Trump-Putin meeting is a ‘listening exercise’ for the president
Karoline Leavitt offers a limited preface to the president’s meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday. But she notes that Trump sees the meeting as a “listening exercise” because only one party is present.
Leavitt also answered a question about why Zelenskyy was not included in Friday’s meeting, despite calls from European leaders. She underscored that Putin called for this meeting, and “the goal of this meeting for the president is to walk away with a better understanding of how we can end this war”. Leavitt also reaffirmed Trump’s hopes for a trilateral meeting in the future.
Key events
Another notable exchange today was a reporter’s question about why the public should trust the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ inflation data report
When asked in today’s press briefing, the White House offered little clarity on administration’s view of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Gaza City takeover.
This is, of course, an incredibly complex and complicated situation. The administration has made our goal clear. We want to see this conflict end. We want to see the hostages released…the President and his national security team has given extensive effort and time in doing that.
Homeless will face fines or jail time if they fail to leave encampments, White House says
Speaking about what will happen to the homeless population in Washington DC, Leavitt cites city codes which would give individuals the “option to leave their encampment, to be taken to a homeless shelter to be offered addiction or mental health services”. If they refuse, Leavitt says, they will be “susceptible to fines or to jail time”.
Leavitt also says that the administration is still considering moving the homeless population out of the city.
Trump-Putin meeting is a ‘listening exercise’ for the president
Karoline Leavitt offers a limited preface to the president’s meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday. But she notes that Trump sees the meeting as a “listening exercise” because only one party is present.
Leavitt also answered a question about why Zelenskyy was not included in Friday’s meeting, despite calls from European leaders. She underscored that Putin called for this meeting, and “the goal of this meeting for the president is to walk away with a better understanding of how we can end this war”. Leavitt also reaffirmed Trump’s hopes for a trilateral meeting in the future.
Leavitt is talking about the perception of crime in Washington DC. She is referring to polling that shows an increase in residents feeling that crime is a serious problem in the city.
However, violent crime is on the decline at the moment, and reached a 30-year low last year.
White House press secretary on DC police takeover: ‘This is only the beginning’
Leavitt is now addressing the president’s federal takeover of DC police, and the deployment of National Guard troops to the city.
This is only the beginning. Over the course of the next month, the Trump administration will relentlessly pursue and arrest every violent criminal in the district who breaks the law undermines public safety and endangers law abiding Americans.
Soon, we can expect the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt to hold a briefing. We’ll bring you the latest as that gets going.
Bondi touts ‘productive’ meeting with Washington DC mayor
Attorney general Pam Bondi said that her meeting with DC mayor Muriel Bowser was “productive” in a statement on X.
“We agreed that there is nothing more important than keeping residents and tourists in Washington, D.C. safe from deadly crime,” she wrote.
However, violent crime in the capital hit a record 30-year low in 2024.
Texas attorney general seeks to jail Beto O’Rourke
Sam Levine
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton asked a local judge on Tuesday to consider jailing Beto O’Rourke, saying the former congressman was openly defying a judicial order blocking the former congressman and his political group from fundraising and paying the costs of Democrats who left the state to stop Republicans from passing a new congressional map.
Tarrant County District Judge Megan Fahey granted a request from Paxton last week halting O’Rourke and a group aligned with him, Powered by People, from fundraising. In his Tuesday, filing, Paxton said O’Rourke had continued to fundraise after Fahey’s ruling, pointing to a tweet soliciting donations on ActBlue and requests to donate during a rally in Fort Worth last week.
Paxton requested O’Rourke be fined $500 for each instance in which he defied the court’s order and “be confined to jail unless and until he demonstrates a willingness to abide by the Court’s orders pending the outcome of this lawsuit.”
US court says Trump’s Doge team can access sensitive data
A US appeals court has rejected a bid by a group of unions to block the Trump administration’s government downsizing team, the “department of government efficiency” (Doge), from accessing sensitive data on Americans.
The Virginia-based fourth US circuit court of appeals in a 2-1 decision said the unions were unlikely to prevail on claims that Doge would violate federal privacy laws by accessing data at the US Department of Education, treasury department, and Office of Personnel Management.
The court refused to block Doge access to the agencies’ computer systems and data such as social security numbers and individuals’ citizenship status pending the outcome of the case.
The decision reverses a temporary injunction issued by a federal judge in Maryland, which had been paused by the appeals court in April.
The agencies involved in the case and the unions that sued, which include the American Federation of Teachers and the National Federation of Federal Employees, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The 4th circuit today said the unions that sued along with a group of military veterans had not shown how they would be injured by Doge accessing agencies’ computer systems. They also probably lacked legal standing to sue because that access is not a “final agency action” that can form the basis of a lawsuit, the court said.
A dissenting judge said it was prudent to temporarily block access to the data while the case plays out, and that the standard his colleagues had imposed on the plaintiffs was too high.
Per my last post, in the letter sent to university George Washington University president Ellen Granberg today, assistant attorney general Harmeet Dhillon said the justice department found members of the university community engaged in “antisemitic, disruptive protests”, including by establishing an encampment at University Yard.
Dhillon said these efforts were meant to “frighten, intimidate, and deny” Jewish, Israeli, and American Israeli students access to the university environment.
“The Department finds that despite actual notice of the abuses occurring on its campus, GWU was deliberately indifferent to the complaints it received, the misconduct that occurred, and the harms that were suffered,” Dhillon’s letter said.
Dhillon said the justice department intends to proceed with enforcement, but is offering the university the opportunity to resolve the matter through a voluntary resolution agreement. The university has until 22 August to indicate whether it has “interest in such a dialogue”, according to the letter.
GWU is the latest university to be targeted by the Trump administration, which has threatened to cut federal funds for universities over pro-Palestinian protests as the US continues to defend its ally Israel’s military assault in Gaza.
Protesters, including some Jewish groups, say the Trump administration wrongly equates their criticism of Israel’s military assault in Gaza and its occupation of Palestinian territories with antisemitism, and advocacy for Palestinian rights with support for extremism.
Trump administration says George Washington University violated law over Jewish students and faculty
Elsewhere in DC, the Trump administration has said it has found George Washington University had violated federal civil rights law regarding Jewish, American-Israeli and Israeli students and faculty and will seek “immediate remediation” from the school.
In a statement, the US Department of Justice said GWU had acted “deliberately indifferent to the hostile educational environment for Jewish, American-Israeli, and Israeli students and faculty”. Representatives for the university could not be immediately reached for comment.
As my colleague Alice Speri reported last week, the White House is reportedly negotiating with several other universities over similar claims, with about 60 institutions, including Columbia, Harvard and Brown, under investigation over alleged antisemitism. Several have had federal funding cut or threatened.
