White House says no plans for Trump-Putin meeting in the immediate future
There are no plans for Donald Trump to meet with Vladmir Putin “in the immediate future”, a White House official told the Guardian.
The official added that the recent call between secretary of state Marco Rubio and Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov was “productive”, and therefore an additional-in-person meeting between the envoys is “not necessary”.
This comes after Trump announced a yet-to-be determined bilateral summit with Putin in Budapest, Hungary, after his conversation with the Kremlin Leader last week.
Key events
Trump chides senator Rand Paul, without mentioning his name
As he welcomes the Republican senators, and thanks them for his help, Trump notes – without naming him – that senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, who has routinely voted against the stopgap funding bill to reopen the federal government, did not turn up.
“We’re just missing one person. You’ll never guess who that is,” Trump said. “He automatically votes no. He thinks it’s good politics. It’s really not good politics.”
The president has spent most of his opening remarks heralding the success of his sweeping tariffs.
“We’re a wealthy nation again, and we’re a nation that can be secure. We’re a nation that can start paying down our debt, and with tariffs, we’re the wealthiest nation ever in the history of the world,” he said.
This comes as he reignites a trade war with China, threatening an additional 100% levy after Beijing tightened exports of rare earth minerals.
Trump hosts GOP senators for Rose Garden lunch
Hosting several Republican lawmakers at the White House, Trump says that “this is supposed to be sort of a private event, and there is no such thing in politics as a private event”.
White House says no plans for Trump-Putin meeting in the immediate future
There are no plans for Donald Trump to meet with Vladmir Putin “in the immediate future”, a White House official told the Guardian.
The official added that the recent call between secretary of state Marco Rubio and Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov was “productive”, and therefore an additional-in-person meeting between the envoys is “not necessary”.
This comes after Trump announced a yet-to-be determined bilateral summit with Putin in Budapest, Hungary, after his conversation with the Kremlin Leader last week.
The vice-president also reaffirmed that there will be no US boots on the ground in the region, but said that America’s role will be to “provide some useful coordination” between Israel, Gulf Arab states, Indonesia and Turkey.
“The only real mediators are the United States of America, and so that’s the role that we’re going to play. I think the American people should be proud of them,” Vance added.
Vance says that future governance of Gaza should be left to Palestinians and Israelis
The vice-president said he doesn’t know the answer to the question about the ultimate authority in Gaza.
“We need to reconstruct Gaza. We need to make sure that both the Palestinians living in Gaza, but also the Israelis, are able to live in some measure of security and stability. We’re doing all those things simultaneously,” he said.
“Let’s focus on security, rebuilding, giving people some food and medicine. If we get to the point where we’re arguing exactly what the governance structure in Gaza is long term, then we should pat ourselves on the back. That’s a very good problem to have.”
The vice-president said that his visit to Israel had “nothing to do with events in the past 48 hours” and that he had been trying to plan this visit “months ago” but thought “this would be a good time to do it”.
Vance refuses to put “explicit deadline” for Hamas to comply with disarmament
The vice-president said that he would not “put an explicit deadline” on Hamas to comply with the key points of the Gaze ceasefire deal.
“If Hamas doesn’t comply with the deal, very bad things are going to happen,” Vance said, reiterating Donald Trump’s threats earlier today on social media.
“I don’t think it’s actually advisable for us to say this has to be done in a week, because a lot of this work is very hard. It’s never been done before, and in order for us to give it a chance to succeed, we’ve got to be a little bit flexible,” the vice-president added.
A note about the civilian military coordination center (CMCC). It will serve as a “hub” for the delivery of “everything that goes into Gaza” according to officials speaking today.
We also just heard from Donald Trump’s top envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who were two of the key brokers for the US in mediating the current ceasefire deal.
Kushner said that “almost half” of the deceased Israeli hostages have been released.
‘There’s almost this desire to root for failure’: JD Vance begins press conference in Israel
Vice-president JD Vance is now addressing members of the press in Israel. He’s speaking at a civilian military coordination center, which he is also opening today.
“The Israeli government has been remarkably helpfulness. I want to thank them,” Vance said, before criticizing the American media.
“There’s almost this desire to root for failure, that every time something bad happens, that every time that there’s an act of violence, there’s this inclination to say, ‘oh, this is the end of the cease fire, this is the end of the peace plan.’ It’s not the end,” the vice-president said. “It is, in fact, exactly how this is going to have to happen when you have people who hate each other, who have been fighting against each other for a very long time.”
Per my last post, Hakeem Jeffries has issued a statement following the arrest of Christopher Moynihan, the pardoned Capitol rioter who threatened to kill the House minority leader.
“I am grateful to state and federal law enforcement for their swift and decisive action to apprehend a dangerous individual who made a credible death threat against me with every intention to carry it out,” Jeffries said, noting that “many of the criminals released have committed additional crimes throughout the country”.
“Unfortunately, our brave men and women in law enforcement are being forced to spend their time keeping our communities safe from these violent individuals who should never have been pardoned,” Jeffries added.
Johnson says violence on the left is ‘more prevalent’ when asked about arrest of pardoned Capitol rioter
New York state police announced recently that a pardoned rioter at the January 6 insurrection was arrested last weekend for allegedly threatening to kill Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader.
At today’s press conference, Republican speaker Mike Johnson said he didn’t know any details about the arrest, but noted that “anybody who threatens political violence against elected officials or anyone else should be have the full weight and measure of the Department of Justice on their head.”
However, he added that “violence on the left is far more prevalent than the violence on the right.” He didn’t offer any evidence to prove that claim, simply saying “don’t make me go through the list”.
“Let’s not make it a partisan issue. You don’t want me to go there,” Johnson said, before criticizing the No Kings protests across the country over the weekend. It’s worth noting that police departments in several major cities said they made no arrests following the protests on Saturday.
Johnson says lawmakers are working on ‘maximum transparency’ in Epstein investigation
At a press conference on day 21 of the government shutdown, Mike Johnson said that lawmakers on the House oversight committee are “working around the clock” to ensure “maximum transparency” in the ongoing investigation into the handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case.
Johnson added that the committee’s work is “already accomplishing” what the bipartisan discharge petition, which would force a vote on the House floor to release the full tranche of Epstein records, seeks to do achieve. The House speaker also said that the commitee’s investigation is “far broader in scope” than what is covered by the discharge petition, and has “already yielded significant results”.
The House oversight committee chair, congressman James Comer of Kentucky, said today that Democrats are using the Epstein case to deflect from the ongoing shutdown. “Let’s be clear, Democrats don’t care about transparency or accountability in this matter,” he said. “The evidence we’ve gathered does not implicate president Trump in any way.”
On Friday, the committee released the transcript of the closed-door interview with Alex Acosta, the labor secretary during Trump’s first administration and the former US attorney for the southern district of Florida, who was accused of giving Epstein a “sweetheart deal” in 2008 – which saw the late financier sentenced to a 13-month sentence on state prostitution crimes.
In a short while, we’ll hear from House Republican lawmakers as the government shutdown enters day 21, one of the longest on record.
There isn’t a vote scheduled in the Senate on the stopgap funding bill that has failed 11 times in the upper chamber.
However, Senate majority leader John Thune told reporters on Monday that it may be time for the House to consider returning to work in order to pass another resolution, considering the original bill would only keep the government funded until 21 November. “Every day that passes, we’ve got less time to fund the government,” Thune said.
Trump says ‘end to Hamas’ will be ‘fast, furious and brutal’ if fighting continues
In a post on Truth Social, the president said that several allies in the Middle East have told him they would “welcome the opportunity” at Trump’s request to go into Gaza “with a heavy force” and “straighten our Hamas” if they “continue to behave badly”.
This comes after the 11-day ceasefire in Gaza was seriously undermined on Sunday when Israel launched waves of deadly airstrikes and said it would cut off aid into the territory “until further notice” after a reported attack by Hamas, which the militant group denied being involved in.
“There is still hope that Hamas will do what is right. If they do not, an end to Hamas will be FAST, FURIOUS, & BRUTAL! I would like to thank all of those countries that called to help,” Trump wrote today, reiterating his threat on Monday, when he said that Hamas would be “eradicated” if they did not “behave”.
JD Vance meets with top envoys in Israel
Vice-president JD Vance touched down in Tel Aviv a short while ago. He then caught up with special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner for about two hours.
He is currently taking part in private briefings with members of the Israeli military, according to the press pool traveling with the vice-president.
Vance will hold a press conference at 11am ET/6pm local time. And tomorrow he’s set to meet with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
My colleagues, who are covering the latest developments in the Middle East, report that Gaza’s health ministry said in its latest update that the bodies of 13 people were brought to hospitals across the territory in the last 24 hours. It said eight people had been injured over this time period.
This means that at least 68,229 Palestinian people have been killed and 170,369 others injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023.
Republican senators indicate they won’t confirm Paul Ingrassia to special counsel role
Some Republican senators have said they don’t support Paul Ingrassia’s nomination to lead the Office of Special Counsel, ahead of his confirmation hearing on Thursday.
Politico reported on Monday that Ingrassia told other Republicans he “has a Nazi streak” and said holidays commemorating Black people should be “eviscerated”, in a private group chat.
Senate majority leader, John Thune, told Politico that Ingrassia is “not gonna pass”. While Republican senator Rick Scott of Florida, told reporters that he would not support the 30-year-old Trump ally.
Politico also reported that James Lankford, the Republican senator from Oklahoma, has “tons of questions” for Ingrassia, adding he “can’t imagine supporting that”.
Donald Trump will be in Washington today. At 11am ET, he’ll take part in a ceremony for the Richard Nixon Architect of Peace Award. This will be in the Oval Office and closed to the press, but we’ll let you know if that changes.
Then, he’ll host a lunch in the Rose Garden, where we can expect Senate Republicans to attend. This, on day 21 of the government shutdown.
At 4pm ET, the president will take place in a Diwali celebration also in the Oval Office, before hosting another function in the Rose Garden at 7pm ET.
A retired member of the US navy who alleges to have lost thousands of dollars meant for his dying dog when the Donald Trump-freed George Santos defrauded him says he now views the president as a “walking middle finger”.
Richard Osthoff’s emotional comments on Monday on MSNBC’s Chris Jansing Reports came three days after Trump commuted Santos’s seven-year, three-month prison sentence, which was given to the former New York representative in connection with federal fraud charges.
Osthoff has previously accused Santos of raising $3,000 on the GoFundMe platform in 2016 to benefit the military veteran’s dying service dog, Sapphire. But Osthoff said Sapphire ended up dying after Santos kept the money for himself – accusations that never led to criminal charges.
Santos has previously called “reports that I would let a dog die … shocking and insane” and denied wrongdoing in a text to the outlet Semafor.
Santos made history in 2022 as the first out LGBTQ+ Republican elected to Congress. He was later exposed for having lied prolifically about his biography, and a House ethics committee detailed how Santos used campaign funds for personal travel, cosmetic treatments and luxury goods.
He ultimately was expelled from Congress, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and identity theft, reported to a federal prison in New Jersey in July, and served three months of the sentence given to him before Trump commuted the punishment on Friday. The commutation from Trump – who won a second presidency in 2024 despite a criminal conviction of falsifying business records – set the stage for Santos to be released from prison on Saturday.
“He lied like hell,” Trump said of his fellow Republican to Newsmax. “But he was 100% for Trump.”
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