PRESIDENT TRUMP on Monday pivoted in favor of Ukraine, arranging for U.S. weapons to be delivered to Kyiv and threatening new sanctions on Moscow if Russia’s war stretches later in the year.
Speaking in the Oval Office alongside NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Trump outlined the parameters of a deal to sell U.S.-manufactured weapons to NATO, with the expectation that they’ll be delivered to Ukraine.
The systems include Patriot missile defense batteries, which are seen as critical for Ukraine’s defenses as it seeks to guard its skies from Russian bombardment.
Trump cast the agreement as a win for the U.S., which has approved more than $175 billion in aid for Ukraine since the war started in 2022. It comes after most NATO countries agreed to ramp up their defense spending.
“We are going to be sending them weapons and they’re going to be paying for them,” Trump said.
The president also set a 50-day deadline for Russian President Vladimir Putin to bring an end to the war.
If the war continues beyond that period, Trump said he’d slap 100 percent tariffs on countries that trade with Russia, known as secondary tariffs.
“The country’s economy is going very poorly, and he’s got to get his economy back. He’s got to save his economy,” Trump said.
However, Trump cast doubt on a bipartisan sanctions bill on Russia that currently has 85 co-sponsors in the Senate. That bill would implement 500 percent tariffs on Russia and their economic partners.
“I’m not sure we need it, but it’s certainly good they’re doing it,” Trump said, adding that Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) would be at the White House later Monday to discuss the matter.
Throughout the press conference, Trump repeatedly expressed frustration with Putin, accusing him of agreeing to wind down the war during their private conversations, only to follow with another bombing campaign.
“I always hang up and say… ‘Well that was a nice phone call,’ and then missiles launch into Kyiv or some other city,” Trump said.
“That happens three or four times, you realize the talk doesn’t mean anything,” he added.
Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine, met Monday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.
“We hope for U.S. leadership, as it is clear that Moscow will not stop unless its unreasonable ambitions are curbed through strength,” Zelensky said in a statement. “I thank Keith Kellogg for this visit to Ukraine. I am grateful to President Trump for the important signals of support and the positive decisions for both our countries. We deeply value the support of the American people.”
The Hill’s Laura Kelly has everything you need to know about the U.S.-NATO weapons deal here.
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💡Perspectives:
• New Yorker: Is the U.S. ready for the next war?
• American Greatness: Will Brennan ever tell the truth?
• Washington Examiner: One year later, few answers on Butler shooting.
• Washington Post: Trump shooting ignited belief in MAGA’s divine right.
• Vox: America is finally moving past its post-9/11 security theater.
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The price of Bitcoin hit a record high as Congress started “Crypto Week.”
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Central Texas was hit with another round of heavy rains and flooding over the weekend, prompting additional rescues and evacuations only 10 days after catastrophic flooding in the region killed at least 130 people.
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Join The Hill and NewsNation on Wednesday for the inaugural Hill Nation Summit featuring interviews with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and others.
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Dem seeks to force vote on release of Epstein files
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Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) will introduce an amendment Tuesday aimed at forcing a vote to release all government files pertaining to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“Why are the Epstein files still hidden? Who are the rich & powerful being protected?” Khanna posted on X.
“The Speaker must call a vote and put every Congress member on record,” Khanna added.
This comes as President Trump seeks to move on after his Department of Justice and FBI determined there’s no Epstein “client list” to release.
That announcement sparked a backlash on the right, as many key figures in the Trump administration spent years promising full transparency while teasing bombshell reports about a cabal of powerful people involved in Epstein’s crimes.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino have taken the brunt of the anger from MAGA world.
There are reports that Bongino considered resigning, unhappy with the administration’s handling of the situation, although that appears to have blown over.
Trump said over the weekend that Bongino is “in good shape.”
The president also defended Bondi and called on his supporters to drop the matter.
“What’s going on with my ‘boys’ and, in some cases, ‘gals?’ ” Trump posted on Truth Social. “They’re all going after Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! We’re on one Team, MAGA, and I don’t like what’s happening. We have a PERFECT Administration, THE TALK OF THE WORLD, and ‘selfish people’ are trying to hurt it, all over a guy who never dies, Jeffrey Epstein.”
Trump went on to baselessly accuse former President Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other Democrats of creating the Epstein files.
Many on the right are not letting it go.
Far-right activist Laura Loomer, a Trump ally with close ties to the administration, is calling for a special counsel to investigate.
Conservative pundit Tucker Carlson blamed Bondi for the controversy, saying the attorney general “made up a bunch of ludicrous” claims that led people to believe a bombshell was imminent.
“Fox & Friends Weekend” anchor Kevin Corke called the controversy a “ticking time bomb.”
“You can’t tell me that a thousand people were hurt and that there are no people out there that we can arrest,” Corke said. “You can tell me that, ‘Sorry. We don’t have a list.’ Fine, don’t have a list. Tell me who the perpetrators were.”
Trump’s former adviser Steve Bannon predicted Republicans would lose 40 House seats over the administration’s handling of the Epstein case.
Elon Musk posted on X: “Just release the files as promised.”
Tomorrow: In The Movement newsletter, The Hill’s Emily Brooks will break down how the Epstein saga could affect Republicans in the midterms. Click here to sign up & get it in your inbox.
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💡Perspectives:
• The New York Times: MAGA is tearing itself apart over Epstein.
• Axios: 3 ways Trump might try to defuse the Epstein mess.
• New York Post: Epstein drama is an unnecessary distraction for Trump.
• USA Today: Gen Z voters must turn out for Mamdani.
• Issues & Insights: Mamdani vs. the billionaires.
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Biden interview raises new questions
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Former President Biden “did not individually approve each name for the categorical pardons that applied to large numbers of people” in the final days of his presidency, according to a new report from The New York Times.
Instead, Biden signed off on broad standards for the pardons, and his staff “then ran the final version through the autopen.”
The Times interviewed Biden for the story.
The former president said he made “every single one” of the clemency decisions and only used the autopen “because there were a lot of them.”
Biden also responded to allegations he was incapacitated near the end of his presidency and unaware of decisions being made on his behalf.
“They’re liars,” Biden said.
Trump on Monday called the Biden administration’s use of the autopen “maybe one of the biggest scandals we’ve had in 50 to 100 years.”
“The whole group, they’re no good,” Trump said. “They’re sick people. I guarantee he knew nothing about what he was signing.”
ELSEWHERE…
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) formally announced this afternoon he is running for New York City mayor as an independent.
Cuomo, who lost the Democratic primary to democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, will enter a crowded field that includes current New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who is also running as an independent, and Republican Curtis Sliwa.
Centrist Democrats are raising the alarm about Mamdani, worried his far-left politics will be a drag on the party.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who has not endorsed in the race, said in an interview with Punchbowl News that Mamdani must reassure Jewish New Yorkers that he plans to prioritize their safety.
Mamdani has in the past refused to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada.”
MEANWHILE…
Rep. Elise Stefanik’s (R-N.Y.) campaign raked in $4 million in the second quarter of the year, leaving her with $11 million in cash on hand. That’s the largest amount of cash on hand for any New York Republican in history.
Stefanik is preparing to run against Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-N.Y.).
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Senate Republicans face deadline on DOGE cuts
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Senate Republicans face a Friday deadline to pass about $9 billion in clawbacks proposed by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The rescissions package, which focuses primarily on foreign aid and public media, is not guaranteed to pass, with several Republicans speaking out against reversing the appropriations that were already passed into law by Congress.
President Trump is threatening to withhold his support for any GOP senators that vote against the package.
“I suspect it’s going to be very close,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “I don’t know if it will be modified in advance, but I can’t really honestly look Americans in the face and say that I’m going to be doing something about the deficit if I can’t cut $9 billion.”
The House approved the rescissions package in a 214-212 vote in June.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine.), the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has raised alarms about cuts to an AIDS relief program known as PEPFAR.
GOP lawmakers are also concerned about cuts to local public broadcasting stations in their home states, even if they agree that national public broadcasting has taken a leftward turn.
“There’s a lot of what the Corporation for Broadcasting does that I support, such as the 70 percent of the money that goes to local stations,” Collins said. “They maintain the emergency alert system, they do local programing — such as, in Maine, there’s a very popular high school quiz show.”
Republicans can only afford to lose three votes for the bill to pass.
The Hill’s Alexander Bolton writes that Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is on a collision course with the GOP holdouts, who are also concerned about ceding more power to the Executive Branch:
“A handful of senior Republican senators are worried about ceding even more power to the Trump administration, as Congress has already done by allowing President Trump to shutter or overhaul agencies such as the U.S. Agency for International Development or impose steep tariffs on many of the nation’s trading partners without much pushback.”
Democrats, meanwhile, are warning the DOGE cuts threaten bipartisan funding negotiations and could lead to a government shutdown in September.
“How are we supposed to negotiate a bipartisan deal if Republicans will turn around and put it through the shredder in a partisan vote,” Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said last week. “This entire package next week should be rejected outright.”
Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.) said he supports shutting down the government if Republicans pass the rescissions package.
“It’s time to stand up for the American people,” Subramanyam said in an interview on NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday.”
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💡Perspectives:
• The Hill: Media take their cues from the Dem talking points on Texas flood.
• The Liberal Patriot: The albatross of sectarian identity politics.
• The Free Press: The shot that changed America.
• National Review: Pass the rescissions bill.
• The Hill: Trump attacks public employees, but unions are fighting back.
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EU, Mexico seek trade deals ahead of US tariffs
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President Trump over the weekend slapped 30 percent tariffs on Mexico and the European Union.
European Union President Ursula von der Leyen said the tariffs would “would disrupt essential transatlantic supply chains, to the detriment of businesses, consumers and patients on both sides of the Atlantic.”
The European leader said she’d consider “countermeasures” if no deal is reached by Aug. 1.
“We remain ready to continue working towards an agreement by August 1,” von der Leyen said. “At the same time, we will take all necessary steps to safeguard EU interests, including the adoption of proportionate countermeasures if required.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Mexican officials met with Trump administration officials last week to discuss “issues of security, migration, border and water management.”
“We mentioned at the meeting that this was an unfair deal and that we disagreed,” Sheinbaum said in a statement.
“In other words, Mexico is already in negotiations,” she added.
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