In today’s issue:
- European peace-seekers embrace Zelensky
- Tariffs to hit Mexico, Canada on Tuesday
- DOGE: Layoffs exceed 200,000 federal workers
- Netanyahu halts all aid to Gaza
What’s next for Ukraine? That’s the big question after the explosive Oval Office meeting between President Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Vice President Vance.
Zelensky was in Washington to sign a deal to provide the U.S. with rights to the country’s rare minerals, a trade Trump demanded as “payment” for U.S. aid during the first three years of Russia’s full-scale invasion. That deal was never signed, as the meeting quickly imploded when Trump and Vance lambasted Zelensky in the Oval Office in front of television cameras.
The Ukrainian president left Washington empty-handed as world leaders scrambled to make sense of what the unprecedented breakdown of talks would mean for Ukraine’s future and the U.S.’s alliances. Trump, who has repeatedly promised to end the war in Ukraine, has in recent weeks expressed support for Russian President Vladimir Putin, and White House officials have met with their Russian counterparts to discuss peace.
▪ The New York Times analysis: Trump’s dressing down of Zelensky plays into Putin’s war aims.
▪ The Washington Post: Washington now “largely aligns” with Moscow’s vision, the Kremlin said.
▪ NBC News: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth halted offensive cyber operations against Moscow.
▪ CNN: Five key takeaways from a frenetic weekend of Ukraine diplomacy.
Now, Trump and his allies are declaring Zelensky unfit to run his country. After the Friday meeting, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of the Senate’s staunchest Republican supporters of Ukraine, said Zelensky needs to “resign” or “change.”
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told NBC News’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that Zelensky “needs to come to his senses” or “someone else needs to lead the country to do that.”
Not all Republicans supported Trump’s claims. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) on Saturday slammed Trump’s comments in a post on the social platform X, saying “I am sick to my stomach as the administration appears to be walking away from our allies and embracing Putin, a threat to democracy and U.S. values around the world.”
Democrats were quick to lambast the president. Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) told Chris Stirewalt on NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday” that “it appears that President Trump and Vice President Vance not only are abandoning” Ukraine, but they are also seemingly “abandoning many of our Eastern European allies.”
“A once in a generation moment”: European and Canadian leaders pledged their support for Zelensky and Ukraine in London on Sunday, where leaders from across the continent gathered for a security conference. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told the assembled leaders that they need to step up and continue to support Kyiv and meet a “once in a generation moment” for the security of Europe.
“Even while Russia talks about peace, they are continuing their relentless aggression,” Starmer said at the opening of the meeting. “We need to agree what steps come out of this meeting to deliver peace through strength for the benefit of all.”
Starmer on Sunday told the BBC that the United Kingdom and France will work on a Ukraine peace plan and mediate between Zelensky and Trump. French President Emmanuel Macron and his foreign minister said today that France and Britain are proposing a partial one-month truce that would cover air, sea and energy infrastructure attacks but not include ground fighting.
“Such a truce on air, sea and energy infrastructure would allow us to determine whether Russian President Vladimir Putin is acting in good faith when he commits to a truce,” said Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot. “And that's when real peace negotiations could start.”
Politico: Macron urges Europe to boost defense spending to over 3 percent of GDP.
In Washington, the Trump administration is strongly considering cutting off shipments of military aid to Ukraine. No final decision has been made, but it’s not the first time the administration has contemplated such a move.
Some members of Congress, including Sen. Angus King (I-Vt.), are urging the legislative branch to act.
“I think they have to start speaking up,” King told CBS’s “60 Minutes.” Because if we persist in walking away from Ukraine, it will be the greatest geopolitical mistake that this country's made since World War II.”
Trump is set to address a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, when he is expected to revel in his shake-up of the federal government and lay out plans for the year ahead. Trump’s showmanship and penchant for personal attacks is likely to define whatever message he sends, which could include further attacks on Ukraine and Zelensky.
The Washington Post: “Let him stew in his own juice,” former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) advises ahead of Trump’s speech. Democrats are expected to invite as guests to the president’s speech some recently fired federal employees.
As for the original minerals deal, Zelensky told reporters he is still “ready to sign” and willing to have a “constructive dialogue” with the U.S.
“I just want the Ukrainian position to be heard,” he said. “We want our partners to remember who the aggressor is in this war.”
SMART TAKE with NewsNation’s BLAKE BURMAN
Buried in Friday's flurry of Oval Office headlines and foreign policy talk were two headlines domestically that the White House likely also had its eyes on.
The Federal Reserve's preferred inflation metric dropped a touch to 2.5 percent. However, the Atlanta Fed's GDPNow model also is now projecting GDP will be -1.5 percent in the first quarter of this year. Yes, a negative projection.
Earlier in the week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent potentially started laying the groundwork for the argument of a weaker economy, saying “the private sector has been in a recession.” On Friday, we will get the first jobs report of the new administration.
Be sure to look beyond the headline numbers to see how private sector jobs stack up against government jobs. That comparison will give us new insights into the future Trump economy.
Burman hosts “The Hill” weeknights, 6p/5c on NewsNation.
3 THINGS TO KNOW TODAY
▪ “We're on the moon!” said Nicky Fox, a NASA science mission directorate leader, while describing the Sunday arrival of a car-sized “Blue Ghost” lunar lander that was hauled into the heavens by private company Firefly Aerospace. Check out photos.
▪ Texas workers face mounting dangers in the heart of America's greatest oil boom.
▪ The Securities and Exchange Commissionturns a new leaf while halting multiple investigations into cryptocurrency probes.
LEADING THE DAY
© The Associated Press | Nam Y. Huh
As Trump’s tariffs on Mexico and Canada are scheduled to take effect Tuesday, the public is reminding the administration that it wants lower prices for everyday goods and some relief from economic angst.
Achieving that will take time, Trump has said, but inflation fears and occasional mentions of possible recession leave investors and consumers anxious.
Polls indicate that Americans’ confidence in Trump’s handling of the economy is slipping.
The president on Friday pointed to an improvement in Americans’ views about the direction of the country, suggesting a favorable assessment of his leadership. More than half of Americans state the country is on the wrong track, although that assessment is down by 8 points during the past month.
Eighty-two percent of Americans in a CBS News poll released Sunday said the economy is a top issue, but only 36 percent said Trump is prioritizing the economy “a lot.” Inflation is a top priority for 80 percent of 2,311 adults surveyed Feb. 26-28, but only 29 percent think the president is prioritizing higher prices “a lot,” according to the survey.
While Trump’s job approval is in positive territory, and a majority of Americans say the president is making major changes in how the government works, the reactions to his changes splinter along party lines.
▪ CNN: Americans’ views of the Trump presidency and the direction he’s leading the country are more negative than positive, according to a new survey ahead of his Tuesday address to a joint session of Congress.
▪ WTOP: If Trump moved federal agencies out of Washington, D.C., as the federal workforce shrinks, what would happen to the economy in the nation’s capital? One answer: The D.C. budget would take a hit of potentially $1 billion.
▪ The Guardian: Americans view the economy through a political lens.
▪ The Hill: Many Americans who were asked to evaluate 40 federal program areas said they supported funding increases rather than decreases, according to a new YouGov survey.
These cross currents are affecting House and Senate budgeting, which will continue into the summer. The process shows evidence of tensions among Senate Republicans who propose bucking their House counterparts, in part because House conservatives favor federal Medicaid cuts. The GOP once maligned Medicaid, the federal-state health care program for the poor. Now some see a program too big to touch.
WHERE AND WHEN
- The House will meet at noon. The Senate will convene at 3 p.m.
- First lady Melania Trump is expected to use a roundtable today on Capitol Hill to offer her support for a bill, the Senate-passed TAKE IT DOWN Act, aimed at protecting Americans from deepfake and revenge pornography.
ZOOM IN
© The Associated Press | Dan Hernandez, San Francisco Chronicle
UP IN THE AIR: More than 200,000 federal workers have been laid off or fired in little more than six weeks, ABC News reported. More such cuts are promised by the Trump administration. Billionaire Elon Musk, the president’s government efficiency adviser, says his boss instructed him to be “aggressive.”
While the goals of downsizing government are generally supported by Americans, there is also a discernible split between the two parties. If purging hundreds of thousands of workers from federal agencies and departments harms national safety and security, or results in higher spending or hampers widely valued programs, polls suggest the administration could be blamed.
▪ The Hill: Inside the Trump administration’s employee firings.
▪ The Hill: Is the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) an agency? That remains a mystery. Hanging in the balance is whether the advisory group can enact its ambitious plans without an act of Congress.
▪ The Hill and Associated Press: The Commerce Department, in upcoming data reports, will separate gross domestic product from federal spending, Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday, echoing one of Musk’s social media posts. Lutnick’s rationale is transparency, he said. However, government spending is traditionally included in the GDP data, a key measure of economic health.
“PULSE CHECK”: Musk, working through the Office of Personnel Management, which in turn is working through agency human resources staff, again asked federal workers to email an account of what they did in their jobs last week. That recurring question is designed to discern if federal employees are “real” or falsely on the books, Trump and Musk have said. There is no evidence of a significant federal problem with fraudulent “ghost” workers.
NASA and the State Department were among federal offices that told employees over the weekend to hold off on responding to DOGE’s latest email. Hegseth said the Defense Department’s civilian employees must respond.
Federal employees experiencing rolling layoffs, firings and forced resignations nationwide are running out of ways to fight back beyond lawsuits and the court of public opinion. Administration officials previously said that pressuring the federal workforce is part of a strategy to expand voluntary departures from the federal bureaucracy to bolster conservative governance goals. Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, while still in the private sector at the think tank Center for Renewing America, was candid while speaking to an audience a few years ago, especially about his view of the Environmental Protection Agency.
“We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected,” Vought said in a video revealed by ProPublica and the research group Documented in October. “When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work, because they are increasingly viewed as the villains. We want their funding to be shut down. … We want to put them in trauma.”
One civil servant at an agency within the Department of Commerce said over the weekend that they previously thought the idea of a “deep state” was “ludicrous.” Now, however, they believe Trump and Musk have created the conditions for such a “resistance” to thrive.
“That is definitely something that appears to be happening,” the employee told NBC News. “I do not believe the deep state existed before, but they could be getting something like that as a response. … Not trying to take over the world, just trying to oppose this.”
▪ The Associated Press: Protesters registered their opposition to Musk’s actions at Tesla showroom locations over the weekend.
▪ ABC News: Workers purged from federal jobs spoke out during a job fair held in Maryland on Saturday.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) over the weekend joined fellow governors from New York and Virginia in recruiting federal employees to join state workforces. “This is not patriotism,” Moore said, referring to the firing of thousands offederal workers in recent weeks. “This is cruelty.”
LONGER LEASH FOR INDEPENDENT WATCHDOG: Hampton Dellinger cannot be fired as the independent head of the Office of Special Counsel, which protects federal whistleblowers, despite Trump’s efforts to terminate his position, because removal without due cause is illegal, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled Saturday. The administration immediately launched an appeals process that appeared likely to end at the Supreme Court.
MORE POLITICS: Divisions among different factions of the GOP are beginning to take shape in key states ahead of the 2025 and 2026 elections. In Florida, first lady Casey DeSantis is mulling a gubernatorial bid as Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) launches his own campaign for governor with the support of Trump. In Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) is giving serious indications he will challenge incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) in the state’s Senate primary. The emerging dynamics in these races and more could lead to expensive and bruising primaries as the party seeks to maintain its grip on power in the states throughout the Trump administration.
Ahead of November’s odd-year elections, The Hill’s Caroline Vakil breaks down five key storylines to watch for.
▪ The New York Times: Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) entered the New York City mayoral race with a video. The other candidates are already trying to stop his momentum.
▪ The Hill: The House’s narrow margin is creating headaches for Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), as she could be forced to remain in the chamber for a while longer while waiting to become ambassador to the United Nations.
Suspense over whether former Vice President Kamala Harris will jump into California’s 2028 gubernatorial race is effectively freezing the field in her home state, as Democrats weigh potential successors for term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom (D). The Hill’s Julia Mueller reports her potential to take the front-runner slot looms over a slew of candidates already running or being floated for the governorship.
Messaging: Democrats are still grappling with how and when to warn the public about Trump's threat to democracy, reports The Hill’s Amie Parnes.
ELSEWHERE
© The Associated Press | Debbie Hill, UPI
GAZA CEASEFIRE: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday imposed a blockade on all humanitarian aid heading into Gaza, following the expiration of phase one of Israel’s fragile ceasefire deal with Hamas. Negotiations regarding phase two are still ongoing. Netanyahu’s office accused Hamas of refusing to accept the outline for continued talks set out by Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. The White House is backing Israel in its decision to block aid.
Witkoff proposed a temporary extension of the ceasefire spanning the Ramadan and Passover holiday periods, ending on April 20. Hamas would release half of all remaining living and deceased hostages on the first day and the rest when an agreement is reached on a permanent ceasefire. Hamas said Sunday that “Netanyahu’s decision to stop humanitarian aid is cheap blackmail, a war crime and a blatant coup against the agreement.”
Axios: On Thursday and Friday, Israeli negotiators held talks in Cairo with Egyptian and Qatari mediators. Sources said no progress was made in the talks.
TRUMP’S THREATS OF TARIFFS, and talks about Canada becoming the 51st state, have set off cascades of fury across Canada, helping to unify provinces across the political spectrum, including Quebec, which has long defended its unique French identity. From choosing Canadian products in stores to renaming coffee drinks, here are some ways Canadians are manifesting their displeasure with their neighbor to the south.
“Do you know how angry you have to be with the United States to intentionally go out and purchase Canadian-made toothpaste? Because I’m there,” Janel Comeau, a Canadian illustrator and writer based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, posted on the social platform X.
CBC: Trump ordered a probe into U.S. lumber imports that could heap more tariffs onto Canada.
OPINION
■ Ukraine is Europe’s war now, by former Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba, guest essayist, The New York Times.
■ The U.S. is losing its next generation of health scientists, by James Alwine and Elizabeth Jacobs, opinion contributors, The Hill.
THE CLOSER
© The Associated Press | Jordan Strauss, Invision
And finally… 🎬 The Oscars on Sunday night went five times to “Anora,” described last year by The New York Times in its review as a “bawdy modern fable populated by strippers and strongmen and brutes.”
It won best picture and four other Oscars, emerging as a nontraditional choice that reflected an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences “in transition — younger, edgier and not terribly concerned about ticket sales,” the Times reported. The independent film cost $6 million to make and pulled in $15.7 million in U.S. and Canada ticket sales since its release in October.
Sean Baker, who directed “Anora” and wrote the screenplay, won Oscars in both those categories and in editing. Mikey Madison, 25, won best actress as the lead in the film that dominated the 97th Academy Awards program.
The best actor award went to Adrien Brody for his performance in “The Brutalist.” Winner of the best supporting actress statuette was Zoe Saldaña in “Emilia Pérez.” Kieran Culkin won the Oscar for best supporting actor with a performance described by reviewers as the emotional center of “A Real Pain,” a comic drama about two cousins who venture to Poland to honor their late grandmother.
▪ The New York Times: Photos from the Oscars red carpet.
▪ ABC News: Complete list of 2025 Oscar winners.
▪ Vox: Four winners and three losers from a madcap Oscars.
Stay Engaged
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