Today’s notice: Is there a peace deal forming for Russia and Ukraine? It depends on who you ask. Scenes from an unorthodox National Guard deployment. A DHS speechwriter’s “vast digital footprint.” And: Congress’ favorite side hustle.
THE LATEST
Trump’s “cards on the table” moment has come. The president is meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, today at the White House, alongside a who’s-who of European leaders all hoping to see a peace deal.
Depending on who you ask, the contours of a potential agreement seem to be forming.
“We were able to win the following concession: That the United States could offer Article 5-like protection, which is one of the real reasons why Ukraine wants to be in NATO,” Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said Sunday, referring to the alliance’s collective defense clause. It was the “first time we had ever heard the Russians agree to that,” he added, while insisting that full NATO membership for Ukraine was still off the table.
In exchange, Trump said over the weekend that he and Vladimir Putin “largely agreed” to what he called a “land swap.” It remains unclear the exact lines any agreement would draw, though reports suggest that a pair of territories that make up the Donbas region of Eastern Ukraine, Donetsk and Luhansk, are on the table.
All of this needs to be approved by Ukraine, however, which has said repeatedly that giving up territory is off limits.
And there’s some mixed messaging here from the admin. When asked about both the security agreement and an exchange of territory, Secretary of State Marco Rubio threw cold water on both, suggesting that negotiations were still very much ongoing.
“All the president’s trying to do here is narrow down the open issues,” Rubio said on Fox News.
Vibe check: Jasmine was at the Alaska summit and reports the reception was not so confident. Reporters left Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson shocked that the president didn’t take a single question at potentially the highest-profile “press conference” of his career. And experts who Jasmine spoke with ranged from ambivalent to outright declaring Putin had won this round, now that a ceasefire looks to be off the table.
“Trump has abandoned his own stance and let U.S. strength leak away. Advantage Putin who pocketed good will,” said Daniel Fried, an ambassador to Poland under President Bill Clinton.
Open Tabs: Papers found in Alaskan hotel reveal details of Trump-Putin summit (NPR); State Department halts visitor visas for Gazans (Politico); Trump and Putin Find Common Ground on One Issue: Biden (NYT); ICE documents reveal plan to double immigrant detention space (WaPo)
From D.C.
National Guard is the next story: Red state governors are sending troops to D.C. at Trump’s request — including sizable contingents from South Carolina, West Virginia and Ohio. Gov. Mike DeWine told the AP the request for Ohio Guard troops came from Army Sec. Dan Driscoll.
“Politely declined”: That’s how Vermont Gov. Phil Scott described his decision to reject a federal request for a deployment of the state’s National Guard. This political divide is just a taste of what might be coming as the D.C. takeover ramps up – on Friday, the WSJ reported some of these forces may be armed, after all.
Scenes from an unorthodox deployment: “You think I want to be doing this shit, huh?” a National Guard soldier in a sergeant’s uniform told troops assembled near the Washington Monument last week, as overheard by NOTUS’ John T. Seward. With our Jose Pagliery, the two have what counts for an evergreen piece in this rapidly-shifting story, outlining the pressures and political challenges for the Guard.
Democratic messaging update: “Once again, President Trump is making every effort to distract America from Epstein,” House Oversight ranking member Robert Garcia said in a statement to NOTUS’ Em Luetkemeyer. She details a new joint resolution led by DMV-area Democrats that seeks to end Trump’s emergency declaration for the District. Jeffrey Epstein’s name is mentioned several times in the statements about it.
THE BIG ONE
Eric Lendrum, call your office: “They are not migrants. They are not ‘undocumented.’ They are an invading army. The largest invasion in American history. And what are you supposed to do with an invading army? Crush it, by any means necessary. That’s the #AmericaFirst way.”
He’s a DHS speechwriter. That’s a post from May 2023. And there are more – a lot more. NOTUS’ Emily Kennard reports on an extensive online trail associated with Lendrum’s name.
“I will keep calling them trannies because I know it’s derogatory, and I know they freakin’ hate it. That’s why I deadname them. That’s why I use their original pronouns,” he said on his podcast in 2023.
The response: DHS replied to Emily’s detailed questions only with a link to the First Amendment. Lendrum did not respond to requests for comment.
It’s another way Trump 2.0 is different from the first term (and from every other White House in recent history) when top brass were usually uninterested in letting a low-level staffer take up oxygen with stories like this.
NEW ON NOTUS
Foreign aid legal fight next steps: “We believe when the full court reviews this, they will find on our side that we do have standing, and that indeed the president and the administration are wrong and that they are not allowed to ignore congressional power of the purse, which is what the Constitution itself says,” Mitchell Warren, the executive director of the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition told NOTUS’ Helen Huiskes.
Groups are asking for a hearing before the full appeals court, after the panel threw their suit out last week.
China AI chips deal skeptics: “I certainly have concerns about what we might call linkage, that is linking revenue to the Treasury to national security decisions,” Silicon Valley-area Rep. Sam Liccardo tells NOTUS’ Tinashe Chingarande about Trump’s plan to allow advanced chip sales to China for a cut of the profits.
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi is planning a bill to force congressional involvement, but he would need Republicans to join the cause for it to have a chance.
Book deal payouts: The big winners in 2024 were Sens. John Fetterman, Raphael Warnock, Bernie Sanders and Tom Cotton, who brought in six figures in book-related income last year. Dave Levinthal digs into all the details in a new report for NOTUS.
Less lucrative: Rep. Anna Paulina Luna reported no royalties last year from her children’s book, “The Legend of Naranja,” published in 2023. Characters include an orange that resembles Trump and a banana based on Joe Biden that has a penchant for sniffing other fruit.
NOT US
- Where D.C. Crime Is Bad, Residents Question Trump’s Motives by Clyde McGrady for The New York Times
- Kennedy Center drops family that made Honors medallions for 47 years by Janay Kingsberry and Travis M. Andrews for The Washington Post
- The Democrats’ Biggest Senate Recruits Have One Thing in Common: They’re Old by Russell Berman for The Atlantic
- 5 things to know after New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s indictment by Nola.com staff
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