President Donald Trump is big mad at Russian President Vladimir Putin, who slammed Kyiv this morning with the deadliest strikes since last summer.
Trump and his administration’s patience on Ukraine war peace talks have seemed strained of late, and Russia’s overnight bombing likely isn’t helping.
“Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying. Lets get the Peace Deal DONE,” he said on Truth Social.
The U.S.-led peace talks, now hanging by a thread, will likely be on the agenda as current and former heads of NATO head to Washington today to meet with Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Trump, who promised to end the war on his first day, is now getting increasingly antsy over the fact that this is still something he needs to address.
Meanwhile, confusion abounds over whether Trump will ease tariffs on China and whether Hegseth had a new makeup studio installed at the Pentagon for his many Fox News appearances.
Maybe Pete’s born with it or maybe it’s just Maybelline (in the Pentagon).
And in Rome, Pope Francis’ tomb has been revealed – a simple marble slab with his name and a reproduction of a cross he often wore around his neck. He will be the first pontiff to be buried outside of St. Peter’s Basilica in more than a century.
Ukrainian authorities said Russia launched dozens of missiles and drones at Kyiv overnight in strikes that killed at least 12 people and injured 90 more. The attack, the deadliest strike on Kyiv since July 2024, came as weeks of U.S.-led ceasefire negotiations appear to be stalling, and hours after Trump accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of prolonging the “killing field” by not ceding Crimea to Russia as part of a proposed peace deal. Read more.
Chinese officials called on the U.S. to cancel “unilateral tariff measures” against China after Trump officials signaled that they would “de-escalate” trade tensions between the two countries. After Trump told reporters last night that there is “direct contact” between the U.S. and China on trade, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said today that while Beijing would be open to talks with the U.S., the two sides have yet to speak or negotiate, adding that information to the contrary was “false news.” Read more.
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Last night, a federal judge in Maryland ordered the Trump administration to facilitate the return of another migrant it sent to El Salvador, a 20-year-old Venezuelan man referred to by the pseudonym “Cristian” in court records. U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher, a Trump appointee, said the man’s removal violated a previous court settlement from 2019. Meanwhile, the federal judge overseeing the case involving Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who the administration wrongly deported to El Salvador, issued a seven-day pause on her order requiring the administration to provide updates on its efforts to return him. Read more.
Trump signed seven new executive orders last night targeting the American education system, addressing foreign donations to colleges, equity in school discipline and more. Among the orders is a directive to “deprioritize” enforcement of statutes involving “disparate impact liability,” which aims to limit discrimination against protected groups. Another directive orders Education Secretary Linda McMahon to deny, suspend or terminate college certification accreditors that incorporate DEI into accreditation decisions. Read more.
A new Pew Research Center poll shows Trump’s approval ratings sinking with nearly all key voting groups, with Pew finding 40% of respondents approve of the job Trump is doing and 59% disapproving. Trump’s approval rating is also underwater in recent polls from Fox News, CNBC and Reuters/Ipsos, which find Americans’ views of his handling of the economy and inflation are among the lowest of his presidential career. Read more.
