Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, says a meeting between the president and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, will likely happen.
Witkoff made the remarks in an interview with Bloomberg TV this morning at the White House.
The two leaders spoke by phone yesterday for some 90 minutes in which the Russian president demanded that any cessation of his war on Ukraine would rely on an end to foreign military and intelligence help to the country.
Wikoff also said that Putin gave a direct order not to attack any Ukrainian energy infrastructure targets after his phone call with Trump but an attack had already commenced.
He believes Putin is acting in “good faith.”
Oliver O’Connell19 March 2025 14:21
The former Fox News star who is deeply embedded within Trump’s inner circle, warned the president this week that a strike on Iran “would certainly result” in a war that would cost billions of dollars and lead to “thousands of American deaths” in the region.
“The cost of future acts of terrorism on American soil may be even higher. Those aren’t guesses,” the MAGA podcaster added on Monday evening.
“Those are the Pentagon’s own estimates. A bombing campaign against Iran will set off a war, and it will be America’s war. Don’t let the propagandists lie to you.”
The far-right commentator’s remarks came on the heels of Trump’s air strikes across Yemen this past weekend that killed dozens, which were followed by an explicit threat to the Iranian government of “dire consequences” if the Houthis engaged in any further retaliatory attacks.
Justin Baragona has more on an unlikely dove.
Joe Sommerlad19 March 2025 14:15
Oliver O’Connell19 March 2025 14:00
U.S. citizens are deeply divided when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and political correctness, according to a poll from NBC News.
The divisions have emerged along partisan and racial lines, with the poll coming as Trump continues his push to dismantle DEI programs.
In the poll, 49 percent of registered voters agreed that DEI programs should end as “they create divisions and inefficiencies in the workplace by putting too much emphasis on race and other social factors over merit, skills, and experience.”
Meanwhile, 48 percent said DEI programs should remain “because diverse perspectives reflect our country, create innovative ideas and solutions, encourage unity, and make our workplaces fair and inclusive.”
Gustaf Kilander takes a closer look.
Joe Sommerlad19 March 2025 13:50
Amid a multi-week Wall Street sell-off that has seen the major stock market indexes approach correction territory over economic uncertainty largely spurred by Trump’s chaotic trade war, Fox Business anchor Charles Payne grumbled that this was all the media’s fault.
With the Dow Jones index down hundreds of points on Tuesday afternoon, breaking a brief two-day comeback, Payne appeared on Fox’s America Reports to discuss investors’ continued apprehension and the White House’s attempts to tout the “success” of its economic policies.
“As we have said for years as market watchers, markets do not like uncertainty,” anchor Sandra Smith noted.
“Even if the decision is to go forward with an unpopular policy, or economic plan, the markets can accept that as long as they know what’s coming. It is that uncertainty that continues to weigh on markets.”
Payne, however, trumpeted the Trump administration’s long-term vision while blasting the mainstream press for being biased against the president and far too gloomy with its economic coverage.
“Yeah, but what we’re seeing in the last couple of weeks is a media creation,” he groused.
“The media has gone to war with President Trump to make tariffs the scariest thing in the world.”
Justin Baragona has more.
Joe Sommerlad19 March 2025 13:35
Detained Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil’s case is being moved from Louisiana to New Jersey per a judge’s order.
Judge Jesse Furman also denied the Trump administration’s move to dismiss the case altogether.
These are serious allegations and arguments that, no doubt, warrant careful review by a court of law; the fundamental constitutional principle that all persons in the United States are entitled to due process of law demands no less. But before the Court may review Khalil’s allegations and arguments, it must confront a threshold question: whether it is the proper tribunal to even consider Khalil’s Petition.
Oliver O’Connell19 March 2025 13:20
President Donald Trump will speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy at 10 a.m. ET, Axios reports.
Their conversation follows yesterday’s call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Independent’s world affairs editor Sam Kiley offers this analysis of that call:
Oliver O’Connell19 March 2025 13:15
With Donald Trump and Elon Musk saying that anti-Tesla protests amount to domestic terrorism, as we saw a little while earlier, officials have revealed that an investigation into another arson attack on Musk’s vehicles has been elevated to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Trump began issuing threats against people caught engaging in attacks against Teslas at the White House last week as he promoted his friend’s car range, telling the press: “Those people are going to go through a big problem when we catch them.”
Joe Sommerlad19 March 2025 13:00
The president has overturned an executive order signed by Lyndon B Johnson in 1965 to jettison a requirement that federal contractors must enforce rules against segregation in their workplaces.
The General Services Administration last month issued a memo to all federal agencies pointing out that Trump’s order no longer requires businesses paid with taxpayer dollars in contracts to ensure they won’t have facilities like segregated dining areas for Black and white employees.
State and federal laws still outlaw segregation in all companies, including government contractors, but New York University constitutional law professor Melissa Murray told NPR that Trump’s message in lifting the ban is significant and disturbing.
“It’s symbolic, but it’s incredibly meaningful in its symbolism,” she said, noting that the changes conflict with laws established by the government in the 1950s and 1960s “that led to integration.”
The “fact that they are now excluding those provisions from the requirements for federal contractors speaks volumes,” Murray told NPR.
Joe Sommerlad19 March 2025 12:40
The top Democrat and Senate Minority Leader was interviewed on the ABC panel show yesterday and endured a pretty torrid time of it, facing accusations that he “caved” on Republican pressure to support its spending bill last week in order to avoid his party being blamed for an ensuing government shutdown.
Joe Sommerlad19 March 2025 12:20
