President Donald Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for talks at the White House Friday, and afterward Trump took to social media to call for Kyiv and Moscow to “stop where they are” and end the war.
The U.S. president signaled he’s not ready to agree to sell Kyiv a long-range missile system that the Ukrainians say they desperately need.
Zelenskyy met one-on-one with Trump a day after Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held
a lengthy phone call to discuss the conflict.
The latest:
“Enough blood has been shed, with property lines being defined by War and Guts,” Trump said in a Truth Social post following his meeting with Zelenskyy. “They should stop where they are. Let both claim Victory, let History decide.”
Three bishops who chair important committees for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops assailed new moves by the Trump administration to reduce the cost of in vitro fertilization.
“We strongly reject the promotion of procedures like IVF that instead freeze or destroy precious human beings and treat them like property,” the bishops said Friday.
“Without diminishing the dignity of people born through IVF, we must recognize that children have a right to be born of a natural and exclusive act of married love, rather than a business’s technological intervention,” their statement said. “And harmful government action to expand access to IVF must not also push people of faith to be complicit in its evils.”
The bishops were Robert Barron, chairman of the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth; Kevin Rhoades, chairman of the Committee for Religious Liberty; and Daniel Thomas, chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities.
The Trump administration’s request Friday escalates the president’s conflict with Democratic governors over using the military on U.S. soil.
The emergency appeal to the high court came after a judge prevented, for at least two weeks, the deployment of Guard members from Illinois and Texas to assist immigration enforcement.
The two spent more than two hours with top advisers.
The lunch meeting went much longer than planned, according to a senior Ukrainian official who was not authorized to talk to the media and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
— By Susie Blann
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he will speak with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng on Friday evening and that the delegations led by the two men will meet in Malaysia “probably a week from tomorrow” to prepare for a leaders summit.
“I think that things have de-escalated,” Bessent said Friday in the White House.
Tensions flared last week when Beijing expanded export controls on rare earths materials, a move Bessent called an “unprovoked escalation.” In response, Trump threatened to impose a new 100% tariff on China.
But tensions appear to have eased this week. Trump on Friday said he would meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in “a couple of weeks” in South Korea.
Bessent said he and He, when meeting in Malaysia, will prepare for the two presidents to meet. “I am confident that President Trump, because of his relationship with President Xi, will be able to get things back on a good course,” Bessent said.
Trump budget chief Russ Vought says that as part of the government shutdown the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will pause more than $11 billion in “lower-priority projects” and consider them for cancellation.
He specifically blamed Democrats for the shutdown and listed New York City, San Francisco, Boston and Baltimore as locations where projects would be paused.
He said more information would come from the Corps, which maintains waterways to support navigation, helps communities protect against storm damage and cleans sites with hazardous materials.
Vought’s announcement on X follows the administration’s announcement that it would put on hold roughly $18 billion in transportation funding for the New York City area and the cancellation of $7.6 billion in grants for clean energy projects in 16 states, all of which voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in last year’s presidential election.
The building will remain open for official business and the justices’ work will be unaffected, court spokeswoman Patricia McCabe said Friday.
But beginning Monday, visitors to Washington will no longer have access to the 90-year-old courthouse atop Capitol Hill while the government remains shut down.
The next round of arguments, including a big test of President Donald Trump’s authority to levy tariffs, takes place the first week of November. Those arguments will take place as scheduled, even if the government hasn’t reopened, McCabe said.
In a pro-forma session, the House is briefly opened but legislative business is not typically conducted. Republicans closed another such session Friday without allowing the swearing in of Adelita Grijalva, who won a special election last month.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has refused to allow Grijalva to take her office while he keeps the House out of Washington during the shutdown. Grijalva would also provide the last signature needed to force a vote on a bill to make the Department of Justice release case files on Jeffrey Epstein — legislation that Johnson opposes.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said earlier that the Arizona attorney general would take legal action against Johnson if Grijalva was not sworn in Friday.
The White House asked five universities to join a Friday call to discuss the offer, which would provide favorable access to federal funding in return for commitments in line with Trump’s priorities.
It follows rejections from four of the nine universities invited to sign on. The White House asked college leaders to provide initial feedback by Oct. 20, yet so far none have agreed to the deal.
Those that have not yet announced a decision are Dartmouth College, the University of Arizona, the University of Texas, the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University.
The compact has stirred a wave of pushback from critics who say it would restrict free speech and cede sweeping control to the government.
Trump was asked about reports that the Venezuelan government offered a plan rejected by the U.S. in which President Nicolás Maduro would agree to eventually leave power.
“He’s offered everything, Trump said. He added, “Because he doesn’t want to f--- around with the United States.”
In June, when Trump was frustrated with Israel and Iran attacking each other after a ceasefire, he told a group of reporters that the countries had “been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f--- they’re doing.”
“We attacked a submarine, and that was a drug-carrying submarine built specifically for the transportation of massive amounts of drugs” Trump said while hosting the Ukrainian president at the White House.
Secretary of State Rubio did not dispute that there were survivors, but he repeatedly said details would be forthcoming.
Current and former staff of the Federal Emergency Management Agency demonstrated against workforce and program cuts during a “FEMA Solidarity Rally” on Friday, a potentially risky act of protest because some of the same staffers were placed on leave after signing a public dissent letter in August.
A few dozen people gathered outside the agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., calling on Trump to stop dismantling the agency and for its acting chief, David Richardson, to resign, among other demands.
The agency has been in upheaval since January, with some states waiting nearly two months for disaster declarations to be approved and huge cuts to resilience and preparedness funding. About 18% of the agency’s permanent full-time employees had departed as of June, including 24 senior-level staffers.
The president said his Russian counterpart was speaking on their call Thursday about Trump’s efforts to solve global conflicts and “said it was amazing.”
Trump then again complained that he didn’t get the Nobel Peace Prize this year, saying, “Somebody got it who’s a very nice woman.”
Despite his complaint, he then insisted he was unbothered.
“I don’t care about all that stuff. I just care about saving lives,” he said.
The Ukrainian leader said that while his country has thousands of military drones, they don’t have the strong missiles that the U.S. makes and suggested both countries can work together for their military goals.
Trump, when asked if the U.S. was interested in such a deal, said, “We are.”
He said that drone warfare has “really come to the fore” over the last few years because of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Trump has long said he would place tariffs to stop Russia’s war in Ukraine, so long as other countries in NATO stopped importing Russian oil. But while meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump seemed to defend Hungary’s purchases of Russian oil.
“Hungary is sort of stuck because they have one pipeline that’s been there for years and years and years, and they’re inland,” Trump said. “I spoke with the very great leader of Hungary, and they are, you know, it’s very hard for them to get oil. I understand it.”
Despite Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s claims that Hungary’s geography precludes sourcing fossil fuels from outside Russia, some critics and experts argue Hungary’s continued purchase of Russian oil and gas are more about politics than pipelines.
Trump plans to meet with Putin in Budapest, Hungary, saying he agreed to the location because he likes Orbán.
The U.S. president repeated his previous claims that India will not be purchasing oil from Russia at some point in the future, saying that the country has “already de-escalated.”
“To be determined” Trump said as he met with Zelenskyy in the Cabinet room at the White House.
He said it most likely will be a “double meeting,” but that Zelenskyy would be in touch throughout.
Trump said there is “bad blood” between Putin and Zelenskyy.
“These two leaders do not like each other and we want to make it comfortable for everybody,” he said.
At the start of his talks with Trump, Zelenskyy also said the U.S. president now has “momentum” to stop the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
“President Trump now has a big chance to finish this war,” Zelenskyy added.
The Ukrainian president arrived at the White House at 1:25 pm EDT on Friday, greeted by members of the U.S. military holding state flags.
It’s the fourth meeting between Zelenskyy and Trump as they’ve sought to resolve Russia’s war in Ukraine. Trump spoke separately on Thursday by phone with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and plans to meet with him in roughly two weeks in Budapest, Hungary.
Beginning Monday, courts around the country will maintain limited operations, the federal judiciary said Friday.
Federal judges will continue to serve and be paid, but other court employees will work without pay for now, or be furloughed. Decisions are being made by courthouse by courthouse.
The Ukrainian president isn’t just coming to the White House in search of military aid. He also has a business pitch for Trump that revolves around fossil fuels.
Ukrainian officials have indicated that Zelenskyy is looking to offer to store U.S. liquefied natural gas in Ukraine’s gas storage facilities, which would allow for American presence in the European energy market.
Zelenskyy previewed the strategy Thursday in meetings with Energy Secretary Chris Wright and the heads of American energy companies. Zelenskyy posted pictures of the meeting on X and said that it is important to restore Ukraine’s energy infrastructure after Russian attacks and expand “the presence of American businesses in Ukraine.”
It wasn’t clear why Trump was holding the meeting at the White House shortly before he was due to meet with Ukraine’s president.
A White House aide posted a photo of Trump meeting with Bocelli in the Oval Office while Bocelli’s music blared from speakers in the Rose Garden.
The music could be heard on the North Lawn, where Zelenskyy was due to arrive any moment.
As of midday, 11 people have been arrested outside the Broadview facility. Law enforcement is urging demonstrators to stay in designated “protest zones.”
The ICE facility has been the site of tense protests in recent weeks. Federal agents previously used tear gas and other chemical agents on protesters and journalists.
Illinois State Police said some protesters blocked a street outside the facility Friday and ignored requests to move to the designated protest area.
Kat Abughazaleh, a protester and congressional candidate, expressed outrage. “A free speech zone implies that everywhere else is not a free speech zone,” she said.
Abughazaleh said she was hit in the face with a baton Friday and saw a woman pushed to the ground by officers.
Trump said the new 100% tariff he’s threatened on Chinese goods is “not sustainable,” in an interview with Fox News that aired Friday.
The president said he was “forced” to consider the high tariff because of China’s new export controls on rare earths, used in products from smartphones to jet planes.
Trump said he hopes to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on an upcoming Asia trip, and played down further tensions with China. “I think we’re going to do fine with China,” Trump said.
Trump also blamed former President Richard Nixon for opening the floodgate to doing business with China. “He allowed this to happen. You know he was the one, he opened China,” Trump said. “He unleashed it. And we have a very strong adversary, and they only respect strength.”
Nixon helped establish communications between the two governments when he visited the communist country in 1972, which led to the normalization of diplomatic ties in 1979.
The U.S. has seized survivors after a strike Thursday on a suspected drug-carrying vessel in the Caribbean, the first since President Donald Trump began launching deadly attacks in the region this summer, according to a defense official and another person familiar with the matter.
The people confirmed the strike Friday on the condition of anonymity because it has not yet been acknowledged by President Donald Trump’s administration. It is believed to be at least the sixth strike since August, and the first to result in survivors who were picked up by the U.S. military. It was not immediately clear what would be done with the individuals.
This strike on Thursday brings the death toll from the Trump administration’s military action against vessels in the region to at least 28.
John Bolton arrived at a federal courthouse Friday to surrender to authorities and make his first court appearance on charges accusing the former Trump administration national security adviser of storing top secret records at home and sharing with relatives diary-like notes that contained classified information.
The 18-count federal indictment Thursday also suggests classified information was exposed when operatives believed to be linked to the Iranian government hacked Bolton’s email account and gained access to sensitive material he had shared. A Bolton representative told the FBI in 2021 that his emails had been hacked, prosecutors say, but did not reveal that Bolton had shared classified information through the account or that the hackers had possession of government secrets.
The closely watched case centers on a longtime fixture in Republican foreign policy circles who became known for his hawkish views on American power and who served for more than a year in Trump’s first administration before being fired in 2019. He later published a book highly critical of Trump.
