We’re following the latest updates and analysis on the Donald Trump administration. Follow along live.
By the Associated Press
President Trump is meeting face-to-face with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday for a high-stakes summit that could determine not only the trajectory of the war in Ukraine but also the fate of European security.
The sit-down offers Trump a chance to prove to the world that he is both a master dealmaker and a global peacemaker. He and his allies have cast him as a heavyweight negotiator who can find a way to bring the slaughter to a close — something he used to boast he could do quickly.
For Putin, a summit with Trump offers a long-sought opportunity to try to negotiate a deal that would cement Russia’s gains, block Kyiv’s bid to join the NATO military alliance and eventually pull Ukraine back into Moscow’s orbit.
By the Associated Press
Attorney General Pam Bondi’s directive effectively replacing the Washington, D.C., police chief was “unlawful,” the capital’s attorney general wrote in a late Thursday memo, as President Trump’s takeover of the city’s law enforcement devolved into a legal clash of powers.
The memo from Attorney General Brian Schwalb argues that Bondi’s order hours earlier naming an “emergency police commissioner” and vacating district rules limiting local police cooperation with immigration authorities could not be followed by the city’s police force.
The memo for Police Chief Pamela Smith said local officers must continue to follow her orders over Bondi’s under Schwalb’s interpretation of the law, setting up a potential legal clash between the heavily Democratic district and the Republican administration.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser wrote on social media that “there is no statute that conveys the District’s personnel authority to a federal official.”