President Donald Trump is set to host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for talks at the White House on Friday. The U.S. leader is signaling he’s not ready to agree to sell Kyiv a long-range missile system that the Ukrainians say they desperately need. The meeting comes a day after Trump had a lengthy phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the Russia-Ukraine conflict. In recent days, Trump had shown openness to selling Ukraine long-range Tomahawk
cruise missiles, even as Putin warned against it. Following Thursday’s call with Putin, Trump appeared to downplay the prospects of Ukraine getting the missiles.
The latest:
John Bolton is expected to surrender to authorities and make his first court appearance.
The former Trump administration national security adviser is accused of storing top secret records at home and sharing with relatives diary-like notes that contained classified information. Bolton’s lawyer says Bolton “did not unlawfully share or store any information.”
Bolton is expected to appear later Friday in federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland. It’s the third case to be filed against a Trump adversary in the past month. There are concerns that the Justice Department is pursuing the Republican president’s political enemies while at the same time sparing his allies from scrutiny.
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has celebrated his country’s role as the host for upcoming talks between Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
The leaders are expected to discuss ending the war in Ukraine when they meet in Budapest. Trump said Thursday the meeting would take place in about two weeks. Orbán, a close ally of Trump and Putin, suggested Hungary’s opposition to Western military aid to Ukraine influenced the decision.
Hungary has refused to supply Ukraine with weapons and has resisted EU sanctions against Russia. The meeting’s location holds symbolic significance, as Budapest was where the 1994 agreement on Ukraine’s sovereignty was signed.
A new AP-NORC poll finds that more U.S. adults support Trump’s handling of the conflict in Israel after he brokered a ceasefire deal in Gaza, but his approval ratings on domestic issues remain weak.
The survey reveals that Trump’s apparent success on the world stage has not improved his overall standing at home. Even some of those who voted for him believe he needs to do more to address issues such as the economy, health care and immigration.
The poll was conducted Oct. 9-13, after the ceasefire deal was announced. About 4 in 10 U.S. adults approve of the way Trump is handling his job overall, unchanged from September.
