Morning Report — Trump is starting Ukraine peace talks — without Ukraine
In today’s issue:
- U.S. prepares for Russia talks without Ukraine
- Congress upheaval over DOGE
- Trump czar denies mayor got a DOJ deal
- Gaza ceasefire shaky but in place
The Trump administration will meet this week with Russian officials to discuss an end to Russia’s three-year invasion of Ukraine — but no delegation from Ukraine is scheduled to take part.
The meetings, hosted in Saudi Arabia, will feature a cadre of high-ranking U.S. officials — including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, national security adviser Mike Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff — working to fulfill President Trump’s long standing campaign pledge to end the war in Ukraine. Rubio landed in Saudi Arabia today, and Kremlin officials confirmed they will be arriving today for talks beginning tomorrow, focusing on restoring ties, Ukraine and preparing a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump.
The trip follows a recent phone call between Trump and Putin,in which Trump said the two leaders “agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately.” The call upended years of U.S. policy, ending Moscow’s isolation over its February 2022 invasion. Trump spoke separately with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Notably absent from the meeting roster: U.S. special envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg, as well as Ukrainian officials. A Ukrainian official said a delegation from Kyiv is in Saudi Arabia to pave the way for a possible visit by Zelensky. Trump on Sunday told reporters Zelensky “will be involved” but did not elaborate on the role he’d play in the talks. The Ukrainian president on Sunday traveled to Abu Dhabi, where his agenda was not immediately clear.
Rubio told CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday “we have a long ways to go” before commencing any potential peace talks with Russia aimed at ending the war, adding that “nothing has been finalized” regarding upcoming meetings.
“We stand ready to follow the president’s lead on this and begin to explore ways, if those opportunities present itself, to begin a process toward peace,” Rubio said.
▪ The Wall Street Journal: Russia’s advance in Ukraine is slowing. Here’s what’s happening and why.
▪ Reuters: The U.S. has asked its European allies what they would need from Washington to participate in Ukraine security arrangements.
During a Saturday speech at the Munich Security Conference, Zelensky said Ukraine must be involved with any negotiations to end the war.
“Ukraine will never accept deals made behind our backs,” he said. “No decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine, no decisions about Europe without Europe.”
Senior administration officials, including Vice President Vance, Rubio and Kellogg had huddled in Munich last week, where the Russia-Ukraine war was a critical topic of discussion. On Wednesday, Zelensky rejected an offer by the Trump administration to relinquish half of the country’s mineral resources in exchange for U.S. support. Zelensky said he rejected the deal because it did not tie resource access to U.S. security guarantees.
As Ukraine remains iced out of the Trump administration’s peace talks, Europe is scrambling to respond. French President Emmanuel Macron will host European leaders today for an emergency summit on the Ukraine war after U.S. officials suggested Europe would have no role in any talks on ending the conflict.
Macron’s office said the “consultation talks” would address the tumultuous change in the U.S. approach to Ukraine and the attendant risks to the security of the European continent.
In a Sunday interview on Fox News, Waltz said U.S. negotiators “will bring everyone together when appropriate,” while specifying that the Europeans will be expected to “provide long-term military guarantees.”
▪ CNN: An isolated Europe worries the U.S. will negotiate on Ukraine badly without it.
▪ NPR: European leaders scramble ahead of Trump's Ukraine summit with Putin.
▪ The Guardian: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer — who raised the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine — will discuss the views of European leaders when he visits Trump at the White House at the end of this month.
▪ The Hill: The foreign minister of Poland, Radosław Sikorski, said that a united European army “will not happen.”
New targets: On NBC’s “Meet The Press,” Zelensky said his country has intelligence that Putin plans to target Russia-friendly Belarus and warned against the weakening of NATO.
“And at that moment,” Zelensky continued, “knowing that he did not succeed in occupying us, we do not know where he will go. There are risks that this can be Poland and Lithuania because we believe — we believe that Putin will wage war against NATO.”
SMART TAKE with NewsNation’s BLAKE BURMAN
Blake Burman, who hosts “The Hill” weeknights, 6p/5c on NewsNation, is off for President’s Day and returns Tuesday.
3 THINGS TO KNOW TODAY
▪ The 14th Amendment of the Constitution is for former slaves, not migrants, Trump said Sunday. It’s a birthright citizenship interpretation many constitutional scholars dispute.
▪ Jan. 6 rioters have argued in court that Trump’s pardons should absolve them of other crimes, including child pornography, illegal gun possession and a murder plot against FBI agents. Dozens of defendants joined forces on X to compile and publicize the names and some photos of at least 124 people who had a hand in their convictions — mainly prosecutors, but also a few judges and FBI agents.
▪ Here are three subtle signs you need to take time off from work, according to a psychologist.
LEADING THE DAY
© The Associated Press | Patrick Semansky
FIRINGS AND FURY: As Trump’s presidency passes the one-month point this week, efforts led by Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency to reshape the federal workforce will continue to grab headlines and create controversy.
Federal departments and agencies are removing probationary workers, a category of employees who are easier to dismiss under federal rules and can include highly skilled workers. Federal employees have described specialized and experienced employees cast aside as Musk and Trump seek to quickly shrink the workforce. The administration is now trying to rehire hundreds of fired federal employees who were tasked with working on the nation’s nuclear weapons programs.
The DOGE endeavor is a major continuing story this week in Washington and around the country. Things to watch include whether any Republican lawmakers publicly object to Musk’s methods and whether Trump shows any signs of impatience with the attention his billionaire ally attracts.
Thousands of probationary employees who lack civil service protections at the Internal Revenue Service are being purged from the agency ahead of the tax filing season, reports The Associated Press. Musk’s team has accessed IRS data that includes detailed financial information about every taxpayer, business and nonprofit in the country. The move set off alarms inside the agency, The Washington Post and NBC News reported Sunday.
The Hill: The Trump administration filed its first appeal to the Supreme Court in its contested firing of a top federal whistleblower protection official.
Across the aisle, House and Senate Democrats have no set strategy to battle Musk’s efficiency team. The minority party in the Capitol has been described as powerless since Jan. 20. Democrats’ hopes: Court intervention might at least slow Trump’s downsizing campaign.
Some Republican senators are uneasy as they encounter repercussions and angst in their home states. Polls indicate Musk is deeply unpopular among centrists and moderates in addition to Democrats, reports The Hill’s Alexander Bolton. Musk’s capacity to fund primary challenges through a super PAC is the influencer’s superpower to watch.
▪ The Hill: Here are five pressing questions faced by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
▪ The New York Times: How Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) arrived at “yes” from “hard no” on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth nomination to join Trump’s team. It’s a tale of political calculation and more broadly, Republican acquiescence to Trump’s demands.
▪ The Hill: Senate Democrats split over how to push back against Trump’s assault on the U.S. Agency for International Development.
▪ The Washington Post: Here’s how Musk’s efficiency team did its targeting and who is up next, according to documents.
Meanwhile on Capitol Hill, the House GOP budget resolution that squeaked through committee last week as a broad and ambitious outline is in jeopardy amid concerns from moderate Republicans. Across the Rotunda, Senate Republicans who are eyeing a potential shutdown battle ahead of a March 14 deadline to keep the government funded would like to jam through defense and border funding, adding to the budget uncertainties ahead for the party in power.
Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) says he told Trump, and believes the president “buys into” his view, that “it’d be really helpful if we had $150 billion of new money [for the border] before March 14.”
The Hill: Democrats' headaches have multiplied in the past few week amid the party’s battle for future control of the Senate.
WHERE AND WHEN
- 🎂Happy President’s Day. It’s a federal holiday that began with George Washington’s birthday.
- The House will convene briefly at 1 p.m.
- The Senate meets at 3 p.m. Tuesday.
- The president has no public events.
- The secretary of State is in Saudi Arabia for meetings while leading a U.S. delegation to discuss with Russia’s representatives beginning Tuesday the Kremlin’s war with Ukraine.
ZOOM IN
© The Associated Press | AP Photo
CITIES AND STATES: New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D), freed last week by the Justice Department from what had been ongoing criminal corruption prosecution in the Southern District of New York, continues to seek reelection as a Democrat despite criticism about his decision to forge a public alliance with Trump.
White House immigration czar Tom Homan denied Sunday during a CNN interview that the Trump administration agreed to an alleged quid pro quo to drop prosecution in exchange for the mayor’s cooperation to allow access by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to New York’s infamous Rikers Island prison. “I don’t think it had anything to do with it,” Homan said, adding his immigration discussions with the mayor took place “eight, nine weeks ago,” as well as on Thursday. Adams said in a statement that he and Homan met to discuss how they could “work together.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) last week was reportedly giving new consideration to removing Adams as mayor because of the prosecutorial controversy involving Trump’s Justice Department.
The June 24 Democratic mayoral primary in New York City is becoming a crowded contest. Adams has denied he will run as a Republican.
CALIFORNIA: Will Los Angeles residents hit by rampaging wildfires rebuild their neighborhoods to resemble the old? With more than $250 billion in economic losses and an estimated 17,000 structures burned in the Eaton and Palisades fires, reconstruction efforts in the City of Angels will face monumental challenges, including planning, permitting, supply chains, available workers and insurance. State and local officials have been trying to unload some of the burden by minimizing bureaucracy where possible. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) last week issued another in a series of executive orders aimed at cutting red tape and streamlining community recovery. He previously suspended permitting requirements and extended relevant deadlines.
GOVERNORS: Reckoning with Trump while leading blue states offers a window into diverse viewpoints and various political strategies among Democratic governors. In Illinois, Trump’s impact is but one of many pressure points facing ambitious Gov. JB Pritzker (D), who has trolled the president online. Pritzker faces a tough state budget season.
UTAH: Collective bargaining for public workers is banned in the Beehive State beginning July 1 under a new law that covers teachers, police officers and other state employees. It was signed by Republican Gov. Spencer Cox. Utah joins South Carolina and North Carolina among the most union-restrictive states.
ELSEWHERE
© The Associated Press | Ohad Zwigenberg
GAZA: Rubio, who is today in Saudi Arabia, on Sunday endorsed Israel’s war aims in the Gaza Strip, saying Hamas “must be eradicated.” His comments came after he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem at the start of a regional tour, where he is likely to face pushback from Arab leaders over Trump’s proposal to transfer Palestinians out of Gaza to redevelop the enclave under U.S. ownership. Netanyahu has welcomed the plan and said he and Trump have a “common strategy” for Gaza’s future.
“I want to assure everyone who is now listening to us, President Trump and I are working in full cooperation and coordination between us,” Netanyahu said at a press conference Sunday, alongside Rubio.
CNN: Netanyahu vowed on Sunday to “finish the job” against Iran with Trump’s support.
The ceasefire in the Gaza Strip remains on shaky ground despite hostage and prisoner release over the weekend that had been in doubt. After a dispute last week threatened to derail the deal, three Israeli hostages were freed from Gaza in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
▪ The Forward: Trump vowed to unleash hell in Gaza. His Middle East envoy insists the ceasefire will move forward.
▪ CBS News: Among the released hostages was American Israeli Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36.
EUROPE’S FAR RIGHT: In Munich, Vance on Friday met with Alice Weidel, the co-leader and candidate for chancellor of Germany’s far-right and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. In Germany, mainstream political parties say they won't work with AfD, a stance often referred to as a “firewall.” Polls put the party in second place going into the Feb. 23 election. Vance said Friday at the Munich Security Conference that he fears free speech is “in retreat” across the continent. In response, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday blasted Vance for his support of the far right in the country that gave rise to Adolf Hitler, accusing the American vice president of interfering in domestic affairs.
“‘Never again’ is the historical mission that Germany, as a free democracy, must and wants to continue to live up to day after day,” Scholz said. “Never again fascism, never again racism, never again war of aggression. A commitment to ‘never again’ is therefore incompatible with support for the AfD. That is why we will not accept outsiders intervening in our democracy, in our elections and in the democratic formation of opinion on behalf of this party.”
OPINION
■ The Trump shock comes to Europe, by The Wall Street Journal editorial board.
■ What’s behind Vance’s stunning decision to embrace Germany’s far-right AfD party? by Lee Hockstader, columnist, The Washington Post.
THE CLOSER
© The Associated Press | Dell Simancas
And finally … 🐋 We at Morning Report can’t get enough of this whale of a tale. In case you missed it, gulp.
As Adrián Simancas and his father were packrafting (a sport relying on a backpack and inflatable raft) through choppy waters in Chile’s Patagonia region, something huge lunged, mouth open, and appeared to swallow him whole. It was a humpback whale.
Seconds later, Simancas bobbed back up to the surface, followed by his petite vessel. The whale popped up briefly and then swam out of sight. His father caught the seconds of drama on video.
“I felt something hit me from behind — all this happened in a second — something dark blue or white enveloped me, and a slimy texture brushed my face,” Simancas told The New York Times. “Then it closed completely and I started to sink, and I just closed my eyes, expecting an impact. But instead I felt as if I was surrounded by water. I realized that I was in something’s mouth and I had been eaten.”
Watch the whole encounter here.
Stay Engaged
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Topics
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Morning Report — The art of the Russia-Ukraine peace deal
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