“President Donald Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was considerably more amicable than the spat in the Oval Office during Zelensky’s last visit in February,” the Washington Post reports.
“While Trump declined to make a ceasefire a condition of any peace deal, the relationship between the two leaders appeared warmer, to the advantage of Zelensky, who was promised ‘a lot of help when it comes to security’ by Trump.”
“Trump administration officials are discussing taking a 10% stake in Intel as part of a government effort to rescue the embattled chip maker and bolster semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S.,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The structure and terms of the equity investment haven’t been finalized, but the conversations add to a dramatic saga unfolding for the company in Washington.”
New York Times: “One important point to what we just saw from President Trump: He continues to promise a trilateral meeting with President Zelensky and President Putin very soon. But Putin hasn’t committed to it, and officials across Europe remain very skeptical that he ever will. Expect that to come up a lot in the meetings as the day progresses.”
The Economist: “Time differences meant that most Ukrainians only learned about the Alaska summit on Saturday morning. Though their initial reaction was relief, now they are dreading what comes next. The immediate sigh of calm was understandable. The feared grand bargain in Anchorage between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin had not materialized. Initial reports highlighted that the talks at an American military base were truncated and lacked any clear outcome.”
Said one MP: “Disaster averted: Trump has not sold us down the river.”
“But as the sketchy details have hardened into a growing prospect of forthcoming demands that will prove impossible for Ukraine to accept, confidence is giving way to unease, not least about the planned meeting in Washington on Monday between Mr Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky.”
Seth Masket: “Again, the Smithsonian is one of the world’s great repositories of art and culture, in large part because of its political independence. U.S. economic data is considered a highly reliable account of the world’s largest economy and is vital for decisionmaking by businesses and governments. America’s higher education system has long been the envy of the world, with students coming from everywhere, at great expense, to learn the U.S. model and to bring its lessons back home with them.”
“Trump is working very aggressively to end all these advantages. And like most things, this will be easier to smash than to rebuild.”
Politico has the rundown:
12 p.m. — A cavalcade of European leaders arrive, including French President Emmanuel Macron, U.K. PM Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Italian PM Giorgia Meloni, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
1 p.m. — Zelensky arrives and the press will see Trump greet him.
1:10 p.m. — We’re expecting an Oval Office press spray featuring Trump and Zelensky ahead of a bilateral meeting.
2:30 p.m. — We’ll see a “family photo” with Trump and European leaders.
3 p.m. — Trump, Zelensky and European leaders will meet in the East Room.
“Iraqi officials have begun the excavation of what is believed to be a mass grave left behind by the Islamic State extremist group during its rampage across the country a decade ago,” NBC News reports.
Cook Political Report: “Democrats have scored a major recruiting victory by convincing former Sen. Sherrod Brown to run again in Ohio just months after he lost reelection.”
“But while the political environment in 2026 may be much better for Brown than in a presidential year, he will be up against a potentially much tougher opponent in appointed Sen. Jon Husted, a former lieutenant governor and secretary of state who has already won statewide before.”
“Brown’s entrance certainly puts the Ohio Senate special election on the competitive map, and it’s doubtful that any other Democrat would have made this a real race. But Husted still starts as a slight favorite in a state that’s been moving toward the right. We are shifting our rating from Likely to Lean Republican.”
The Republican Party of Florida removed a line of deportation-themed shirts, hats and other tchotchkes for sale on its website that mimicked The Home Depot’s logo, the Miami Herald reports.
“Egregious lies about the 2020 presidential election are going to cost Newsmax $67 million,” CNN reports.
“To avert a high-stakes trial, the right-wing cable channel has agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems $27 million this month and another $40 million in the next two years.”
“With his efforts to take control of law enforcement in Washington, D.C., this week, President Trump has pushed the issue of crime back to the foreground of American politics,” the New York Times reports.
“In doing so, he’s invited a fight with Democrats, who are treading cautiously as they seek to forcefully oppose the federal incursion into the nation’s capital, something no president has ever attempted, without getting caught up in a debate over public safety on Mr. Trump’s terms.”
Dan Wang: “As the Chinese economy surges forward, the U.S. has lost its capacity for physical improvement.”
Michael Hirsch: “President Donald Trump drew a lot of flak for inviting Russian President Vladimir Putin onto U.S. soil for the first time in a decade, complete with a red carpet, a bright ‘Alaska 2025’ sign, and a joint news conference. That was despite getting little from the Russian leader beforehand, save a pledge to continue killing Ukrainians and seizing their territory if the summit didn’t go precisely his way.”
“And as quickly became clear at the news conference the two leaders held Friday, Trump came away with less than the minimum he had hoped for, which was a temporary cease-fire. Despite Putin’s gracious words to Trump—and Trump’s description of him as a “fantastic” partner—the Russian appeared to give no ground whatsoever on his fundamental position that Ukraine is Russian territory and that he will not compromise.”
“Teachers from California and New York who want to work in Oklahoma public schools will be required to pass a certification test to prove they share the state’s conservative political values,” USA Today reports.
“Regardless of the subject or grade they teach, they’ll have to show they know ‘the biological differences between females and males’ and that they agree with the state’s American history standards, which includes elements of a conspiracy theory that the Democratic Party stole the 2020 presidential election from President Donald Trump, which fact checkers have said are false.”
“Texas Democrats who left the state to stymie Republicans over redistricting have returned to Austin, ending a two-week standoff over President Donald Trump’s plan to carve out five new GOP congressional seats,” Politico reports.
“Their return to the state means the Texas House now has the sufficient number of legislators needed to pass a new map benefiting the GOP. Democrats had used the gambit to stall legislative business and bring national attention to Republicans’ decision to pursue off-cycle redistricting ahead of the midterms.”
Ruth Marcus profiles Attorney General Pam Bondi, “who may be one of Trump’s most powerful weapons, as she bends nearly every aspect of law enforcement to enable his agenda.”
“During the past six months, Bondi has presided over the most convulsive transition of power in the D.O.J. since the Watergate era, and perhaps in the hundred-and-fifty-five-year history of the department.”
“No Attorney General has been so aggressive in reversing policies or firing personnel, nor so willing to cede the department’s traditional independence from the White House.”
MSNBC will rebrand as My Source News Opinion World, or MS NOW, the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The shift is part of an effort to distance the network from its NBC heritage and establish its own identity ahead of the planned spinoff of the bulk of NBCUniversal’s cable networks later this year, including CNBC, USA, Oxygen and E!. MSNBC and some other channels that use the iconic peacock logo associated with NBCUniversal brands will also lose that imagery.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
