“President Trump said he would meet with President Vladimir Putin of Russia next Friday in Alaska, as he tries to secure a deal to end the war between Russia and Ukraine,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Trump announced the meeting Friday shortly after he suggested that a peace deal between the two countries could include ‘some swapping of territories,’ signaling that the United States may join Russia in trying to compel Ukraine to permanently cede some of its land.”
“President Trump’s laissez-faire approach is notable, given that the development of the Covid vaccine was seen as one of his first term’s most notable achievements,” the New York Times reports.
Said Trump: “That was now a long time ago, and we’re onto other things.”
“There has been widespread speculation that Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, could challenge Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins in a run for U.S. Senate when Collins’ term ends in 2026,” WMTW reports.
Said Mills: “That’s the rumor. I don’t know. I would think seriously about it, but I’m not ready to make any decisions along those lines.”
“President Trump’s team is reviewing new contenders to be the next chairman of the Federal Reserve, with a longtime economic consultant and a past Fed president added to the list,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“About 10 people are under consideration for the job.”
“The Trump administration is pushing ahead with plans to take US mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac public later this year, in a move that would bring the federally-backed housing finance agencies out of government control,” the Financial Times reports.
“President Trump is removing Billy Long from his job leading the Internal Revenue Service just two months after he was confirmed as commissioner,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Long, a former Republican congressman and staunch ally of Mr. Trump, is expected to be nominated to an ambassadorship, the people said. It is unclear who will next lead the IRS, which has had six different people in charge this year.”
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“Russian President Vladimir Putin gave President Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff an award to pass along to a senior CIA official whose son was killed in Ukraine while fighting alongside Russian forces,” CBS News reports.
“FBI Director Kash Patel is stepping up his campaign to take on some of President Trump’s top partisan priorities,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“In the last few days, Patel has forced out another round of agents who worked on investigations that upset the president and his supporters, and enlisted the FBI to help track down Texas Democratic lawmakers who fled the state to block Republicans from taking up redistricting legislation. The firings are the latest in a series of changes as Patel tries to reshape the nation’s premier law enforcement agency in Trump’s image.”
CNN: “A memo written by the Pentagon’s policy chief last month gives the Defense Department the option to divert certain weapons and equipment intended for Ukraine back into US stockpiles… a dramatic shift that could see billions of dollars previously earmarked for the war-torn country go toward replenishing dwindling American supplies.”
“Pressure on Congress to renew Affordable Care Act subsidies is likely to ramp up this fall as notices of 2026 premium increases go out and consumers get their first warnings that huge rate hikes could be coming,” Axios reports.
“Backers of renewing the enhanced tax credits, which expire at the end of this year, hope the sticker shock could motivate Republicans to get behind a short-term reauthorization to avoid an uproar over premium increases in an election year.”
“A sweeping new executive order seeks to transform how the federal government awards billions of dollars in research grants by giving President Trump’s political appointees unprecedented power over the projects agencies fund,” Stat reports.
“In naming Stephen Miran to the governor spot vacated Friday as Adriana Kugler steps aside, President Trump is seeking to place someone who wants a root-and-branch overhaul of the Fed inside the central bank,” Axios reports.
“In the near term, Miran will, if confirmed, be a voice for Trump’s desired interest rate cuts.”
“But Miran’s critique of how the Fed operates goes much deeper — and his conception of central bank independence is distinctly non-mainstream.”
“A federal appeals panel on Friday terminated a district-court judge’s plan to assess whether Trump administration officials were guilty of criminal contempt for sending flights of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador, despite the judge’s verbal order that they turn around and return to the United States,” the New York Times reports.
“The ruling by the three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia will make it far more difficult for Judge James E. Boasberg to determine the details of who was made aware of his order in March, and why the planes continued on to El Salvador.”
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) is eyeing a bid for Texas attorney general, The Hill reports.
“The Trump administration is seeking a $1 billion settlement from the University of California, Los Angeles, marking the latest effort by the White House to shape higher education and extract significant concessions from universities,” CNN reports.
“Senate Republicans are actively exploring unilateral changes in Senate rules to speed confirmation of Trump administration nominees in the fall after they failed to break stiff Democratic resistance to executive branch picks before leaving on their August recess,” the New York Times reports.
“Senior Republicans say that talks are ongoing and that changes in confirmation procedure are likely in order to overcome Democratic insistence on holding formal roll call votes on every executive branch nominee. That requirement has slowed approval of President Trump’s picks for scores of top executive branch jobs.”
President Donald Trump warned U.S. courts against blocking his tariff policy, citing its “positive impact” on the stock market and saying such a move could cause a severe economic downturn, CNBC reports.
Said Trump: “If a Radical Left Court ruled against us at this late date, in an attempt to bring down or disturb the largest amount of money, wealth creation and influence the U.S.A. has ever seen, it would be impossible to ever recover, or pay back, these massive sums of money and honor.”
He added: “It would be 1929 all over again, a GREAT DEPRESSION.”
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.