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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Why does this need to be broadcast? Why is it important to the people who pull the strings on Ukraine, for there to be public visibility on a meeting of G7 leaders discussing Ukraine? Why do they need the optics?
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky personally asked President Trump for continued American support during a cross-ocean G7 meeting held Monday — the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Zelensky — flanked by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other world leaders who made their way to Kyiv to mark the occasion — made his case to Trump on why the US should work to protect Ukraine’s interests amid ongoing tension with the president.
President Trump joined the meeting from Washington, where he was flanked by Vice President JD Vance and French President Emmanuel Macron. WATCH:
Vladimir Putin has a weapon the “west” cannot defend against. It’s not part of his physical military armament, it’s far more powerful. Putin has the truth as a weapon.
The western group must pretend they didn’t carry out a color revolution in Ukraine. They must also pretend they didn’t install Volodymyr Zelenskyy and pretend there was no civil war happening inside Ukraine for a decade. Lastly, the western group must pretend they didn’t try to provoke Vladimir Putin with expansions of NATO and an intentional breaking of the Minsk accords. There are other pretenses that must be maintained, but these are the top ones.
Moments ago, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick took the oath of office in the Oval Office as delivered by Vice-President JD Vance.
Secretary Lutnick is going to be a very key component in the MAGAnomic agenda, likely second only to President Trump. Just as Wilbur Ross was key to unlocking the economy in President Trump’s first term, so too is Secretary Lutnick going to play a pivotal role.
Long before President Trump won the election, Howard Lutnick was one of the few people who really understood the construct of MAGAnomics, how economic nationalism was crucial, and how the strategic use of tariffs creates massive GDP growth. The swearing-in ceremony is very uplifting, and both President Trump and Secretary Lutnick are very positive about the future.
At 11:38 of the video below, President Trump holds an impromptu press conference. WATCH:
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During an interview with Brian Kilmeade, President Donald Trump sounds like he is battling the same cold as me. However, on the serious side, President Trump goes through the geopolitical map of challenges being faced and gives a brutally honest perspective on the current status.
At 06:30 of the interview, President Trump outlines his current opinion on the Ukraine President and the reason for it. President Trump talks about the simple process of creating a surety (rare earth minerals) for U.S. taxpayer funds that have been sent to Zelenskyy, and the outline of a deal the people who control Zelenskyy ultimately rejected.
President Trump is frustrated at the approach taken by the EU toward Russia where shutting the door to Vladimir Putin ultimately resulted in nothing. As noted by President Trump, closing down conversation, triggering sanctions that ultimately were futile, and isolating the nation of Russia only made the problem worse. Ultimately, leading to President Trump saying, “I’ve had it” with the “games” being played as thousands of young men are being killed for nothing. It is a very honest conversation. WATCH:
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There are some contextual comments from President Trump that are never reported, this is one of those examples. Within these impromptu press remarks aboard Air Force One, President Trump gives context for his current position toward the leadership in Ukraine, and other matters.
The beginning remarks about U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent traveling to Kyiv to meet with President Zelenskyy, and the fact that Zelenskyy refused to meet with him – says quite a lot about the lack of respect the Ukraine president is openly willing to display. Obviously, this is one datapoint that helps explain President Trump’s perspective. WATCH:
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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:
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)
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.