The president of war-torn Ukraine looked shocked when Donald Trump described Washington DC as “the most unsafe place anywhere” during a meeting at the White House.
Volodymyr Zelensky was in the Oval Office for talks about bringing an end to Russia’s brutal invasion of his country which has seen civilians bombed on a near-daily basis.
During questions from the press, President Trump began discussing his federal takeover of the capital which he described as “the most unsafe place anywhere” before his unprecedented deployment of the National Guard.
Zelensky looked surprised and shocked by Trump’s words as the Commander-in-Chief began telling a story about a friend whose golfer son now felt “safe” to go out for dinner.
Trump went on to claim restaurants are now booming thanks to his actions. Statistics show restaurants have suffered as much as a 30% drop since troops were deployed.
Tulsi Gabbard may have broken the law by publicly identifying dozens of current and former officials while revoking their security clearances, according to a national security lawyer.
Gabbard revealed that 37 people have been targeted in the clearance purge ordered by President Trump, accusing them without evidence of “politicizing and manipulating intelligence, leaking classified intelligence without authorization, and/or committing intentional egregious violations of tradecraft standards.”
Gabbard made the announcement—which comes after Trump stripped the security clearance of his political opponents—by posting a memo from her office on X. The list of 37 individuals targeted includes intelligence officials who concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, as well as those accused by far-right activist Laura Loomer of lacking loyalty to Trump, according to Axios.
Mark Zaid, an attorney who represents intelligence officers and who is suing the Trump administration to have his own stripped security clearance restored, suggested Gabbard may have landed herself in legal trouble by making the memo public.
“Can you say ‘Privacy Act violation’? I certainly can,” Zaid wrote in a post on X. “Further proof of weaponization and politicization. The vast majority of these individuals are not household names & are dedicated public servants who have worked across multiple presidential administrations.”
Zaid—who previously represented a whistleblower who accused Trump of attempting to extort Ukraine for dirt on former President Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 election—told Axios that a person’s security clearance “is maintained in a protected Privacy Act System of records.”
He added the government “cannot simply release that information without written consent from the individual or the existence of a Routine Use, which I do not believe exists for this purpose.”
Those who lost clearances reportedly include officials who signed a letter supporting Trump’s first impeachment trial, when he was accused of threatening to withhold military aid to Ukraine unless President Volodymyr Zelensky agreed to investigate Hunter Biden’s business dealings ahead of the 2020 election.
Others were targeted online by Loomer, an extremist and conspiracy theorist who has taken credit for multiple people being removed from the Trump administration, citing reasons such as their prior service in the Obama or Biden administrations.
“Thank you, Tulsi! MORE SCALPS,” Loomer posted while sharing Gabbard’s memo.
In response to Zaid’s remarks, White House Spokesman Davis Ingle told the Daily Beast: “President Trump promised to end the weaponization of government against American citizens which is why Director Gabbard rightfully directed the revocation of 37 security clearances from current and former intelligence officials who abused their positions of public trust.”
The Trump administration has stripped numerous national security officials and political opponents of their clearances as part of the president’s campaign of retribution.
Those affected include Trump’s 2024 election rival, former Vice President Kamala Harris. New York Attorney General Letitia James—who prosecuted Trump for filing fraudulent financial filings for years—was also targeted, as was former president Joe Biden and his entire family.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/tulsi-gabbards-revenge-purge-immediately-runs-into-a-major-problem
After his meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska on August 15 and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House Oval Office three days later, U.S. President Donald Trump talked foreign policy when he called into Fox News’ morning show, “Fox & Friends,” early Tuesday morning, August 19. And he appeared to forget the name of an ocean.
Trump told the hosts, “You know we have an ocean that’s separating us, right? A thing called…. an ocean. A big, beautiful ocean. And, uh, they don’t, they’re right there. So it’s a different kind of a thing for them.”
Trump, the Daily Beast’s Jack Silvers notes, “appeared to be referring to the Pacific Ocean, the largest body of water on Earth.”
Silvers explains, “The coast of Alaska, where Trump and Putin met last Friday, is separated by 55 miles of ocean from the eastern coast of Russia…. Famously, Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said that ‘you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska’ in 2008, providing fodder for a viral ‘SNL’ spoof starring Tina Fey.”
Trump’s comments are generating some discussion on X, formerly Twitter.
The Daily Beast tweeted, “Trump appeared to have another senior moment as he rambled to Fox News about ‘a thing called… an ocean’ while discussing his meeting with Zelensky.”
Journalist Aaron Ruper said of the Daily Beast’s reporting, “This headline is incorrect. Trump was clearly referring to the Atlantic Ocean, not the Pacific.”
X user Terp Sitone posted, “Clearly a masterclass in geography.”
Another X user, Annie van Leur, wrote, “TRUMP CAN’T REMEMBER THE NAME OF THE OCEAN.”
Van Leur, in a separate tweet, commented, “If not for the Republicans in Congress, he’d be in an assisted living community somewhere. Donald Trump is a ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’ president.”
Donald Trump made an eyebrow-raising remark about the potential to halt US elections as he sat down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss efforts to negotiate peace with Russia.
Monday’s historic meeting marked Zelensky’s first time back in the White House since Trump and Vice President JD Vance laid into him live on TV during a spectacular Oval Office blowout in February. This time around, things remained relatively calm as the pair appeared far more civil with each other.
But Trump still escalated the tension in the room with a controversial statement. It comes as Trump appears to relish idea of a violent clash in DC as the city takes steps to de-escalate.
At one point during their press conference, the US president suddenly interrupted Zelensky as the Ukrainian leader was responding to a question about his commitment to holding elections after the war with Russia is over.
“So you’re saying during the war you can’t have elections,” Trump said. The president hinted that before the 2028 presidential election, he could call off elections as he joked: “So, let me just say, three and a half years from now so you mean if we happen to be in a war with somebody, no more elections. Oh, that’s good.”
Zelensky laughed before shaking his head as he responded: “You like this idea, no no no no.” Trump’s remarks, which have since gone viral on X, quickly saw him accused of spouting “dictator talk”.
Trump has previously called Zelensky a “dictator” and criticised him for halting elections during wartime in Ukraine. Critics raised the alarm, claiming there was a more sinister side to the joke.
One wrote: “You can practically see the dim little lightbulb flicker on above his head. ‘Wait a second… if my country is in a war… I don’t have to leave the White House… EVER?! THAT’S GOOD!’ It’s the giddy, amoral excitement of a child who has just discovered a brand new and fantastic way to cheat at the game. Except the game is the Constitution of the United States.”
A second warned: “His remark to Zelensky wasn’t just a slip of the tongue it’s a window into his authoritarian fantasies. If Trump thinks he can dodge elections by dragging us into some endless conflict, he’s not just dreaming; he’s planning. The question isn’t just ‘who’ we’re going to have a long war with it’s ‘how long’ before we wake up to the fact that this man will stop at nothing to cling to power.”
Trump’s comments to Zelensky aren’t the first time that he has hinted at plans to remain in the White House beyond his second term, something which is currently unconstitutional. In a phone interview with NBC news back in March, Trump said he’s “not joking” about running for a third term and insinuated that “there are methods” of bypassing the Constitution.
When asked to elaborate on those methods the following month, the president told TIME Magazine: “I’d rather not discuss that now, but as you know, there are some loopholes that have been discussed that are well known.”
“But I don’t believe in loopholes,” Trump added. “I don’t believe in using loopholes.” However, earlier this month the president appeared to back-peddle on talk about running for a third term.
Asked whether he would make another bid for president in 2028, Trump told CNBC: “No. Probably not. I’d like to run. I have the best poll numbers I’ve ever had. You know why? Because people love the tariffs.”
Despite this, Trump on Monday showed off his collection of MAGA hats to Zelensky, including one emblazoned with the phrase “4 More Years”.
https://www.themirror.com/news/us-news/donald-trump-elections-zelensky-usa-1337245
French President Emmanuel Macron has warned that the global credibility of the United States and its NATO allies is on the line in Ukraine, as U.S. President Donald Trump attempts to end the Russian invasion once and for all.
Why It Matters
Macron made the comment after talks in Washington on Monday between Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the leaders of Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, the European Union and NATO, following up on Trump’s talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.
While no agreement has been reached to end the more than three-year war, Monday’s gathering laid the groundwork for a long-anticipated trilateral meeting between Trump, Zelensky and Putin.
Macron’s warning about the credibility of the U.S. and its allies is a reminder of the far-reaching implications of the peace effort that Trump is promoting.
What To Know
Macron, in an interview with NBC News, said that how the United States and its allies handled the war in Ukraine would have global consequences for their credibility.
“What’s happening in Ukraine is extremely important for Ukrainian people, obviously, but for the whole security of Europe, because we speak about containing a nuclear power, which decided just not to respect international borders anymore,” he said.
“And I think it’s very important for your country because it’s a matter of credibility,” he said. “The way we will behave in Ukraine will be a test for our collective credibility in the rest of the world.”
Macron said Trump was confident he could reach a deal to end the war in Ukraine, which he welcomed while stressing that any agreement must not have negative consequences for Ukraine and its European allies.
“My point … is to be sure that this deal is not detrimental to Ukraine and Europe,” Macron said.
“All of us, we want a deal, and we want a peace deal. But we want to make sure that this peace, and so this deal, will be something which will allow the Ukrainians to recover their country and live in peace, to be sure the day after this peace deal that they will have sufficient deterrence power not to be attacked again, and to be sure—for the Europeans—that they will live in peace and security,” he said.
But the French president appeared less upbeat about Putin’s attitude to ending the full-scale invasion Russia launched in 2022.
“When I look at the situation and the facts, I don’t see President Putin very willing to get peace now,” he said, adding, “But perhaps I’m too pessimistic.”
Macron said he still hoped for a ceasefire even though Trump said after meeting Putin on Friday that a ceasefire was not an essential step toward a deal.
“It’s impossible for a Ukrainian president and Ukrainian officials to have talks about peace as their country is being destroyed and as their civilians are being killed,” Macron said, adding that security guarantees for Ukraine were vital.
“If you make any peace deal without security guarantees, Russia will never respect its words, will never comply with its own commitments,” Macron said.
Macron also said that in the absence of progress, Russia should be hit with more sanctions.
“I’m very much in favor of the fact that if, at the end of the day, there is no serious progress during the bilateral, or if there is a refusal of the trilateral meeting and, or if the Russians don’t comply with this approach, yes, we have to increase the sanctions, secondary and primary sanctions, in order to increase the pressure on the Russians to do so,” he said, according to a transcript of the interview provided by NBC.
What People Are Saying
French President Emmanuel Macron told NBC: “Your president, indeed, is very confident about the capacity he has to get this deal done, which is good news for all of us and can break this—I would say this daily killings, which are the responsibility of the Russian aggressor. So I think it’s great news. My point—and this is why we’ve worked so hard during the past few months and we need this convergence—is to be sure that this deal is not detrimental to Ukraine and Europe.”
What Happens Next
Trump has established a two-week timeline for determining diplomatic progress, saying both sides would soon know “whether or not we’re going to solve this or is this horrible fighting going to continue.”
The proposed Putin-Zelensky meeting is expected to precede trilateral discussions that include Trump, though specific timing and location remain undetermined. Russian officials have indicated a willingness to continue direct negotiations, but full agreement on meeting parameters has not been confirmed.
https://www.newsweek.com/macron-nato-trump-nuclear-russia-credibility-warning-2115451
All eyes will be on Volodymyr Zelensky when he arrives at the White House on Monday afternoon—if only to see what he’s wearing when he meets President Donald Trump.
Ukraine’s wartime president found himself the target of a pile-on in his last Oval Office visit in February, when Vice President JD Vance accused him of being “disrespectful” to the U.S. by not wearing a suit and tie.
Keen to avoid a repeat, White House officials have reportedly been pressing Zelensky to dress up for Monday’s crucial talks at the White House, where Zelensky and Trump will be joined a slew of major European leaders.
Citing two sources inside the Trump administration, Axios reported Monday that the White House had explicitly asked Ukrainian officials whether Zelensky would be wearing a suit to the Oval Office.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
One source told the outlet that Zelensky would be wearing the same sort of black jacket he wore to meet Trump at the NATO summit in June, rather his usual army-style sweatshirt. “Trump was happy about that,” Axios reported in its newsletter.
Monday’s talks, which come on the heels of Trump’s summit meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, could help bring an end to Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II.
But all anyone in MAGAworld seems to have cared about over the past few days is what Zelensky will be wearing when he shakes Trump’s hand.
In a scathing preview of the Oval Office talks, Real America’s Voice host Brian Glenn told viewers on Sunday: “Two questions right now. One: Will we have peace? But two: Will Zelensky wear a suit?”
The channel, which calls itself the “authentic voice and passion of real people all across America,” then played a clip from Zelensky’s infamous visit to the White House earlier this year when Glenn himself sparked a brutal pile-on from the room by criticizing Zelensky for what he was wearing.
Zelensky’s casual battle dress was reminiscent of that worn by previous wartime leaders during visits to the White House, including Britain’s prime minister during WWII, Winston Churchill. But the February meeting descended into acrimony, with Vance leading what many observers considered an ambush of Zelensky.
Zelensky will be joined at the White House by European leaders including Britain’s Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron of France who will try to persuade Trump that the pressure should be on Putin to end the conflict he started in 2022. Casualties are widely reported to be past the million mark after more than three years of attritional fighting.
The Oval Office talks come just days the Alaska summit, at which no real progress appears to have been made—and which some White House officials reportedly left looking ashen-faced.
Trump rolled out the red carpet for Putin, who has largely been ostracized by the international community since his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. After greeting him like an old friend, Trump let Putin talk first at a post-summit press conference—with no actual questions allowed—and even game him a lift in his armored “Beast” limousine.
It remains clear, however, that Putin is still clinging to his maximalist demands for sovereignty over large parts of Ukraine and subsequent demilitarization.
Trump is expected to greet Zelensky today at 1 p.m. ET, with a series of meetings with other European leaders scheduled throughout the afternoon.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/shallow-trump-pressures-zelensky-to-wear-a-suit-to-the-white-house
President Donald Trump has taken aim at MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace in a bizarre social media rant.
The drama started when 79-year-old Trump kicked off his Sunday morning with a cryptic post on Truth Social.
“Bela,” he wrote, leaving his followers to debate the meaning of the word.
In a reply, one user posted a doctored photo of Wallace with a “Karen” haircut and a red nose alongside the text, “Typhoid Mary Nicole Wallace,” “Clown news,” and “Nicole Wallace is afraid of losing her job. Get her a Waaambulance.” A fake news ticker showed the MSNBC logo alongside the word “misinformation.”
Wallace, who now hosts Deadline: White House on MSNBC, was former White House communications director under President George W. Bush.
“She is a loser, with bad ratings, who was already thrown off of The View,” Trump replied on Sunday. “She will be fired soon! MSNBC IS DEAD!”
The post came after the president shared his disdain for members of the media after he met with President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, where he failed to secure a ceasefire.
Before the meeting on Friday, Trump firmly stated that Putin could expect “severe consequences” if he didn’t agree to end the fighting in Ukraine. But the president has since changed his tune, saying achieving peace will require territorial concessions from Ukraine. He is slated to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday.
“It’s incredible how the Fake News violently distorts the TRUTH when it comes to me,” he raged. “There is NOTHING I can say or do that would lead them to write or report honestly about me. I had a great meeting in Alaska on Biden’s stupid War, a war that should have never happened!!!”
In a second post, Trump added, “If I got Russia to give up Moscow as part of the Deal, the Fake News, and their PARTNER, the Radical Left Democrats, would say I made a terrible mistake and a very bad deal. That’s why they are the FAKE NEWS!”
Five thousand miles from Alaska, and feeling left out, Ukrainians were bracing themselves on Friday for the outcome of negotiations to which they were not invited.
The talks, between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, will begin later in the day with no seat for the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
Trump signalled earlier this week that “land swaps” could be on the table – largely interpreted to mean the surrender of Ukrainian land to Russia.
In Ukraine, where polls consistently show that about 95% of the population distrusts Putin, there is a uneasy mix of deep scepticism about the talks and deep fatigue with the war.
“This question touches me directly,” said Tetyana Bessonova, 30, from Pokrovsk – one of the eastern cities whose future is in question if land were surrendered to Russia.
“My hometown is on the line of fire. If active fighting stops, would I be able to return?” she said.
Questions of negotiations, of land swaps, of the redrawing of boundaries were deeply painful to those who grew up in the affected regions, Bessonova said.
“This is the place I was born, my homeland,” she said. “These decisions might mean I could never go home again. That I and many others will lose all hope of return.”
The French President, Emmanuel Macron, said on Wednesday that Trump had agreed on a call with European leaders that no territorial concessions would be made without Ukraine’s approval. And Trump has said he intends to hold a second summit with Zelensky present, before anything is agreed.
But Trump can be unpredictable. He is often said to favour the views of the person he spoke to most recently. So there is little faith in Ukraine that he won’t be swayed by Putin, particularly in a one-on-one meeting.
The very fact of the closed door meeting was bad for Ukraine, said Oleksandr Merezhko, a Ukrainian MP and chair of the country’s parliamentary committee on foreign affairs. “Knowing Trump, he can change his opinion very quickly. There is great danger in that for us.”
Merezhko said he feared that, such was Trump’s desire to be seen as a dealmaker, he may have privately made advance agreements with the Russians. “Trump doesn’t want embarrassment, and if nothing is achieved, he will be embarrassed,” the MP said. “The question is, what could be in those agreements?”
Various possibilities have been suggested for arrangements that could lead to a ceasefire, from a freezing of the current frontlines – with no formal recognition of the seized territory as Russian – to a maximalist position of Russia annexing four entire regions in eastern and southern Ukraine.
Polls suggest that about 54% of Ukrainians support some form of land compromise in order to hasten the end of the war, but only with security guarantees from Ukraine’s international partners. So deep and widespread is the distrust of Russia, that many believe an agreement to freeze the frontlines without security guarantees would simply be an invitation to Russia to rest, rearm, and reattack.
“If we freeze the frontlines and cede territories it will only serve as a platform for a new offensive,” said Volodymyr, a Ukrainian sniper serving in the east of the country. In accordance with military protocol, he asked to be identified only by his first name.
“Many soldiers gave their lives for these territories, for the protection of our country,” Volodymyr said. “A freeze would mean demobilization would begin, wounded and exhausted soldiers would be discharged, the army would shrink, and during one of these rotations the Russians would strike again. But this time, it would be the end of our country.”
Across Ukraine, people from all walks of life were making very tough decisions about the reality of their future, said Anton Grushetsky, the director of the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, which regularly polls the population about the war.
One of the toughest decisions was whether to accept the idea of giving de facto control of some Ukrainian soil to Russia, he said. “It’s 20% of our land and these are our people. But Ukrainians are showing us that they are flexible, they are telling us that they will accept various forms of security guarantees.”
According to the institute’s polling, 75% of Ukrainians are totally opposed to giving Russia formal ownership of any territory. Among the remaining 25%, there were some people who were pro-Russian, Grushetsky said, and some who were simply so fatigued by the war that they felt hard compromises were necessary.
“My belief is that the war should be stopped in any way possible,” said Luibov Nazarenko, 70, a retired factory worker from Donetsk region, in Ukraine’s east.
“The further it goes, the worse it becomes,” she said. “The Russians have already occupied the Kherson region and they want Odesa. All this must be stopped, so the youth do not die.”
Nazarenko has a son who is not yet fighting but could be called up. She said she believed that three years into the war, with hundreds of thousands of dead and wounded on the Ukrainian side alone, the preservation of life superseded all concerns over land.
“I just don’t want people to die,” she said. “Not the youth, not the old people, not the civilians who live on the frontline.”
On Friday, as the clock ticked down to the beginning of the talks in Alaska, Ukrainians were celebrating a holy day – the day of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is the day when she is believed to listen to the prayers of all who need her.
At St Michael’s Monastery, a church in central Kyiv, priest Oleksandr Beskrovniy was leading a prayer service for several dozen people. Afterwards, he said it was hard to find words to describe the unfairness of the coming talks, but called it a “great injustice and madness” to leave Zelensky out.
Like others, the priest recognised the grim reality facing Ukraine, he said – that it was not in a position to recapture its stolen territory by force. So some deal needed to be made. But it should be thought of less in terms of land, Beskrovniy said, and more in terms of people.
“If we are forced to cede territory – if the world allows this – the most important thing is that we gather all of our people. The world must help us get our people out.”
In his prayers on Friday, the priest did not refer directly to the talks in Alaska, he said – “no names or places of meetings”.
But he prayed for the future strength of Ukraine, he said. “On the frontline, and in the diplomatic space.”
Donald Trump will let Vladimir Putin keep almost all the territory he has seized from Ukraine under the terms of a proposed peace deal.
The condition is part of a seven-point plan to end the war that leaves Ukraine with no clear US security guarantee.
It was due to be discussed in London on Wednesday, when US officials would hear Kyiv’s reaction, though the talks were downgraded when US secretary of state Marco Rubio pulled out.
Foreign ministers from the UK, France, Germany and Ukraine withdrew in an apparent response. Discussions were instead scheduled to take place between senior officials from those nations and the US.
The Trump administration’s peace proposal involves the US offering formal recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea and implies de facto recognition of other occupied territories.
This would mean freezing the current front line, allowing Putin to keep almost all the territory Russia has gained.
