A look at what happened in the US government this week
A look at what happened in the US government this week
Mm. Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, our negotiations have been held in *** constructive atmosphere of mutual respect. We have very thorough negotiations, quite useful. I would like to thank once again my American counterpart for the proposal to travel out here to Alaska. It only makes sense that we. Map here because our countries, those separated by the oceans, are close neighbors. So when we've met when I came out of the plane and I've said, Good afternoon dear neighbor, very good to see you in good health and to see you alive. I think that is very neighborly. Um And I think that's some kind words that we can say to each other. We're separated by the Strait of Being though there are two islands only between the Russian island and the US island. They're only 4 kilometers apart. We're close neighbors and it's *** fact. It's also important that Alaska has to do with our common heritage, common history between Russia and the US, and many positive events have to do with that territory. Still, there is tremendous cultural. Heritage back from the Russian America, for example, Orthodox churches and *** lot of, uh, more than 700 geographical names of Russian origin during the Second World War. It was here in Alaska that was the origin of the legendary air bridge for the supply of military aircraft and other equipment under the land lease program. It was *** dangerous and treacherous route over the vast emptiness of ice. However, the pilot. Of both countries did everything to bring close to the victory. They risked their lives and they gave it all for the common victory. I was just in in the city of Magadan in Russia and there is *** memorial there dedicated to the Russian and the US pilots, and there are two flags, the US flag and the Russian flag, and I know that here as well there is such *** memorial. There is *** military burial place several kilometers away from here. The Soviet pilots are buried there. Who died during that dangerous mission. We're thankful to the citizens and the government of the US for carefully taking care of their memory. I think that's very worthy and noble. We'll always remember other historical examples when our countries defeated common enemies together in the spirit of battle camaraderie and ship that supported each other and facilitated each other. I'm sure that this heritage will help us rebuild and foster mutually beneficial and equal ties. At this stage, even during the hardest there have been summits between Russia and the US for 4 years, and that's *** long time. This time it was very hard for bilateral relations, and let's be frank, they're falling to the lowest point since the Cold War. I think that's not benefiting our countries and the world. Later we had to amend the situation to move on from the confrontation to dialogue and in this case *** personal meeting between the heads of state has been long overdue naturally under the condition of serious and painstaking work. This work has been done in general me and President Trump have very good direct contact. We've spoken multiple times. We spoke frankly on the phone and um. Special envoy of the president Mr. traveled out to Russia several times our uh advisers and heads of foreign ministries kept in touch all the time, and we know fully well that one of the central issues was the situation around Ukraine. We see the strive of the administration and President Trump personally to help facilitate the resolution of the Ukrainian conflict and his strive to get to the crux of the matter to understand. is precious as I've said, the situation in Ukraine has to do with the fundal threats to our security. Moreover, we've always considered the Ukrainian nation, and I've said it multiple times *** brotherly nation however strange it may sound in these conditions. We have the same roots and everything that's happening is *** tragedy for us and terrible wound. Therefore, the country is sincerely interested in putting an end to it the same time. We're convinced that in order to to make settlement lasting *** long term we need to eliminate all the primary roots, the primary causes of that conflict and we've said it multiple times to consider all legitimate concerns of Russia and to reinstate *** just balance of security in Europe and in the world on the whole and I agree with President Trump as he has said today that naturally the security of Ukraine should be. Insured as well, naturally we're prepared to work on that. I would like to hope that the agreement that we've reached together will help us bring closer that goal and will pave the path towards peace in Ukraine. We expect that Kiev and European capitals will pursue that constructively and that they won't go raning works. They will not make any attempts to use some backroom dealings or to conduct provocations to torpedo the nascent progress. Uh, incidentally when the new administration came to power, bilateral trade started to grow. It's, it's still very symbolic. Still we have uh *** growth of 20% as I've said, we have *** lot of dimensions for joint work. It is clear that. The US and Russian investment and business cooperation has tremendous potential. Russia and the US can offer each other so much in trade, digital high tech, and in space exploration. We see that Arctic cooperation is also very possible. And our international contexts, for example, between the far east of Russia and the West coast of the US overall it's very important for our countries to turn the page to go back to cooperation. It is symbolic that not far away from here, the border between Russia and the US there was *** so called international date line. I think you can step over literally from yesterday into tomorrow and I hope that's. Succeed in that in political sphere. I would like to thank President Trump for our joint work for the well wishing and trustworthy tone of our conversation. It's important that both sides are result oriented and we see that the president of the US has *** very clear idea of what what he would like to achieve. He sincerely cares about the prosperity of his nation. Still, he understands that Russia has its own national interests. That today's agreements will be the starting point not only for the solution of the Ukrainian issue but also will help us bring back businesslike and pragmatic relations between Russia and the US and in the end I would like to add one more thing I'd like to remind you that in 2022 during the last contact with the previous administration, I tried to convince my previous American colleagues that it should not the situation should not be. Brought to the point of no return when it would come to hostilities and I said it quite directly back then that it's *** big mistake today when President Trump saying that if he was the president. Then there will be no more and I'm quite sure that it would indeed be so I can confirm that. I think that overall me and President Trump have built *** very good business like *** trustworthy contact and have every reason to believe that moving down this path we can come and the sooner the better to the end of the conflict in Ukraine. Thank you, thank you. Well thank you very much, Mr. President. It was very profound and I will say that I believe we had *** very productive meeting. There were many, many points that we agreed on, most of them I would say *** couple of big ones that we haven't quite got there, but we've made some headway. So there's no deal until there's *** deal. I will call up NATO in *** little while. I will call up the various people that I think are appropriate, and I'll of course call up President Zelinsky and tell him about today's meeting. It's ultimately up to them. They're gonna have to agree with what Marco and Steve and some of the great people from the Trump administration who've come here, Scott. John Ratcliffe, thank you very much, but we have some of our really great leaders. They've been doing *** phenomenal job. We also have some tremendous Russian business representatives here, and I think you know, everybody wants to deal with us. We've become the hottest country anywhere in the world in *** very short period of time, and we look forward to that. We look forward to dealing. We're gonna try and get this over with. We, we really made some great progress. Today I've always had *** fantastic relationship with President Putin, with Vladimir. We had many, many tough meetings, good meetings. We were interfered with by the Russia Russia Russia hoax that made it *** little bit tougher to deal with, but he understood it. I think he's probably seen things like that during the course of his career. He's he's seen it all. But we had to put up with the Russia Russia Russia hoax. He knew it was *** hoax and I knew it was *** hoax, but what was done was very criminal, but it made it harder for us to deal as *** country in terms of the business and all of the things that we'd like to have dealt with, but we'll have *** good chance when this is over. So just to put it very quickly, I'm going to start making *** few phone calls and tell them what happened, but we had an extremely productive meeting and many points were agreed to and there are. Just *** very few that are left. Some are not that significant. One is probably the most significant, but we have *** very good chance of getting there. We didn't get there, but we have *** very good chance of getting there. I would like to thank President Putin and his entire team. Whose faces who I know in many cases, otherwise, other than that whose whose faces I get to see you all the time in the newspapers you're very you're almost as famous as the boss, but, uh, especially this one right over here, but we had some good meetings over the years, right, good productive meetings over the years, and we hope to have that in the future, but let's do the most productive one right now. We're going to stop. Really 567, 1000 thousands of people *** week from being killed and President Putin wants to see that as much as I do. So, uh, again, Mr. President, I'd like to thank you very much and we'll speak to you very soon and probably see you again very soon. Thank you very much Vladimir. Next time in Moscow. Oh, that's an interesting one. I don't know, I'll get *** little heat on that one, but I, uh, I could see it possibly happening. Thank you very much, Vladimir, and thank you all. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. I think so. I Yeah
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A look at what happened in the US government this week
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Alaska. Washington, D.C., continues to grapple with the presence of federal agents in the city. California is moving forward with its partisan redistricting, as Texas Democrats plan on heading back to their state to face a similar fight. Trump picked a replacement to lead the agency that compiles jobs and inflation data.Here are the top stories involving the U.S. government this past week.Trump-Putin summitU.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met for about 2 1/2 hours in Alaska to discuss the war with Ukraine.In a press conference after the meeting, Putin said the two leaders came to an "understanding," while Trump came away a little less satisfied.Watch the full press conference here.Earlier in the week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders met with Trump to make their case about resolving the war.Video below: Presidents Trump, Putin meet in AlaskaDC federal takeoverTrump deployed federal law enforcement agents this week to patrol the city of Washington, D.C., including personnel from the FBI, DEA, ATF and ICE.The federal presence in the city has triggered protests from some residents.After attempting to assume control of the city's police department and replace the police chief, the Trump administration backed down on Friday from a full takeover, largely because a judge indicated they would strike it down.As part of the agreement to back down, the Trump administration ordered the city to cooperate in immigration enforcement.Video below: Federal judge ruled that DC's police chief can maintain control of Metropolitan Police Dept.In other newsCalifornia Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Thursday that the state will move forward with a plan to redraw congressional maps to help his party win five more U.S. House seats in 2026.California's decision is a direct response to a similar, Trump-backed plan in Texas.Texas Democrats have moved closer to ending a nearly two-week walkout that has blocked the GOP's redrawing of U.S. House maps before the 2026 election.Trump nominated an economist from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, to head the agency that compiles jobs and inflation data.The U.S. national debt reached a record $37 trillion this week, according to a Treasury Department report.An appeals court ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration can suspend or terminate billions of dollars of congressionally appropriated funding for foreign aid. A federal judge on Thursday struck down two Trump administration actions aimed at eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the nation's schools and universities.New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell was indicted this week on federal charges of conspiracy and fraud. Washington lawmakers are back home selling the pros and cons of the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," leveraging the law to shape their message to voters ahead of midterms.Trump's "Big, Beautiful" bill will result in less income for the poorest Americans while sending money to the richest, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported Monday. GE Appliances plans to shift production of refrigerators, gas ranges and water heaters out of China and Mexico as part of a more than $3 billion investment to expand its U.S. operations.Trump postponed increased tariffs on Chinese imports for 90 more days, maintaining a 30% tax on most goods in hopes of reaching a trade deal.Video below: One Big Beautiful Bill Act sparks debate in town halls across the country
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Alaska. Washington, D.C., continues to grapple with the presence of federal agents in the city. California is moving forward with its partisan redistricting, as Texas Democrats plan on heading back to their state to face a similar fight. Trump picked a replacement to lead the agency that compiles jobs and inflation data.
Here are the top stories involving the U.S. government this past week.
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Trump-Putin summit
- U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met for about 2 1/2 hours in Alaska to discuss the war with Ukraine.
- In a press conference after the meeting, Putin said the two leaders came to an "understanding," while Trump came away a little less satisfied.
- Watch the full press conference here.
- Earlier in the week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders met with Trump to make their case about resolving the war.
Video below: Presidents Trump, Putin meet in Alaska
DC federal takeover
- Trump deployed federal law enforcement agents this week to patrol the city of Washington, D.C., including personnel from the FBI, DEA, ATF and ICE.
- The federal presence in the city has triggered protests from some residents.
- After attempting to assume control of the city's police department and replace the police chief, the Trump administration backed down on Friday from a full takeover, largely because a judge indicated they would strike it down.
- As part of the agreement to back down, the Trump administration ordered the city to cooperate in immigration enforcement.
Video below: Federal judge ruled that DC's police chief can maintain control of Metropolitan Police Dept.
In other news
- California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Thursday that the state will move forward with a plan to redraw congressional maps to help his party win five more U.S. House seats in 2026.
- California's decision is a direct response to a similar, Trump-backed plan in Texas.
- Texas Democrats have moved closer to ending a nearly two-week walkout that has blocked the GOP's redrawing of U.S. House maps before the 2026 election.
- Trump nominated an economist from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, to head the agency that compiles jobs and inflation data.
- The U.S. national debt reached a record $37 trillion this week, according to a Treasury Department report.
- An appeals court ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration can suspend or terminate billions of dollars of congressionally appropriated funding for foreign aid.
- A federal judge on Thursday struck down two Trump administration actions aimed at eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the nation's schools and universities.
- New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell was indicted this week on federal charges of conspiracy and fraud.
- Washington lawmakers are back home selling the pros and cons of the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," leveraging the law to shape their message to voters ahead of midterms.
- Trump's "Big, Beautiful" bill will result in less income for the poorest Americans while sending money to the richest, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported Monday.
- GE Appliances plans to shift production of refrigerators, gas ranges and water heaters out of China and Mexico as part of a more than $3 billion investment to expand its U.S. operations.
- Trump postponed increased tariffs on Chinese imports for 90 more days, maintaining a 30% tax on most goods in hopes of reaching a trade deal.
Video below: One Big Beautiful Bill Act sparks debate in town halls across the country