings. The possibility of peace negotiations, the looming likelihood of a ceasefire and the status of the sanctions ending are all of great concern. Watch and you will see what I mean. WATCH (prompted):
[Transcript of the Russia Discussion] – MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to also ask you about Russia. You are a very trusted advisor to President Trump, and he sent you to speak face to face with Vladimir Putin. Fox reported you sat with Putin for three and a half hours. You said that you spent a lot of time talking, developing a friendship and a relationship with Putin, and that’s how you helped bring this U.S. Citizen Mark Fogel, home. Can you take us inside that room? Did you have a translator? Did you have a note taker? Were you talking in English? What happened?
Earlier today President Trump confronted Maine Governor Janet Mills for undermining women and keeping men in women’s sports.
Heated exchange between President Trump and Gov. Janet Mills (D-ME) over executive order banning transgender women in sports.
Trump: “Are you not going to comply with that?”
Mills: “I’m complying with state and federal laws.”
Trump: “We are the federal law. You better do it, because you’re not going to get any federal funding at all if you don’t…your population doesn’t want men playing in women’s sports…”
Mills: “See you in court.”
Trump: “Good. I’ll see you in court. I look forward to that. That should be an easy one. And enjoy your life after governor, because I don’t think you’ll be in elected politics.”
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Full Speech Below:
President Trump delivered the keynote address at the Future Investment Initiative Institute (FII Summit) in Miami, Florida.
Remaining in a rapid response forward footing in case events unfold quickly, President Trump’s key foreign policy advisors and emissaries are traveling with him as he addresses the audience. During part of the remarks, President Trump addressed the current headline foreign policy issues in Gaza and Ukraine, once again calling attention to the madness of the conflict.
At 3:52 of the video segment below, President Trump begins discussing the position of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Keep in mind, during the transition phase prior to the inauguration, during the early days of the administration and all the way up to last week, President Trump has been in discussions with Zelenskyy. So, President Trump has a pretty solid understanding of where Zelenskyy stands on the issue of ending the conflict. With that backdrop, listen:
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The full speech, with questions is below:
(New York Times) – The Internal Revenue Service will begin laying off roughly 6,000 employees on Thursday as part of the Trump administration’s push to downsize the federal work force, three people familiar with the agency’s plans said.
The terminations will target relatively recent hires at the I.R.S., which the Biden administration had attempted to revitalize with a surge of funding and new staff, the people said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
The Trump administration has begun laying off probationary employees — who do not enjoy as much job protection as their more tenured colleagues — across the federal government in recent days.
I.R.S. managers on Wednesday began asking employees to report to the office in the coming days and bring with them their government-issued equipment, according to messages viewed by The New York Times. The I.R.S. employs roughly 100,000 accountants, lawyers and other staff across the country. (read more)
It was inevitable. We have been together from the outset of the conversation where we admitted to ourselves that sooner or later the pretending was going to have to stop. Well, here we are.
President Donald Trump begins a very uncomfortable process to peel back the mask that Ukrainian President Zelenskyy represents. This is needed:
President Trump – Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start, but a War that he, without the U.S. and “TRUMP,” will never be able to settle. The United States has spent $200 Billion Dollars more than Europe, and Europe’s money is guaranteed, while the United States will get nothing back. Why didn’t Sleepy Joe Biden demand Equalization, in that this War is far more important to Europe than it is to us — We have a big, beautiful Ocean as separation.
On top of this, Zelenskyy admits that half of the money we sent him is “MISSING.” He refuses to have Elections, is very low in Ukrainian Polls, and the only thing he was good at was playing Biden “like a fiddle.” A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left. In the meantime, we are successfully negotiating an end to the War with Russia, something all admit only “TRUMP,” and the Trump Administration, can do. Biden never tried, Europe has failed to bring Peace, and Zelenskyy probably wants to keep the “gravy train” going. I love Ukraine, but Zelenskyy has done a terrible job, his Country is shattered, and MILLIONS have unnecessarily died – And so it continues….. (link)
Here are some excerpts of the interview by Sean Hannity where he sits down with President Trump and Elon Musk to discuss the America-First and DOGE agenda. WATCH:
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A high-level diplomatic meeting between USA and Russia has not happened in more than three years. The first goal was to figure out how to talk to each other again, what processes to use and what the consultation mechanism would be for when peace negotiations would begin. That ‘deconfliction’ goal seems to have been achieved.
Additionally, in a very positive sign, both the USA team and the Russian team agreed to return to normal embassy operations, in diplomatic speak “missions,” in both Moscow and Washington DC, that includes staffing support to reestablish contacts and communications. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Adviser Michael Waltz and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff spoke to reporters after their meeting with the Russian delegation in Saudi Arabia.
Pay close attention to the specific words Marco Rubio uses at 14:40 of the video, in the bigger of the big pictures, that is the goal of President Trump and President Putin. WATCH:
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – […] The U.S. team was led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and National Security Adviser Michael Waltz. The Russian negotiating delegation included Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov and Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said the U.S. team agreed to establish “a consultation mechanism to address irritants to our bilateral relationship with the objective of taking steps necessary to normalize the operation of our respective diplomatic missions.” Rubio told the Associated Press the two sides agreed to restore embassy staffing as part of this normalization.
The ‘leaders’ of Europe got together in Paris, France at the request of French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss how to handle a peace agreement if Putin, Trump and eventually Zelenskyy come to terms. The outcome perfectly encapsulates the EU.
After essentially saying the United States would not send military troops into Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping mission, President Trump sent a communique to each of the leaders, “asking them to spell out what they would be prepared to offer to enforce a peace agreement, as well as what they would expect from the U.S.” However, there was no consensus from the EU meeting.
Instead, the Germans, French, British, Polish and EU leaders from Brussels said they would not send military assistance to Ukraine, without the leadership of the United States, and specifically without U.S. military troops to lead them. {Insert belly laughter here} Of course, they didn’t.
Politico outlines the story of the meeting: […] “A French-led effort by European leaders to present a united front on Ukraine in the face of rising fear over U.S. President Donald Trump’s intentions fizzled Monday as they failed to agree on sending troops to police a possible peace deal.
French President Emmanuel Macron had called the emergency meeting in Brussels after European leaders were left reeling by news the U.S. would start negotiations with Russia to end its war on Ukraine, but without inviting any representatives from Europe or from Ukraine.
But after a 3.5-hour huddle at the Elysée presidential palace, the response of leaders to the biggest security calculus shift in decades was underwhelming. “We realize that such meetings do not end in decisions,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said after the meeting.
Leaders came up with no new joint ideas, squabbled over sending troops to Ukraine, and once again mouthed platitudes on aiding Ukraine and boosting defense spending.