WASHINGTON is barreling toward a confrontation with Moscow, as tension grows between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Putin has ramped up strikes on Ukraine in the days since Trump lashed out at the Russian leader for continuing to fight.

Russia pounded residential parts of Kyiv with an overnight bombardment that lasted into the early hours of Thursday, the second consecutive day of escalated drone and missile strikes on the Ukrainian capital city.

Trump mused openly this week about slapping new economic sanctions on Russia and its business partners. Congress appears poised to act.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) says he expects to bring up a bipartisan sanctions bill for a vote in the next few weeks.

The bill would slap massive tariffs on Russian oil, gas and uranium and impose tariffs on countries that purchase the sanctioned products.

“The real focus of the bill is to hit the customers of Putin,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a co-sponsor of the bill. “China and India buy 70 percent of Russian oil and gas and other petroleum products. I’ve always believed the way this war ends is when China goes to Putin and says, ‘Enough already, you’re hurting us now.’”

The bill would give Trump broad discretion in how to apply the sanctions.

Still, there could be an off-ramp for Russia before Congress moves.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Malaysia on Thursday.

Rubio said the two sides exchanged new ideas for peace talks, although he stressed the uncertainty surrounding the new proposal.

“I think it’s a new and a different approach,” Rubio said. “I wouldn’t characterize it as something that guarantees a peace, but it’s a concept that, you know, that I’ll take back to the president.”

The New York Times reports Putin is pushing ahead with the war because he’s certain “Russia’s battlefield superiority is growing and that Ukraine’s defenses may collapse in the coming months.”

Reuters reports that the U.S. restarted shipments of defensive munitions to Ukraine on Wednesday night. Trump authorized the shipments, overruling his own Defense Department, which had briefly paused military aid to Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with European and American officials Thursday at a conference in Rome, as he seeks support from allies.

Ahead of the conference, Ukraine announced it will replace its ambassador to the U.S.

Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, has been speaking bullishly about a potential ceasefire in Gaza by week’s end.

Axios reports that senior U.S., Israeli and Qatari officials held private talks at the White House as they seek to iron out sticking points between Israel and Hamas.

Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu twice this week at the White House.

MEANWHILE…

The New York Times reports that Israeli intelligence officials concluded that “some of Iran’s underground stockpile of near-bomb-grade enriched uranium” survived U.S. and Israeli bombings last month.

The official said any efforts by Iran to recover the material would be detected ahead of time, potentially resulting in additional strikes.

Trump announced plans to slap a 50 percent tariff on all goods from Brazil, saying he’s not happy about the prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro over an alleged plot to stay in power after losing an election.

Trump has been sending letters to countries informing them of their new tariff rates. But his letter to Brazil’s current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was different.

“The way that Brazil has treated former President Bolsonaro, a Highly Respected Leader throughout the World during his Term, including by the United States, is an international disgrace. This Trial should not be taking place. It is a Witch Hunt that should end IMMEDIATELY!” Trump wrote.

Trump said the U.S. would impose a 50 percent tariff on Brazil “due in part to Brazil’s insidious attacks on Free Elections and the fundamental Free Speech Rights of Americans.”

Lula fired back in a lengthy post on X: “Brazil is a sovereign nation with independent institutions and will not accept any form of tutelage.”

The Brazilian president also threatened retaliatory tariffs, saying “any unilateral tariff increases will be addressed in accordance with Brazil’s Economic Reciprocity Law.”

💡Perspectives:

• The Hill: Ukrainians are fighting Russia so US troops don’t have to.

• The Hill: China wages proxy war against Trump in Ukraine.

• The Economist: What Americans think of tariffs.

• USA Today: Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.

• New York Post: Wiles brings calm to Trump administration.

Read more: 

• Trump, Congress raise sanction threats against Russia.

• Trump’s Ukraine weapons pivot exposes tensions over US role.

• Gaza ceasefire push tests Trump-Netanyahu bond.

• US issues sanctions against UN investigator probing abuses in Gaza.

• A federal judge blocked President Trump’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship for any children whose status would be at risk if the order went into effect. The judge said he would stay the ruling for seven days so the Trump administration can appeal.

• Whistleblower documents provide new details about Trump administration efforts to run around a court order to ground flights carrying migrants to a Salvadoran prison, as well as Justice Department leader Emil Bove’s directive to be prepared to tell the courts “f— you” on the matter.

   

• Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI unveiled the newest version of its chatbot Grok after a recent update resulted in the chatbot making antisemitic posts.

©  Illustration / Courtney Jones; Patrick Pleul, Associated Press; and Adobe Stock

Senate Republicans are growing anxious that the feud between President Trump and Elon Musk could cost them seats in the 2026 midterm elections, as the world’s richest man seeks to shake up the system with his independent “America Party.”

The Hill’s Alexander Bolton writes:

“GOP lawmakers note third-party candidates have swung presidential and Senate races in the past and worry Musk’s bid to establish an ‘America Party’ is likely to peel off more Republicans than Democratic voters in key races.”

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said of Musk: “He’d be splitting our party.”

There are already signs of division within the GOP after the brutal battle to pass the Trump agenda bill, with Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) freely ripping Trump’s advisers after announcing his surprise retirement from Congress. 

“I don’t have a problem [with] President Trump… I got a problem with some of the people I consider to be amateurs, advising him,” Tillis said on CNN’s “The Lead.”

MEANWHILE…

Democrats are dealing with their own internal divisions as they seek a way out of the political wilderness.

Democratic strategist James Carville scolded his party for being pretentious and out of touch with large segments of the population, including young men.

“We just lecture people too much,” Carville said on “The People’s Cabinet” podcast.

And some centrist Democrats are in a panic over what they see as the party taking a sharp left turn, underscored by New York City Democrats nominating Zohran Mamdani as their mayoral candidate.

Former Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) called Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, a “grave threat” to Democrats seeking reelection. 

“Anyone who talks about seizing the means of production or opening government-run grocery stores is at great odds with most of the country,” Phillips said in a CNN interview.

ELSEWHERE…

There’s a political battle taking shape between two of the biggest states in the union — with big implications for next year’s elections.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced that redistricting will be included in a legislative special session slated to take place later this month. 

Texas is not due to draw new House lines until after the 2030 census, but redistricting could boost some GOP candidates as the party seeks to defend a narrow majority in the House during next year’s midterm elections.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) accused Abbott of trying to “rig the election and disenfranchise millions of voters.”

Now, House Democrats and political leaders in California, including Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), are privately discussing redrawing their House lines in an attempt to offset potential GOP gains in Texas, according to the Texas Tribune.

💡Perspectives:

• The Hill: The ‘One Big, Beautiful Bill’ is delivering on Republican promises.

• The Hill: David Hogg is right: Democratic leaders’ strategy is obsolete.

• The Bulwark: Trump agenda bill might not be the elixir Dems imagined.

• The Free Press: Only Eric Adams can stop Mamdani.

Read more: 

• Ken Paxton’s wife files for divorce amid his challenge to Cornyn

• Nebraska Senate race shifts to likely Republican: Sabato’s Crystal Ball.

• The fight over school choice ends with escape clause for blue states.

• Six Secret Service agents suspended after Trump assassination attempt.

• Trump taps Sean Duffy as interim NASA administrator.

©  Julio Cortez, Associated Press

President Trump will visit flood-ravaged parts of central Texas on Friday, as the death toll from the natural disaster continues to rise.

At least 120 people are dead and more than 170 are still missing after flash floods struck in the early hours of the morning over the Fourth of July weekend. At least 27 campers and counselors from Camp Mystic, a summer church camp for young girls, are confirmed to have died.

Search and rescue operations continue across Kerr County and nearby regions, although no missing person has been found alive since Friday.

Speculation and recriminations are filling the void in the discourse around convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after the Trump administration sought to close the book on the matter by declaring that the disgraced financier did not have a “client list.”

An attorney representing Epstein’s victims accused the government of holding back information on his associates.

Sigrid McCawley, who is representing several Epstein victims in their civil cases, said the government has not disclosed information collected from Epstein’s computers. She said there has been a lack of accountability for Epstein’s lawyer and accountant.

“I think what’s really just astonishing about this recent disclosure from the government is that they know they are sitting on a treasure trove of information, and they’re not turning it over,” McCawley told NewsNation’s Elizabeth Vargas. “And I’ve worked on these cases for over 10 years now, there’s a plethora of information that the public has not been able to see relating to Epstein and his co-conspirators.”

The Department of Justice and FBI issued a report earlier this week saying there was no evidence of associates of Epstein participating in his sexual abuse of minors. The findings elicited outrage, particularly from figures on the right, who have speculated about a network of powerful people engaged in child trafficking.

Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel have been on the defensive after promising full transparency and insinuating new bombshell developments in the case.

“The current DOJ under Pam Bondi is covering up crimes,” Tucker Carlson said on his show, speculating that the administration is covering for intelligence officials who would have been implicated in the case.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) called for the administration to release more material, pointing to Elon Musk’s claims that Trump is implicated in the files.

“That’s the real reason they haven’t been released,” Raskin asserted on MSNBC’s “All in with Chris Hayes.”

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said on NewsNation he believes a client list once existed but was “destroyed” by the Biden administration.

💡Perspectives:

• The Liberal Patriot: The Green New Deal is dead.

• Vox: The truth behind the ‘kids can’t read’ discourse.

• Washington Examiner: There will never be a political showman like Trump.

• Wall Street Journal: Political theater makes bad drama.

Read more: 

• Democrats gloat as MAGA World explodes over Epstein files.

• Noem doubles down on call to axe FEMA.

• Supreme Court greenlights layoffs: What it means for federal employees.

• Education Department restarts interest accrual for borrowers.

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