THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION is threatening to walk away from Russia-Ukraine peace talks if the two sides don’t come to a speedy agreement.

 

With talks dragging on, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday the clock is ticking on U.S. involvement. 

 

“We are now reaching a point where we need to decide whether this is even possible or not,” Rubio told reporters after a meeting with counterparts in Paris. “Because if it’s not, then I think we’re just going to move on.

 

“It’s not our war,” he added. “We have other priorities to focus on.”

 

Rubio said the U.S. would decide if continuing to negotiate was “doable” in a “matter of days.”

 

Later in the day, President Trump said he still believes a deal is possible. However, Trump left the door open to the U.S. walking away if negotiations appear intractable.

 

“We’re going to get it stopped, ideally,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “Now, if for some reason one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we’re just going to say ‘you’re foolish, you’re fools, you’re horrible people and we’re just going to take a pass.’ But hopefully we won’t have to do that.”

 

The remarks from Trump and Rubio could be a negotiating tactic to press for a swift resolution.

 

Vice President Vance struck a more upbeat tone in Italy, where he met with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

 

“We do feel optimistic that we can hopefully bring this brutal war to a close,” he said.

The Trump administration expressed frustration this week with remarks made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who suggested in a “60 Minutes” interview that the U.S. is on Russia’s side.

 

“I think it’s sort of absurd for Zelensky to tell the [American] government, which is currently keeping his entire government and war effort together, that we are somehow on the side of the Russians,” Vance told UnHerd.

 

Still, Trump said Thursday he expects to sign a minerals agreement with Ukraine next week. That deal was previously derailed after tensions boiled over between Trump, Vance and Zelensky during an Oval Office meeting last month.

 

“We have a minerals deal,” Trump told reporters Thursday.

 

The U.S. has described the minerals deal as a deterrent to future Russian aggression, arguing Russia will be loathe to attack Ukraine if the U.S. has an economic stake in the region.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been accused of dragging his feet, as his country makes further gains on the battlefield. 

 

Zelensky has already accepted the terms of the Trump administration’s proposed 30-day ceasefire, but Russia has refused to commit.

 

“Nobody’s playing anybody,” Trump said Friday. “We are going to see if we can get it done. I think we have a really good chance of getting it done. And it’s coming to a head right now.”

💡Perspectives:

• The Hill: Trump’s tariffs will likely lead to stagnation, not a depression.

• Washington Times: Trump has crushed inflation.

• The Hill: Trump’s tariff antics prove he is a terrible negotiator.

• Whole Hog Politics: What’s going on with Trump and younger male voters?

Read more: 

• Is Ted Cruz running again? Texan carves out unique lane in Trump’s GOP.

• US forces hit Yemen oil port in ongoing strikes against Houthis.

• Iran seeks Russia’s support for its nuclear talks with US.

• The Trump White House replaced the covid.gov website that provided resources and information on COVID-19 with a webpage promoting the theory that the pandemic was a result of a lab leak in Wuhan, China.

   

• The faculty senates in the Big Ten Academic Alliance are creating a “mutual defense compact” to fight against President Trump’s ongoing attacks on higher education.  

   

• The National Archives released the first batch of remaining documents related to the assassination of former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D-N.Y.) following President Trump’s order that the records be made publicly available. 

©  Associated Press/Salvador Melendez

The fight over the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia has taken a personal turn after Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) visited him at the CECOT prison in El Salvador on Thursday.

 

Democrats praised Van Hollen, who was initially denied a visit with Abrego Garcia. The case has consumed Washington and ignited debate over immigration policy and due process.

 

At a Friday press conference surrounded by Abrego Garcia’s family, Van Hollen said he had been moved to a different detention center “where the conditions are better.”

 

“We need to bring Mr. Abrego Garcia home to protect his rights to due process,” Van Hollen said. “And it’s also important to understand this case isn’t only about one man. It’s about protecting the constitutional rights of everybody that resides in the United States.”

 

The White House and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele mocked Van Hollen and accused Democrats of caring more about illegal immigrants than U.S. citizens.

 

“Now that [Abrego Garcia’s] been confirmed healthy, he gets the honor of staying in El Salvador’s custody,” Bukele posted on X.

 

The White House posted a photo of Trump comforting Patty Morin, whose daughter was killed by an illegal immigrant, next to a photo of Van Hollen and Abrego Garcia.

 

“We are not the same,” the post said.

 

Trump said Van Hollen was “begging for attention.”

 

Abrego Garcia wore sneakers, jeans, a plaid shirt and a Kansas City Chiefs hat during the meeting — a far cry from the images that have come out of the megaprison of shirtless men with shaved heads sitting back-to-back in cramped quarters.

 

Van Hollen said aides to Bukele placed salt-rimmed glasses with cherries in front of them to make it look like they were relaxing before the Salvadorian president posted on X:

 

“Kilmar Abrego Garcia, miraculously risen from the ‘death camps’ & ‘torture’, now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador.”

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to lift a judge’s order that the Trump administration “facilitate” the return of Abrego Garcia in a blistering ruling authored by U.S. Circuit Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson, a Reagan appointee who is highly respected in conservative circles.

 

“The government is asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order,” he wrote. “Further, it claims in essence that because it has rid itself of custody that there is nothing that can be done. This should be shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear.” 

💡Perspectives:

• The Hill: MAGA ‘Mean Girls’ are Trump’s loyal foot soldiers.

• The New York Times: America needs an uprising.

• MSNBC: Americans come together to fight for freedom against Trump.

• Salon: Trump’s open defiance of the law leaves no room for redemption.

• Andy Biggs: Trump’s tariffs will boost economy, deter unfair trade.

Read more: 

• Trump’s claims about Abrego Garcia’s gang ties rely on 1 confidential tip.

• US citizen detained in Florida released amid immigration crackdown.

• More immigrants opt to self-deport.

• Mahmoud Khalil compares ICE detention to Nazi concentration camps.

©  Alex Brandon, Associated Press

A federal judge temporarily barred the Trump administration from implementing its plan to lay off about 90 percent of workers at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

 

At a Friday hearing, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said the agency could not cut off employees’ computer access until another hearing takes place at the end of the month.

 

“We’re not going to disburse 1,483 people into the universe and have them be unable to communicate with the agency anymore until we have determined whether that is lawful or not,” she said.

 

Meanwhile, President Trump signed a memorandum extending a freeze on hiring federal civilian employees into mid-July as his administration continues its efforts to reduce the size of the federal workforce.

 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is suing to to stop the Trump administration from tearing down the federal AmeriCorps service program, accusing the government of giving “the middle finger to volunteers serving their fellow Americans.”

A different federal judge said he will not further enforce his order directing the White House to restore The Associated Press’s (AP) access to certain spaces at the White House.

 

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, who was appointed by Trump, said the White House is not discriminating against the AP by eliminating a permanent slot for all wire services. The AP is still eligible for selection as part of the pool’s daily print journalist rotation.

 

“I don’t intend to micromanage the White House,” McFadden said.

 

However, he said there would be “serious consequences” if the AP continues to receive “second class treatment.”

 

• Kevin Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council, said the White House is is exploring how to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, despite the legal guardrails on his position.

 

Hassett also explained Trump’s frustration with Powell for not cutting interest rates over fears of a price spike due to tariffs.

 

“The policy of this Federal Reserve was to raise rates the minute President Trump took office last time,” Hassett told reporters at the White House.

 

“To say that the supply-side tax cuts were going to be inflationary even though supply-side tax cuts provide growth without inflation, to not go out there on TV and at IMF meetings and warn about the terrible inflation from the obvious runaway spending from Joe Biden was textbook inflationary, and we didn’t see anybody worried about that. And then they cut rates right ahead of the election.”

 

Trump has been railing against Powell after he provided a bleak economic outlook this week due to the trade war with China and global reciprocal tariffs.

 

The conservative editorial board at The Wall Street Journal defended Powell in an editorial:

 

“The problem for Mr. Trump is that Mr. Powell spoke the truth,” the board wrote Friday. “The main lesson from Trump vs. Powell is that the central bank can’t make up for the economic policy errors of politicians

💡Perspectives:

• Karl Rove: America gets Trump fatigue.

• The Liberal Patriot: Is blue labour a model for Rust Belt Democrats?

• The Hill: What our universities need to do now.

• RealClearPolitics: Higher education should learn from Hillsdale.

• Commentary: End U.S. taxpayer support for higher education.

Read more: 

• Trump and Powell set for showdown as tariffs rattle markets.

• Trump’s first-quarter approval rating at 45 percent: Poll.

• Trump taps Mark Levin, Henry McMaster to ‘revamped’ council.

• Trump floats wider IRS tax exemption crackdown.

Here’s who’s talking on Sunday…

 

NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday”: Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) and former Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R).

 

ABC’s “This Week”: Border czar Tom Homan; Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.); House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).

 

Fox News’ “Fox News Sunday”: Van Hollen; Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.

 

NBC’s “Meet the Press”: Van Hollen and Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.).

 

CNN’s “State of the Union”: Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.).

 

CBS’s “Face the Nation”: Van Hollen; Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin; Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D); Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.).

 

MSNBC’s “The Weekend”: Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.); United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain.

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