Trump and Putin to Meet in Alaska, Zelensky May Join Talks

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Former President Donald Trump has confirmed that he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, August 15, 2025. The announcement, made on Trump’s Truth Social account, described the event as a “highly anticipated meeting” and promised further details in the coming days.

While Trump stated the date and location were set, a senior White House official reportedly noted that the plans remain “fluid.” According to that official, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky may also become involved in the discussions.

The meeting comes amid ongoing efforts to address the Russia–Ukraine conflict. Moscow had earlier indicated that it expected Trump and Putin to meet in person to discuss the war, with top Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov confirming that a venue had been agreed upon.

This development follows U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff’s recent visit to Russia, where he met directly with Putin. Those talks were described as a “last-bid attempt” to secure peace in Ukraine, though little concrete progress has been reported so far.

Observers note that Trump’s tone on the conflict has shifted over time—from initial optimism about diplomatic solutions to clear frustration at the lack of movement from Moscow.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump remains “open to meeting with both President Putin and President Zelensky” if it could help advance peace negotiations. The Alaska summit, if it proceeds as planned, could mark one of the most high-profile diplomatic events of the year.

Maxwell’s DOJ Testimony Clears Trump, Fuels Speculation Over Controversial Pardon

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Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted associate of Jeffrey Epstein, recently met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche for nine hours over two days in a Department of Justice interview. According to sources familiar with the exchange, Maxwell stated that former President Donald Trump had never engaged in any concerning conduct in her presence. This statement has fueled speculation that a presidential pardon for Maxwell may be under consideration — a possibility drawing outrage from victims’ advocates.

Details of the DOJ Interview

Timing & Duration: Maxwell’s interviews with Blanche occurred last month, totaling nine hours across two days.

Content: Sources say Maxwell made no statements damaging to Trump and specifically said she had never observed troubling behavior from him.

Documentation: There is both a transcript and an audio recording of the interview. The Trump administration is reportedly weighing whether to release the transcripts — and possibly the audio — to the public, potentially as soon as this week.

Initiation: Sources indicate Maxwell herself requested the meeting with DOJ officials.

Speculation on a Potential Pardon

While no official decision has been announced, President Trump has not ruled out pardoning Maxwell. The timing of her favorable comments about Trump has led to speculation that the interview could be a factor in such a decision.

Victims’ attorney Arick Fudali, who represents 11 Epstein survivors, condemned the idea of any leniency for Maxwell, calling it “revictimizing” for those she harmed. Fudali emphasized that Maxwell remains the only person convicted in connection with Epstein’s trafficking network and argued that she “belongs behind bars.”

Fudali and others argue that both political parties have failed Epstein’s victims for decades.
Key points from his statement include:

Survivors have been “wronged at every single step,” starting with what he described as an inadequate 1990s FBI investigation.

Epstein’s death in federal custody in 2019 robbed victims of their opportunity to see him face justice.

Continued public discussion of Epstein and Maxwell is retraumatizing for survivors.

Fudali also questioned whether talk of a pardon could be a way for Trump to avoid releasing sensitive Epstein-related files. Calls for transparency in the case have intensified, though the DOJ and FBI have previously stated they will not release additional evidence.

Maxwell’s recent interview with DOJ officials, her favorable comments regarding Trump, and the administration’s possible release of interview transcripts have combined to spark intense public and political debate. For survivors and their advocates, the possibility of a pardon represents not only a failure of justice but also a continuation of the harm inflicted by Epstein and his network.

Report: DOJ Appoints Prosecutor To Probe Adam Schiff, Letitia James Mortage Fraud Allegations

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U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has appointed a special prosecutor to investigate alleged mortgage fraud by Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and New York Attorney General Letitia James, several outlets reported Friday.

According to the New York Post, Bondi has tapped former acting U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C. Ed Martin to spearhead “the prosecution of James and Schiff for potential mortgage fraud, bank fraud and wire fraud, which carry jail terms of up to 30 years.”

“Attorney General Bondi and President Trump have given me a very serious and mission,” Martin told the outlet. “For months DOJ and the FBI have been working on these two cases, it is my job to stick the landing.”

As The Federalist’s Beth Brelje previously reported, Schiff — a major Trump-Russia collusion hoaxer — was singled out by President Trump in a Truth Social post over allegations of mortgage fraud last month.

“Trump announced that Schiff had been investigated by Fannie Mae’s Financial Crimes division, which found Schiff may have committed mortgage fraud for more than a decade after he refinanced one of his homes — the one in Maryland, not the one in California,” Brelje wrote. “According to Trump, from 2009 to 2020, Schiff allegedly declared the Maryland home his primary residence ‘to get a cheaper mortgage and to rip off America.’” (Read more from “Report: DOJ Appoints Prosecutor To Probe Adam Schiff, Letitia James Mortage Fraud Allegations” HERE)

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Bill Seeks Mandatory Labeling for Shelf-Life Coatings on Grocery Produce

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A new bill in Congress aims to make it easier for Americans to know when the fruits and vegetables they buy have been treated with a plant-based coating designed to extend shelf life.

Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R–Ind.) introduced H.R. 4737, the Apeel Reveal Act, this week, targeting products like those made by California-based Apeel Sciences. The legislation would require clear labeling on produce treated with post-harvest coatings, such as Apeel’s Edipeel and Organipeel, before being sold in grocery stores.

“We should know what we’re eating – transparency is essential for making healthy choices,” Stutzman wrote on X. “My Apeel Reveal Act gives Americans the clarity they deserve when deciding what to feed themselves and their kids.”

Apeel says its coatings are made from naturally occurring ingredients — including plant-based mono- and diglycerides, baking soda, and citric acid — that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) classifies as Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS). The company says its products comply with FDA Good Manufacturing Practices and are already identified by an Apeel logo or sticker in stores.

The bill defines a “covered product coating” as any substance applied directly to fresh produce to extend its shelf life. If passed, the measure would mandate uniform federal labeling, applying to all qualifying products regardless of brand.

While Apeel stresses that its coatings have undergone rigorous safety testing and have a long history of safe use, the legislation reflects growing calls in Congress for increased transparency in food labeling — giving shoppers more information before they take their groceries home.

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Trump Issues Ultimatum to Putin as Russian Drones Breach NATO Airspace; Putin Agrees to Meet in Alaska

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Eastern Europe is once again on edge as Russian drones—some armed with explosives—have breached NATO airspace, triggering security concerns and drawing a pointed warning from U.S. President Donald Trump. President Trump has demanded a resolution to the escalating tensions, giving Russian President Vladimir Putin until Friday to make “meaningful progress” in peace negotiations or face sweeping sanctions targeting Russia’s war economy.

The warning comes as NATO allies in Eastern Europe grow increasingly uneasy over a string of drone incursions and missile strikes brushing up against alliance borders.

In recent days, an explosive-laden drone believed to have originated from Belarus entered Lithuanian airspace, traveling over 100 kilometers before crashing inside a military training zone near the capital, Vilnius. The drone was carrying approximately two kilograms of explosives and came within one kilometer of the Lithuanian president’s residence.

Another drone incident occurred earlier in July, when an unidentified aircraft crashed near the Šumskas border crossing, prompting the evacuation of government officials. Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalienė called the latest breach “unprecedented and alarming,” urging NATO to take the situation seriously and increase regional air defense cooperation.

“This is not merely about Lithuanian airspace—this is NATO territory,” Šakalienė warned. “We need a collective response that reflects the seriousness of the threat.”

Meanwhile, a separate Russian missile strike hit a Ukrainian gas depot just half a mile from Romania’s border, again raising questions about NATO’s preparedness. Although Romania’s air force scrambled F‑16s to patrol the skies, no drone crossed into Romanian airspace during the incident—an outcome Romanian officials attribute to new legislation passed in May that allows for immediate interception or destruction of unauthorized drones.

Romania’s swift response stood in stark contrast to NATO’s broader posture, which has remained muted despite multiple airspace breaches over the past year.

Experts say the incidents reflect a shift in Russia’s military strategy—away from conventional warfare and toward so-called “hybrid” tactics that blend psychological warfare, cyberattacks, and ambiguous military provocations.

“This is the future battlefield,” said Eitvydas Bajarūnas, former Lithuanian ambassador. “It’s not about tanks rolling across borders, it’s about uncertainty, pressure, and the erosion of public confidence in security guarantees.”

Bruno Kahl, head of Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service, has repeatedly warned that Russia is testing the limits of NATO’s unity, using drone incursions and disinformation to gauge how the alliance might respond to more serious provocations. “Russia doesn’t believe NATO will act on Article 5 unless directly challenged,” Kahl said earlier this summer, referencing the alliance’s foundational principle of collective defense.

Amid growing anxiety in Europe, Donald Trump has taken a more confrontational approach. Speaking during an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Trump said Putin’s military adventurism was being fueled by high energy prices and vowed to collapse Russia’s oil-dependent economy if necessary.

“Putin will stop killing people if you get energy down another $10 a barrel,” Trump said. “He’s going to have no choice because his economy stinks.”

Trump warned that unless peace talks show tangible progress by the end of the week, he would push for aggressive sanctions targeting Russia’s energy sector—measures that could cut into the Kremlin’s ability to fund its ongoing war in Ukraine.

While Trump’s ultimatum may place renewed pressure on Moscow, some analysts worry it may also expose cracks in NATO’s deterrence strategy.

Andrew D’Anieri, a regional security expert with the Atlantic Council, noted that repeated incursions without any firm NATO response risk undermining the credibility of the alliance’s collective defense commitments.

“The concerning part is not just the drone flights,” D’Anieri said. “It’s the silence that follows.”

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Putin-Trump Meeting to Occur in Alaska on 8/15/25

By Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are scheduled to meet next week in Alaska to discuss an end to the three-year Russian war on Ukraine in the first in-person session between the two world leaders since Trump returned to the White House in January.

“The highly anticipated meeting between myself, as President of the United States of America, and President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, will take place next Friday, August 15, 2025, in the Great State of Alaska,” Trump wrote on Aug. 8 in a post on Truth Social. “Further details to follow. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

The announcement comes on the same day a Trump-imposed deadline on Putin to end the war in Ukraine expires. Talks have been floated for months and were initially supposed to include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with Trump facilitating the negotiations. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Trump Orders a New Census

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President Donald Trump has directed the Commerce Department to conduct a new census, one that counts citizens of the United States and omits illegal aliens.

“I have instructed our Department of Commerce to immediately begin work on a new and highly accurate CENSUS based on modern day facts and figures and, importantly, using the results and information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024. People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump posted on Truth Social Thursday.

The 2020 Census was alarmingly inaccurate, resulting in faulty congressional representation in Washington D.C. From the Heritage Foundation:

In a shocking report that has not received the attention it deserves, the U.S. Census Bureau recently admitted that its 2020 Census count of the American population was incorrect in at least 14 states.

And those mistakes were costly to certain states in terms of congressional representation, number of electors, and money those states are likely to receive from the federal government during the next decade. To put the scope of these mistakes into perspective, contrast the errors in the Census Bureau’s latest recount (the 2020 Post-Enumeration Survey, or PES) with the recount from a decade ago (the 2010 Post-Enumeration Survey)—in which there was a net overcount of a mere 0.01 percent (36,000 people), a statistically insignificant error.

As explained below, as a result of these errors, Florida did not receive two additional congressional seats and Texas did not receive one more congressional seat. Meanwhile, two other states, Minnesota and Rhode Island, each retained a congressional seat that they should have lost, and Colorado gained a new seat to which it was rightfully not entitled.

(Read more from “Trump Orders a New Census” HERE)

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Biden Skipped 2024 Super Bowl Interview Over Hur Report Concerns, Aide Confirms

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A trusted adviser to President Biden has confirmed that the decision to skip last year’s Super Bowl interview was influenced by concerns over the fallout from Special Counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into Biden’s handling of classified material.

Anita Dunn, 67, a longtime Biden confidant and former senior communications adviser, testified before the House Oversight Committee that the president’s inner circle anticipated tough questioning tied to the then-unreleased Hur report. According to sources familiar with her remarks, Biden’s team believed media attention would center on the classified records controversy rather than his policy agenda.

“They thought the main coverage would be about what he did with classified records and not about the President’s policy decisions,” one source recounted from Dunn’s testimony, adding that the decision was made even before the report’s official release.

Released on February 5, 2024, Hur’s report concluded that Biden would likely appear to a jury as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” — language that ignited a heated national debate about his age and mental fitness. Biden’s legal team had reviewed the report on February 3 and 4, just days before the February 11 Super Bowl LVIII broadcast. News of his decision to decline the interview surfaced on February 3, marking the second consecutive year he had opted out.

The missed opportunity was notable — the annual Super Bowl interview offers presidents a rare, high-visibility platform to reach tens of millions of Americans, especially during an election year.

Dunn’s testimony also revealed that Biden’s top advisers discussed the possibility of a cognitive test but reached a consensus that it would yield “no political benefit.” While emphasizing that Biden was always the final decision-maker, she underscored that the choice not to pursue such testing was strategic rather than medically driven.

Despite these behind-the-scenes decisions, Dunn defended Biden’s engagement with the media. Citing research from Towson University’s Martha Joynt Kumar, she noted that over his presidency, Biden held 37 formal press conferences, participated in 151 interviews, and engaged in 679 informal gaggles with reporters — surpassing many of his predecessors since Ronald Reagan.

“I did not observe White House staff making key decisions or exercising the powers of the presidency without President Biden’s knowledge or consent,” Dunn testified.

Biden’s aides maintain that his avoidance of the Super Bowl interview was a calculated choice to prevent a political spectacle at a moment when the Hur report’s conclusions threatened to overshadow his policy messaging.

NASA’s Curiosity Rover Captures ‘Coral’ Rock on Mars, Hinting at Ancient Water

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NASA’s Curiosity rover has uncovered yet another fascinating clue about Mars’ watery past — a small, coral-like rock that may offer more evidence that the Red Planet once supported conditions for life.

The rock, about 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) wide and light in color, was discovered in the Gale Crater, a massive impact basin that has been a focal point of Curiosity’s decade-long mission. Captured by the rover’s Remote Micro Imager, the object bears an uncanny resemblance to coral found on Earth.

While striking, this isn’t the first time Curiosity has spotted such formations. According to NASA, these unusual shapes were created billions of years ago when liquid water still flowed across Mars. Water carried dissolved minerals into cracks in the rock, and as it evaporated, those minerals hardened into distinctive patterns. This process, common on Earth, has also produced other spectacular Martian features — including a flower-shaped rock captured in earlier missions.

“These findings remind us that Mars was once a planet of rivers, lakes, and possibly oceans,” NASA explained. “Although its surface water disappeared long ago, the minerals left behind tell a clear story of a world that was once much wetter.”

This summer, Curiosity also documented another intriguing geological phenomenon in the Gale Crater — intricate ridge networks nicknamed “spiderwebs” due to their insect-like patterns. These structures, like the coral rock, formed when water persisted underground even as the surface dried. Over time, Martian winds eroded the softer rock, revealing the hardened mineral ridges we see today.

“The images and data being collected are already raising new questions about how the Martian surface evolved over billions of years,” NASA said. “Remarkably, even as Mars transitioned into the cold desert we know now, water continued to shape its landscape beneath the surface.”

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Trump Signs Executive Order Cracking Down on ‘Debanking’: ‘Incompatible with a Free Society’

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President Trump signed an executive order Thursday aimed at preventing banks from refusing to offer financial services to people based on their political beliefs or lawful business activities – a practice known as “debanking.”

“It is the policy of the United States that no American should be denied access to financial services because of their constitutionally or statutorily protected beliefs, affiliations, or political views, and to ensure that politicized or unlawful debanking is not used as a tool to inhibit such beliefs, affiliations, or political views,” Trump wrote in his order.

“Banking decisions must instead be made on the basis of individualized, objective, and risk-based analyses,” he added.

Earlier this week, Trump accused JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America of rejecting more than $1 billion of his deposits for political reasons.

“The banks discriminated against me very badly,” he told CNBC on Tuesday.

Former Republican Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback recently alleged he was “debanked” by JPMorgan over his conservative religious views – a claim the bank denied. (Read more from “Trump Signs Executive Order Cracking Down on ‘Debanking’: ‘Incompatible with a Free Society’” HERE)

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Arizona Lawmaker Could Face Charges After Tipping Off Illegals To ICE Presence

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Arizona Republican lawmakers are calling for a federal investigation into a leftist state senator who tipped off her community about an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation. It’s the latest case of a left-winger spouting incendiary rhetoric about ICE, a federal agency that has seen an 830 percent increase in assaults.

Arizona State Sen. Analise Ortiz shot back at a LibsOfTiktok post accusing the Phoenix Democrat of “actively impeding and doxxing” immigration enforcement officials. The far-left lawmaker has posted alerts from local groups sharing locations of ICE agents attempting to apprehend illegal immigrants. The LibsOfTiktok post, which copied ICE Director Tom Homan and the Department of Homeland Security, urged federal officials to charge Ortiz.

Ortiz defiantly responded, “Yep. When ICE is around, I will alert my community to stay out of the area, and I’m not f***king scared of you nor Trump’s masked goons,” the lawmaker wrote.

As of Wednesday evening, the post had received 10.7 million views. Among those watching was Arizona state Senate President Warren Petersen, who called Ortiz’s comments “deeply troubling.” (Read more from “Arizona Lawmaker Could Face Charges After Tipping Off Illegals To ICE Presence” HERE)

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