Politics
Trump’s frustrations with Zelenskyy escalate as US turns up pressure on Ukraine to reach peace deal
The Trump administration is increasing pressure on Ukraine to broker a peace deal ending the conflict with Russia as President Donald Trump grows increasingly irritated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to the White House.
National Security Advisor Mike Waltz admitted Thursday that Trump’s patience with Zelenskyy is running thin, and said that Wednesday discussions with the U.S. Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg and Ukrainian officials focused on assisting Kyiv “understand” the war must come to a halt.
“President Trump is obviously very frustrated right now with President Zelenskyy, the fact that he hasn’t come to the table, that he hasn’t been willing to take this opportunity that we have offered,” Waltz told reporters Thursday in a White House press briefing. “I think he eventually will get to that point, and I hope so very quickly.”
“It certainly isn’t in Russia’s interest or in the American people’s interest for this war to grind on forever and ever and ever,” Waltz said. “So a key part of his conversation was helping President Zelenskyy understand this war needs to come to an end.”
Vice President JD Vance on Thursday also defended the Trump administration’s decision to meet with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia, despite frustration from Ukraine that it was absent from those meetings. Vance stressed that communicating with Russia is key to advancing a deal, and said he believes Europe is on the “cusp of peace” for the first time in three years.
“How are you going to end the war unless you’re talking to Russia?” Vance said at the Conservative Political Action Conference near the nation’s capital. “You’ve got to talk to everybody involved in the fighting. If you actually want to bring the conflict to a close.”
Meanwhile, U.S. officials also have met with Ukrainian officials about a peace deal, and Kellogg said in a post on X Wednesday that the U.S. remains committed to ending the war and finding ways to establish “sustainable peace.”
The increased pressure on Ukraine to agree to a deal comes on the heels of several tense days between Trump and Zelenskyy, as each hurled insults back and forth toward one another after the meetings between U.S. and Russian officials.
While Zelenskyy accused Trump of perpetuating Russian “disinformation” Wednesday, Trump took a jab back and labeled Zelenskyy a “dictator” who has failed his country and suggested Ukraine initiated the war. Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
TRUMP AND ZELENSKYY WAR OF WORDS HEATS UP EVEN AS US LOOKS TO WIND DOWN WAR IN UKRAINE
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other U.S. officials meet with Russian counterparts in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to advance talks ending Ukraine war. (The Associated Press)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Waltz met in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and President Vladimir Putin’s foreign affairs advisor, Yuri Ushakov, to hash out ways to end the conflict.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine didn’t receive an invitation to the meeting and told reporters Tuesday in Turkey that “nobody decides anything behind our back,” after stressing in recent days that Kyiv will not agree to a peace negotiation without Ukraine’s input.
RUSSIA, UKRAINE TAKE ‘SIGNIFICANT FIRST STEP TOWARD PEACE’ AFTER RUBIO-LED NEGOTIATIONS, WHITE HOUSE INSISTS
Vice President JD Vance said that meeting with Russia was necessary to take the next steps to broker a peace deal. (Alex Brandon/The Associated Press)
Meanwhile, the U.S. has signaled interest in giving way to some of Russia’s demands for a peace agreement in recent days, and Trump told the BBC Wednesday that he believes Russia is the one that has “the cards a little bit, because they’ve taken a lot of territory.”
As of January, Russia has taken control of approximately 18% of Ukraine’s territory, according to the Washington-based think tank the Brookings Institution. Trump’s Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Feb. 12 that it wasn’t realistic for Ukraine to regain its pre-war borders with Russia, prompting criticism that Ukraine is being forced to give into concessions.
“Putin is going to pocket this and ask for more,” Brett Bruen, director of global engagement under former President Barack Obama, told Fox News Digital Feb. 13.
Additionally, the U.S. has suggested it backs holding an election in Ukraine — a key condition for Russia to agree to a peace deal.
Nearly a year after Zelenskyy’s five-year term was slated to end, Zelenskyy has remained in his position leading Kyiv because the Ukrainian constitution bars holding elections under martial law. Ukraine has been under martial law since February 2022.
However, Russia wasn’t the only one exerting pressure to force Ukraine to hold an election, Trump said Tuesday at his Florida Mar-a-Lago estate.
‘MAKE NATO GREAT AGAIN’: HEGSETH PUSHES EUROPEAN ALLIES TO STEP UP DEFENSE EFFORTS
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine will not agree to a peace deal unless it participates in negotiations. (Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images)
As a result, Zelenskyy’s hands may be tied and he may have no other option but to give into the concessions, according to Trump’s former deputy National Security Advisor K.T. McFarland.
“If President Zelenskyy is going to walk away from this and somehow say, ‘I’m against any deal with Russia, I’m against any deal with America.’ Really?” McFarland said Thursday in an interview with Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria.”
“Well, how does he plan to keep this country safe for the next 20, 30, 40 years?” McFarland said.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and Trump vowed on the campaign trail in 2024 that he would work to end the conflict if elected again.
Fox News’ Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.
Politics
Trump stirs GOP primary drama with visit to Massie’s Kentucky home turf
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President Donald Trump is taking his feud with Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., to the libertarian lawmaker’s home turf on Wednesday.
Trump is expected to hold an event in Hebron, Kentucky, on Wednesday, the Republican Party of Kentucky announced on social media Monday. It’s located in the northern part of the state’s 4th Congressional District, which Massie represents.
Massie’s primary rival, Ed Gallrein, will attend the Hebron event, his campaign confirmed to Fox News Digital on Tuesday, while deferring all other questions on the matter to the White House.
Massie himself will miss the event due to a previously scheduled official engagement, his spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
KHANNA AND MASSIE THREATEN TO FORCE A VOTE ON IRAN AS PROSPECT OF US ATTACK LOOMS
President Donald Trump will be visiting Rep. Thomas Massie’s congressional district on Wednesday. (Win McNamee/Getty Images; Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
When asked about the visit, White House spokeswoman Liz Huston told Fox News Digital, “President Trump will visit the great states of Ohio and Kentucky on Wednesday to tout his economic victories and detail his Administration’s aggressive, ongoing efforts to lower prices and make America more affordable.”
The president has thrown his considerable influence behind Gallrein to unseat Massie after the GOP lawmaker publicly defied Trump on multiple occasions.
MASSIE, KHANNA TO VISIT DOJ TO REVIEW UNREDACTED EPSTEIN FILES
Massie most recently was one of two House Republicans to vote to stop Trump’s joint operation in Iran with Israel, though the legislation was successfully blocked by the majority of GOP lawmakers and a handful of Democrats.
Ed Gallrein, left, seen with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House. (Ed Gallrein congressional campaign)
He was also one of two Republicans to vote against Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” last year.
Trump in turn has hurled a slew of personal attacks against Massie, including calling him “weak and pathetic” in a statement endorsing Gallrein in October.
“He only votes against the Republican Party, making life very easy for the Radical Left. Unlike ‘lightweight’ Massie, a totally ineffective LOSER who has failed us so badly, CAPTAIN ED GALLREIN IS A WINNER WHO WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN,” Trump posted on Truth Social at the time, one of numerous criticisms targeting the Kentucky Republican through the years.
He called Massie the “worst Republican congressman” in July amid Massie’s bipartisan push to force the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release its files on Jeffrey Epstein.
Then-Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, and Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, during a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
But Massie has so far appeared to defy political gravity despite making political enemies out of both Trump and House GOP leaders.
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He handily defeated multiple primary challengers in 2024 and 2022, despite public feuds with Trump, and has served his district since 2012.
Gallrein is a retired Navy SEAL and farmer who launched his campaign days after Trump made his endorsement. Their primary election day is May 19.
Politics
California Democrats launch pricey polling effort to winnow crowded gubernatorial field
As anxiety mounts among California Democrats about the potential of a Republican being elected governor, the state party will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on polling to assess the viability of the sprawling field of candidates hoping to replace termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom, according to plans released Tuesday.
The move comes after nearly every Democratic candidate refused party leaders’ call last week to withdraw from the race to avoid splitting the vote in the June primary — an outcome that could lead to a Republican being elected to statewide office for the first time in two decades.
“Candidates have filed, and now they’ve got the opportunity to showcase their viability, their path to win. I want to simply ensure that everybody has information to fully understand the current state of the race,” said Rusty Hicks, the leader of the California Democratic Party.
As campaign season ramps up, the series of six polls will allow “candidates, supporters, the media, voters, anyone and everyone to have a clear understanding of what is or is not happening in this particular race,” he said.
The filing deadline to appear on the June 2 ballot was Friday. Three days earlier, Hicks released an open letter urging candidates who did not have a path to victory to withdraw from the race. Of the nine prominent Democrats who had announced runs for governor, only one heeded his call: former state Assembly Majority Leader Ian Calderon.
That means the eight other candidates’ names will appear on the ballot, regardless of whether they decide to later drop out. And that creates the possibility of a Republican winning the race because of how California elections are decided.
The state has a voter-approved top-two primary system, under which the two candidates who receive the most votes in the June primary advance to the November general election, regardless of party.
Two prominent Republicans will appear on the ballot: former conservative commentator Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco. Even though Democratic voters outnumber Republicans nearly 2 to 1, and the state’s electorate last elevated Republicans to statewide office in 2006, it is mathematically possible for Democrats to splinter the vote, allowing the two GOP candidates to advance.
Under such a scenario, not only would Republicans be guaranteed the leadership of the nation’s most-populous state, but Democratic voter turnout also would probably be depressed in November, potentially affecting down-ballot races such as those that could determine control of Congress.
Hicks’ call last week prompted concerns among candidates of color, including former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and state Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, that the effort was aimed at every nonwhite candidate in the race.
The state party chairman responded that his letter was not aimed at any specific candidate.
“It’s not something I lose sleep over,” Hicks said when asked about the racial claims. But he added that the voter surveys will be conducted by Los Angeles-based Evitarus, the state’s only Black- and Latino-led full-service polling firm, and will oversample historically underrepresented communities: Latino, Black and Asian American voters.
Hicks said the polling will cost “multiple six figures” but did not specify the exact amount.
The first poll will be released on March 24, and then five additional surveys will come out every seven to 10 days until voters start receiving mail ballots in early May.
“We’re putting this forward to ensure everyone is armed with the information they need to clearly have an eyes-wide-open assessment of where the state of the race currently is between now and when ballots land in the mailboxes of voters,” Hicks said.
Politics
Trump reveals top issues GOP should focus on to secure midterms victory: ‘I’ve never been more confident’
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President Donald Trump outlined five key items he believes will tip the upcoming midterm elections in the GOP’s favor — if Republicans can muscle them through Congress.
“No transgender mutilation surgery for our children,” Trump told an audience at the Republican Members’ Issues Conference. “Voter ID, citizenship [verification], mail-in ballots, we don’t want men playing in women’s sports.”
“It’s the best of Trump. Those are the best of Trump. This is the number one priority, it should be, for the House,” Trump said.
Trump’s exhortations to Republican lawmakers come as the GOP wages an uphill campaign to hang on to a controlling majority in the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. He framed his legislative priorities as a way for Republicans to capitalize on popular demands within the GOP base that would increase their chances of preserving a Republican governing trifecta.
President Donald Trump gestures as he boards Air Force One before departing Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, on March 1, 2026. (Mandel Ngan / AFP via Getty Images)
HOUSE REPUBLICANS PUSH ELECTION OVERHAUL WITH VOTER ID, MAIL-IN BALLOT CHANGES AHEAD OF MIDTERMS
Currently, Republicans hold just four more seats than Democrats in the House of Representatives.
The GOP holds six more than Democrats in the Senate.
To keep the numbers in their favor, Republicans will need to beat historical trends. In the vast majority of past cases, parties that capture the White House in presidential elections face blowback in the midterms. Notably, the last time a majority party gained seats in both chambers of Congress in the midterms came under the Bush administration in 2002, following devastating attacks on the World Trade Center.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, left, and President Donald Trump shake hands during an Invest America roundtable in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, District of Columbia, on June 9, 2025. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
REPUBLICANS, TRUMP RUN INTO SENATE ROADBLOCK ON VOTER ID BILL
Trump said he believes Republicans have a shot at bucking the trend come November if they focus on his list.
“It’ll guarantee the midterms,” Trump said of his legislative priorities.
Republicans have already taken strikes towards two of them through the SAVE America Act, a piece of legislation that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and cast a ballot. That bill cleared the House last month for a second time in the 119th Congress.
Its future is uncertain in the Senate, where Republicans would need the assistance of seven Democrats to overcome the 60-vote threshold to defeat a filibuster. Democrats, for their part, believe the legislation would disenfranchise voters who cannot readily provide documented proof of citizenship through a passport, REAL ID, or birth certificate.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. has promised a vote on the package despite its long odds.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, talks with a guest during a “Only Citizens Vote Bus Tour” rally in Upper Senate Park to urge Congress to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
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Several members have introduced bills on transgender issues, although none of them have cleared either chamber.
“I’ve never been more confident that if we keep these promises and deliver on this popular agenda, the American people will stand with us in overwhelming numbers, just as they did in 2024,” Trump said.
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