Trump, Ukraine prod Putin in hunt for deal 

Morning Report is The Hill’s a.m. newsletter. Click here to sign up here.

In today’s issue:

▪ West applies pressure to Putin

▪ Trump takes aim at mail-in ballots 

▪ Texas moves past redistricting opponents

▪ Hamas: Open to ceasefire

President Trump embraced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House and voiced optimism Russia will come to the table to end its brutal war against Kyiv, even as questions linger over unspecified security guarantees for Ukraine in a potential peace deal.

Trump used Monday’s Oval Office appearance with Zelensky to amp up pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to join trilateral talks to end the war, while an extraordinary delegation of seven European leaders, during their own White House meeting, sought to bolster Ukraine’s negotiating position.

Later, Trump said he spoke with Putin and began arranging a potential bilateral meeting between the Russian leader and Zelensky at a time and location to be determined. It would mark the first face-to-face meeting between Putin and Zelensky since Russia’s full invasion in February 2022.

“After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Again, this was a very good, early step for a War that has been going on for almost four years.”

SUIT UP: Monday’s visit by Zelensky marked a 180-degree flip in tone and friendliness compared to the Ukrainian leader’s disastrous February visit that ended in a televised shouting match inside the Oval Office.

Zelensky showed up at the White House on Monday in an all-black suit sans tie, a noticeable change from his standard military outfit earlier this year that won immediate praise from Trump. “I cannot believe it, I love it,” Trump said upon greeting Zelensky.

The Ukrainian leader opened his remarks by touting a letter first lady Melania Trump wrote to Putin raising concerns about the plight of children amid Russia’s invasion, a moment that seemed to resonate with the president. Zelensky thanked Trump nearly a dozen times in the opening minutes of the meeting, after sparking Vice President Vance‘s ire earlier this year for a perceived lack of gratefulness over U.S. military aid.

And Trump and Zelensky repeatedly dodged when pressed by reporters on issues in which they have disagreed, with Trump passing on a chance to swipe at Zelensky for not holding wartime elections and joking it’d be something he might consider. Earlier this year, he had called Zelensky a “dictator without elections” and declared he didn’t hold cards in the war.

The Hill’s Niall Stanage has five key takeaways from Monday’s meeting.

UNITED FRONT: Trump, Zelensky and other European leaders projected a unified front during Monday’s gathering. The leaders all spoke about their desire to end the war, though some sticking points emerged throughout the afternoon.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz argued there should be no follow-up meeting with Putin without a ceasefire agreement. Trump shrugged off the suggestion, insisting a ceasefire was not a prerequisite to obtaining a peace agreement.

Trump has said it will be up to Ukraine to determine the issue of potential territorial concessions as part of any peace agreement, though he has at times indicated there will need to be “land swaps.”

It’s a marked reversal for Trump, who ahead of his summit with Putin last week in Alaska declared he was “not going to be happy” if he left Anchorage without promises for a ceasefire and there would be “severe consequences.”

The president has since embraced Putin’s plan for peace: a broader agreement that includes territorial losses for Kyiv.

▪ The Washington Post: In maps, the Ukrainian territory Russia controls — and wants to keep.

▪ The Hill: What could Article 5-like security guarantees look like for Ukraine? 

▪ The New York Times: Can Zelensky trust Trump? Ukraine’s fate may depend on the answer.

BALL IN PUTIN’S COURT: It’s now up to the Kremlin to respond to Trump and the West. While Zelensky and the Europeans met with Trump at the White House, Russian attacks on large Ukrainian cities and villages near the front killed 14 people and injured dozens more.

But even if Putin agrees to the meetings with Zelensky and Trump, experts question the Russian leader’s commitment to a peace process. 

Matthew Boyse, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute’s Center on Europe and Eurasia, told Morning Report that Putin sees Trump’s efforts to end the war as an opportunity to lock in territorial gains he was unable to secure on the battlefield — from Crimea to the Donetsk region. 

“By excluding a ceasefire from discussion, Putin can continue attacking Ukrainian civilians with impunity while the process — undefined in length and with unclear modalities — plays out,” Boyse said. “By signaling a vague openness to compromise, he plays with everyone’s hopes for an end to the war — all while reiterating his maximalist demands.”  

Steven Pifer, a former U.S. diplomat affiliated with Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation and the Brookings Institution, echoed those concerns.

Putin believes he can prevail on the battlefield, Pifer told us, adding his terms for peace are not close to anything Ukraine would be willing to accept.

“Putin will only be prepared to bargain in a serious way when he is persuaded that he cannot achieve his goals on the battlefield and that the military, economic and political costs of continuing to try will only escalate,” Pifer added. “Unfortunately, President Trump has not put in play the kind of cards … that might begin to change Putin’s mind.”

After Monday’s meeting, French President Emmanuel Macron praised Trump’s optimism for a deal but expressed pessimism at Putin’s willingness to resolve the conflict.

“A great deal is a deal with security guarantees and a robust peace,” Macron told NBC News. “As far as I’m concerned, when I look at the situation and the facts, I don’t see President Putin really willing to get peace now, but perhaps I’m, I’m too pessimistic.”

Smart Take with Blake Burman

Here’s a story that’s not getting enough attention: Is the United States government about to take a stake in a Fortune 500 company? The Trump administration is reportedly in talks to make a roughly 10 percent investment in Intel, the chipmaker that currently has a market cap hovering around $100 billion. This comes after the administration also cut a deal earlier this summer for 15 percent of MP Materials, a rare earth materials and magnetics producer.  

There’s a history of the government taking positions in major companies, largely to rescue them in times of crisis and emergency. Is this one of those times? If not, did a new standard just get set for future administrations to pick and choose which companies the government should own?

Burman hosts “The Hill” weeknights, 6p/5c on NewsNation.

3 Things to Know Today

1. U.S. wage growth has slowed for all workers, but it’s falling at the fastest pace for employees at the bottom of the income ladder. 
2. Newsmax agreed to pay $67 million to settle a defamation lawsuit after Dominion Voting Systems sued the conservative cable outlet for broadcasting false claims its machines rigged 2020 election results.
3. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, in prepared remarks in Chicago, praised professional legal collegiality that she said “operates continually through the strain of disagreement” and allows the “judicial system to work well.”

Leading the Day

TRUMP SEEKS TO END MAIL-IN BALLOTS: The president on Monday revived his years-long and unsubstantiated charges that voting by mail leads to election fraud, advocating the elimination of mail-in ballots in states, along with the use of voting machines.

The arguments — which Trump toned down last year at the request of some Republican candidates who ended up prospering over Democrats, thanks to mail-in and early voting in key swing states — came roaring back to life after he said Putin discussed the issue during their summit in Alaska on Friday.

The president on social media and during an Oval Office question-and-answer session with reporters on Monday vowed to “lead a movement” to eliminate “corrupt” mail-in ballots and voting machines ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. He also said he would use his presidential power to outlaw the practice. 

“Mail-in ballots are corrupt; you can never have a real democracy with mail-in ballots,” Trump said, adding lawyers are already drafting the executive order. “It’s the only way [Democrats] can get elected.” 

Election laws vary by state and not all states permit absentee voting and vote-by-mail using the U.S. Postal Service. Many states and voters have embraced early voting and by mail as conveniences to expand participation, safeguard against weather emergencies and, in some states, produce faster tallies of election results. 

Eight states and Washington, D.C., allow all elections to be conducted entirely by mail, while other states permit some elections to be carried out using mail-in ballots. 

Trump erroneously said Monday that the United States is alone in conducting elections by mail. In fact, 34 countries or territories allow postal voting, according to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, an intergovernmental organization that works to protect democratic institutions. Among nations that allow ballots by mail are Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and Germany. 

During Trump’s first term, a commission he created to examine allegations of voter fraud in the 2016 election quietly disbanded without finding evidence of widespread voter misdeeds, a complaint Trump lobbed after his Electoral College victory over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Former Vice President Mike Pence at the time was the chair of the president’s Commission on Election Integrity. 

Trump revived election fraud allegations in 2020 when he lost to former President Biden. Pence formally presided over the congressional certification of the results on Jan. 6, 2021, which he repeated on CNN on Sunday was the right move. “I know we did our duty,” he said.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), in a statement on Monday, said Trump’s assertions about corrupt voting by mail are not based in “fact or reality.”

NATIONAL GUARD: The governors of Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee have agreed to send hundreds of National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., to join guard soldiers sent by West Virginia, South Carolina and Ohio to bolster Trump’s crackdown on crime in the nation’s capital.

CONGRESSIONAL MAPS: Texas Democrats on Monday ended their two-week standoff during a legislative special session and returned to the Lone Star State amid an ongoing partisan redistricting battle. Texas Republicans, who back Trump’s efforts to secure at least five additional GOP House seats next year using redrawn congressional maps, said they would move quickly toward that goal. 

California Democrats, long critical of the GOP for gerrymandering districts, now say they want to block the Texas GOP’s plans using a form of ends-justify-the-means checkmate and redrawn Democratic maps. It would require a special California election in November. Republican candidates in the Golden State could be impacted, The Hill’s Julia Mueller reports. 

▪ The Hill: Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) says he wants to thwart the redistricting effort launched in California.  

2026 CONTESTS: Republican Stacy Garrity, Pennsylvania’s treasurer, announced on Monday she will challenge Gov. Josh Shapiro (D), who is seeking reelection in 2026. In a video posted on social media announcing her candidacy, Garrity highlighted her closeness to Trump and said she is running to make the state more affordable and attractive to younger residents. Shapiro, the state’s popular incumbent, is among top Democratic governors eyed as a possible 2028 presidential contender. 

Meanwhile, former Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) on Monday formally announced his 2026 campaign to try to win a seat now held by Republican Sen. Jon Husted. Brown lost reelection last year by 3.5 points to Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno.

In Maine, oyster farmer Graham Platner (D), a political novice, announced his long-shot bid to try to defeat veteran Sen. Susan Collins (R) next year. The Democratic Party has been trying to recruit Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) to enter the race.

▪ NBC News: Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley (R) denies he harbors presidential aspirations. But he irks Republican colleagues as he works to carve out a lane with working-class voters. “To say he’s not viewed as a team player in any way would be an understatement,” one administration official said.

EPSTEIN SAGA: Former Republican Attorney General Bill Barr sat for a deposition with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Monday as it launched a probe of evidence related to the late Jeffrey Epstein, who died in a jail cell in 2019 awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. Barr testified he did not know of any information that would implicate Trump, committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) told reporters. The GOP chairman said the Justice Department on Friday will begin turning over Epstein materials to the committee.

Attorney General Pam Bondi in early July said the Justice Department had no Epstein client list or information about Epstein to release publicly, a stance that sparked intense pushback from Trump supporters this summer. Bondi reportedly advised Trump in May that his name appeared among many others in the government’s Epstein files.

Meanwhile, the DOJ on Monday named Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey as co-deputy FBI director, a surprise addition. 

Where and When

• The president will sign legislation at 1 p.m. in the Oval Office.
• The White House daily press briefing is scheduled at 1 p.m.
• The House will hold a pro forma session at 10 a.m. and will return to work in Washington on Sept. 2.
• The Senate will hold a pro forma session at 10 a.m.

Zoom In

WEIGHING HEALTH: Some experts say “regulatory neglect” allows potentially dangerous drugs not approved by the Food and Drug Administration to reach consumers. They worry that copycat versions of the weight loss drugs Ozempic and Mounjaro are proliferating in an era of ample consumer supplies.

The Hill’s Joseph Choi reports how versions of weight loss drugs are sold by pharmacies that compound medications from ingredients found in the brand name drugs, even when shortages of available medications no longer exist.

META CHATBOTS ARE NOT PG: “Sensual” chatbot conversations deemed unacceptable with children caught lawmakers’ attention on both sides of the aisle, forcing the parent company of Facebook and Instagram back into lawmakers’ crosshairs as the company expands into artificial intelligence. 

Elsewhere

GAZA: Hamas accepted an updated proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza that was presented by Qatari and Egyptian mediators, Axios reports. The move is an effort to avoid a major new Israeli military offensive to occupy Gaza City. The source told Axios the deal Hamas accepted is “98 percent similar” to the last U.S.-backed proposal, which Israel agreed to. But talks broke down when Hamas did not.

The news came after Trump urged Israel to expand its attacks on Hamas, saying the hostages would not be freed until Hamas was “confronted and destroyed.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that Israel hasn’t received written word from Hamas about the proposal, but “I hear the reports in the media, and from them you can gather one thing — Hamas is under immense pressure.”

Netanyahu also criticized massive street protests in Israel against his handling of the Gaza war and failure to secure the release of remaining Israeli hostages. It’s estimated that upward of 400,000 people joined marches across Israel on Sunday.

“The people who are calling today for the war’s end without Hamas’s defeat are not only toughening Hamas’s stance and distancing our hostages’ release, they are also ensuring that the atrocities of October 7 will recur time and again, and that our sons and daughters will have to fight time and again in an endless war,” Netanyahu said.

▪ CNN: Egypt warns Israel that mass displacement of Palestinians in Gaza is a “red line.”

SHIFTING SUPPORT: Younger Republican voters and GOP contrarians are piping up to challenge the broad consensus in the Republican Party that has been in lockstep with policy on Israel. In The Movement newsletter later today, The Hill’s Emily Brooks explores how the dynamic is growing more apparent in the halls of Congress, on social media and in public polls. Click here to sign up for The Movement

Opinion

• Trump gets real on Ukraine’s security, by The Wall Street Journal editorial board.
• What my daughter told ChatGPT before she took her life, by Laura Reiley, guest essayist, The New York Times.

The Closer

And finally … 📖 Ever return a library book a few days, or even weeks, late? The San Antonio Public Library recently received a book 82 years after it was due. 

The book — “Your Child, His Family, and Friends” by marriage and family counselor Frances Bruce Strain — was checked out in July 1943 and returned this past June from a person in Oregon, according to the library.

“After the recent death of my father, I inherited a few boxes of books he left behind,” the person wrote in a letter that the library shared on Instagram. “The book must have been borrowed by my Grandmother, Maria del Socorro Aldrete Flores (Cortez). In that year, she transferred to Mexico City to work at the US Embassy. She must have taken the book with her, and some 82 years later, it ended up in my possession.”

The library eliminated overdue fines in 2021. Not accounting for inflation, the 1943 overdue book fine of 3 cents a day would amount to nearly $900. Adjusted to today’s money, 3 cents amounts to 56 cents a day — or a fine of more than $16,000.

Thanks for reading! Checking out more newsletters from The Hill here. See you tomorrow.