Former U.S. President Barack Obama participates in a book talk with former German Chancellor Angela Merkel at The Anthem on December 02, 2024 in Washington, DC. Obama and Merkel discussed her memoir “Freedom” as well as world politics and the history the two former leaders have witnessed. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Former President Barack Obama on Thursday joined a virtual meeting with Texas House Democrats who left the state to deny Republicans the ability to pass newly drawn GOP-favorable congressional maps, cheering on their efforts and stressing their work comes at a critical time in the fight against partisan gerrymandering.
ABC News is first to report on the meeting and its contents.
Obama “lauded their fight against the Republican efforts to enact an even more egregious gerrymander in Texas ahead of the midterms. He made clear that they are part of a bigger effort to protect free and fair elections and commended them for inspiring others with their actions,” an Obama spokesperson told ABC News in a statement.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday that he is moving forward with putting proposed new congressional maps for the state on the ballot on a Nov. 4 special election in an attempt to counter mid-decade redistricting being pushed by Republicans in Texas.
“I know they say ‘Don’t mess with Texas.’ Well, don’t mess with the great Golden State,” Newsom said at a news conference, flanked by Democratic members of Congress and California union leaders.
“We’re doing this in reaction to a president of the United States that called a sitting governor of the state of Texas and said, ‘Find me five seats,'” he added later.
He said the state government will affirm its commitment to the state’s independent redistricting commission after the 2030 census, “but we’re asking the voters for their consent to do midterm redistricting in 2026, 2028 and 2030 for the congressional maps to respond to what’s happening in Texas … and we’ll do so in a way that also affirms our desire as a state to level the playing field all across the United States.”
In a campaign video released concurrently with his announcement, Newsom framed the issue in stark terms.
“It is a five-alarm fire for democracy in the United States of America. Donald Trump, who is trying to light a torch on democracy, continues to try to rig the election,” Newsom says in the video.
As the governor was speaking, federal agents appeared to be conducting an immigration enforcement operation outside of the venue.
“Where are we? We are at Democracy Center and right outside at this exact moment? There are dozens and dozens of ICE agents, you Donald Trump, you think it’s coincidental? Donald Trump and his minions, Tom Homan, tough guy, clearly decided, coincidentally or not, that this was a location to advance ICE arrests,” said.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said there was “no way” the operation was a coincidence.
“This was widely publicized that the governor and many of our elected officials were having a press conference here to talk about redistricting. And they decided they were going to come and thumb their nose in front of the governor’s face,” she said. “Why would you do that? It’s unbelievably disrespectful. It’s a provocative act. They’re talking about disorder in Los Angeles and they are the source of the disorder in Los Angeles right now. This is just completely unacceptable.”
ABC News has reached out to Customs and Border Protection for comment.
The California legislature will have to pass legislation to put the maps on the ballot.
Speaking to reporters after the announcement, Newsom said California won’t move forward with its mid-decade redistricting plans if Republican-run states considering redistricting don’t move forward with redrawing their own maps.
“This does not go forward — I want to remind everybody — unless one of these other states move forward, there’s still an exit ramp — not just Texas, but Missouri, as I mentioned, or Florida, Indiana, these other states that are considering doing the unprecedented, rigging their elections with midterm redistricting. So we’re hopeful they don’t move forward. If that’s the case, this effort will not be necessary. But we’re not waiting,” he said.
Republicans are criticizing Newsom’s move as political.
“Gavin Newsom’s latest stunt has nothing to do with Californians and everything to do with consolidating radical Democrat power, silencing California voters, and propping up his pathetic 2028 presidential pipe dream,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Christian Martinez said in a statement ahead of the press conference.
“Newsom’s made it clear: he’ll shred California’s Constitution and trample over democracy — running a cynical, self-serving playbook where Californians are an afterthought and power is the only priority.”
(WASHINGTON) — National Guard troops have begun 24-hour operations around Washington, D.C., as of Thursday morning, according to a Department of Defense official.
It’s part of President Donald Trump’s plan to address crime in Washington by taking over the city’s police department and deploying the National Guard troops.
Thursday’s National Guard presence in Washington included one small unit deployed to both Union Station and the National Mall early in the morning, according to a spokesperson for joint task force behind the operation. The idea is that residents and tourists would awake Thursday morning to the sight of military presence, according to a person familiar with the effort.
Earlier this week, some National Guard troops patrolled along the National Mall — a relatively safe and quiet stretch of Washington known for museums, monuments and hot dog vendors serving tourists.
Guard members on patrol are not carrying weapons as of now, and they will not have the weapons in their vehicles, according to two defense officials.
A White House official told ABC News that overnight Wednesday into Thursday, the multi-agency federal task force made 45 arrests — 29 of which were immigration-related arrests. Law enforcement teams arrested people on a variety of charges including first and second degree assault, controlled substance possession and distribution, and carrying a concealed weapon, the White House official said.
FBI Director Kash Patel posted on X that overnight Wednesday into Thursday, the FBI and law enforcement partners in Washington contributed to the 45 arrests with 16 arrests “tied to the violent crime surge” and seized three firearms.
“Your FBI will make DC Safe Again,” Patel wrote.
Law enforcement agents conducted a traffic safety compliance checkpoint on busy 14th Street in Northwest Washington Wednesday night, which led to one arrest. A group of protesters spoke out against the checkpoint, shouting at the law enforcement officers, according to video from Washington’s ABC station, WJLA.
Army officials said their mission was to aid law enforcement with logistics support, transportation and administration duties, as well as being visible around the Mall.
“That’s part of our assignment — to go to the national monuments and be present,” Col. Dave Butler, an Army spokesperson, told ABC News on Tuesday.
Trump announced Monday that he planned to mobilize 800 National Guard troops to address what he considered “out of control” crime in the city, as well as taking over control of the Metropolitan Police Department. Trump has made claims about rampant violent crime in Washington, which D.C. police statistics show is actually decreasing. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said the city has spent the last two years driving down violent crime — “driving it down to a 30 year low, in fact,” she told MSNBC on Sunday.
“It is true that we had a terrible spike in crime in 2023, but this is not 2023, this is 2025 and we’ve done that by working with the community, working with the police, working with our prosecutors, and, in fact, working with the federal government,” Bowser told MSNBC.
Defense officials said the joint task force, led by Army Col. Larry Doane, will run the operation.
The task force includes 800 activated National Guard members, defense officials said. The troops will work in shifts of 100 to 200 troops at a time, and some of them will be assigned to administrative or logistical roles in support of local law enforcement.
Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson on Thursday said the 800 National Guard troops will remain “until law and order has been restored.”
“They will remain until law and order has been restored in the District as determined by the president, standing as the gatekeepers of our great nation’s capital,” she said.
The task force overseeing the activated Guard troops will operate similarly to how the D.C. Guard has handled inaugurations or responding to crises, as it did during the Jan. 6 riots. The National Park Service will play a considerable role because of its oversight of the National Mall, officials said.
ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart, Kelsey Walsh and Lalee Ibssa contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — A Washington, D.C., man facing charges of assault of a federal officer after he allegedly threw a sandwich at a Customs and Border Protection agent during a confrontation this week, worked for the Department of Justice at the time, according to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Sean Charles Dunn faces federal charges for allegedly throwing a Subway sandwich at a CBP agent who was patrolling with Metro Transit Police in northwest Washington around 11 p.m. on Sunday.
On Thursday morning, Bondi said Dunn had been fired from his job. Dunn worked as an international affairs specialist in the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs, according to a DOJ official.
“I just learned that this defendant worked at the Department of Justice — NO LONGER,” Bondi said in a social media post. “Not only is he FIRED, he has been charged with a felony.”
Bondi added, “You will NOT work in this administration while disrespecting our government and law enforcement.”
According to the criminal complaint, Dunn approached the officer while shouting “f— you! You f—— fascists! Why are you here? I don’t want you in my city!”
After several minutes of confrontation on Sunday, Dunn allegedly threw the sandwich, striking the officer in the chest, the complaint says. The alleged incident was apparently captured in a video posted to Instagram.
Dunn was apprehended after attempting to flee, authorities said, and later admitted to the incident while being processed at the police station, allegedly telling an officer, “I did it. I threw the sandwich.”
While Bondi said in her statement that individuals will “NOT work in this administration while disrespecting our government and law enforcement,” last week the department publicly stood by Jared Wise’s continued employment at DOJ. Wise was pardoned by President Donald Trump while on trial for his participation in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Wise was allegedly seen on videos calling cops “Nazis” and screaming “Kill ’em!” at officers under assault by the pro-Trump mob.
“Jared Wise is a valued member of The Department of Justice and we appreciate his contributions to our team,” a Justice Department spokesperson told ABC News in a statement on Aug. 8.
ABC News reached out to Bondi’s spokesperson for comment following claims of Dunn’s dismissal.
The incident comes amid heightened tensions over federal law enforcement presence in the district. Trump recently deployed National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., declaring a public safety emergency and putting the Metropolitan Police Department under partial federal oversight for 30 days.
District Council Member Brooke Pinto, who chairs the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, expressed concern about the increased federal presence.
“It paints a picture of a city that is not my own and is not the experience of the vast majority of district residents and visitors,” Pinto told ABC News.
While Trump has cited rising crime as justification for federal intervention, police statistics show violent crime has actually decreased.
“Violent crime in DC reached historic 30-year lows last year, and is down another 26% so far this year,” D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb said on social media.
The president maintained his stance, saying Wednesday, “Fighting crime is a good thing. … Instead of saying ‘He’s a dictator,’ they should say, ‘We’re going to join him and make Washington safe.'”
Dunn has not yet appeared in court. ABC News has reached out to his attorney, Sabrina Shroff, for comment.
(WASHINGTON) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic leaders are set to hold a news conference on Thursday where they’ll make a “major announcement” in response to Republican-led efforts in Texas to redraw the state’s congressional maps.
Newsom said Tuesday night that California will move forward with drawing new congressional maps that “WILL END THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY” and allow Democrats to take control of the U.S. House of Representatives. He had previously sent a letter to President Donald Trump on Monday asking the president to tell Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republican governors to abandon efforts to draw new congressional maps in Texas, which could help Republicans flip three to five congressional seats if passed.
Republicans currently hold a slim majority in the U.S. House with 219 seats to Democrats’ 212. Other states such as Missouri, Indiana, New York, and Illinois have begun weighing mid-decade redistricting in light of Texas’ effort.
Newsom has floated holding a special election statewide on Nov. 4 for Californians to vote on new congressional maps and temporarily bypass the state’s independent redistricting commission. The California Citizens Redistricting Commission is meant to prevent gerrymandering and partisan influence. Both Democrats and Republicans in the state have expressed concerns over sidelining the commission.
No maps have been released publicly, but multiple legislative sources familiar with the matter told ABC station KGO-TV that five Republican seats would be targeted, going tit-for-tat with Texas.
But if lawmakers don’t declare a special election by Aug. 22, it would be nearly impossible for the state to run a statewide election that meets federal standards or would hold up in a court challenge, according to the office of the California Secretary of State.
Elections officials in California have also pointed to federal deadlines such as the 45-day-pre-election deadline to issue ballots to military and overseas voters, which could make it more technically challenging to run an election on short notice.
Republicans have also cried foul. U.S. Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., who has proposed a bill that would nullify any new congressional maps introduced before the next U.S. census, told Newsmax on Tuesday, “Gavin Newsom is a unique threat to democracy. He is trying to overturn the will of voters … So I’ve introduced this bill saying this cannot be done. We need to stop Newsom’s scheme in its tracks. And that will also stop this brewing redistricting war from breaking out across the country, which I don’t think is going to be a good thing.”
Newsom’s gambit comes as Democratic state legislators in Texas remain outside of the state in an effort to run out the clock on a special legislative session in Texas that is considering new maps by denying quorum.
Abbott said Wednesday that the House of Representatives would be willing to “get to work” if Democrats returned to Texas for the second special session Friday but are keeping all options on the table if they don’t come back.
“If they show up, great, we’ll get to work and get all these bills passed. If they don’t show up, we’ll continue with the law enforcement efforts to try to track them down, arrest them and take them to the Capitol, but we will be ready either way,” he told Texas-based radio host Mark Davis.
Texas House Democratic Caucus chair Rep. Gene Wu, in a statement Wednesday afternoon, said that another special legislative session in the Texas legislature could be “a reset moment” for getting aid to victims of the flooding in central Texas – but he placed the onus on Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
Wu wrote, “This could be a reset moment: a chance to finally deliver real solutions for flood victims and fix the broken emergency preparedness system that continues to put every community in Texas at risk … ready to fight for flood relief, defend our communities, and invest in the safety Texans deserve. Will the Governor finally work with us for our families in the Second Special Session?”
ABC News’ Brittany Shepherd and KGO-TV’s Monica Madden contributed to this report.
The entrance to the state-managed immigration detention center dubbed Alligator Alcatraz, located at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in the Florida Everglades on August 03, 2025 in Ochopee, Florida. oe Raedle/Getty Images
(OCHOPEE, Fla.) — For a month, Rafael Collado couldn’t tell the night from the day.
Detained in the temporary detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” he spent his time confined in a chain-link cage with another man, stuck in what his fiancee Sonia Bichara described as a legal purgatory — unaware of why he was detained, where he might be sent, and how long he would be stuck in the controversial Florida facility.
“They don’t see the daylight. They don’t know what time it is. He’ll call me and say, ‘What time is it? What day is it?'” said Bichara, who said she speaks with Collado daily. “You don’t know if it rains, you don’t know if it’s sunny out there, you don’t know if it’s dark — it’s like you’re dead alive.”
Collado’s experience is far from unique, according to immigration attorneys and advocates who have raised concerns about what they say are inhumane conditions at the migrant detention center. While a federal judge last week blocked further construction at the facility, the state of Florida is still permitted to house thousands of detainees at the site, which is located on a sparsely used airstrip in the Everglades.
“I have never, ever heard of any conditions coming close to those that are presently in existence and Alligator Alcatraz,” said Eric Lee, an attorney who represents a former detainee at the facility. “It’s bordering on torture, based on what I’m hearing from people.”
According to Bichara, Collado told her he spends nearly every moment of his day locked in a chain-link cage inside a large white tent, which frequently floods when it rains. Mosquitoes and other insects swarm around, temperatures fluctuate from sweltering Florida heat to bone-shaking cold from industrial air conditioners, and access to medical attention is limited, according to Bichara.
Neither the Florida Division of Emergency Management nor the Department of Homeland Security responded to a request for comment regarding the allegations.
The facility, which is funded by the federal government and run by the state of Florida, was dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” by federal officials because it’s surrounded by alligator-infested swampland.
During a visit of the facility last month, President Donald Trump said the center could be a new standard for migrant detention facilities in the U.S.
“I mean, you don’t always have land so beautiful and so secure,” Trump said. “They have a lot of bodyguards and a lot of cops that are in the form of alligators. You don’t have to pay them so much but I wouldn’t want to run through the Everglades for long. It will keep people where they’re supposed to be. This is a very important thing.”
In a legal filing Wednesday, as part of a lawsuit filed last month against the Trump administration over detainees’ access to legal counsel, several attorneys with clients being held at the facility said they haven’t been able to have full access to their clients.
They claim the facility does not allow private calls between attorneys and clients, or have publicly available information about visitation hours, email contacts, and procedures for exchanging legal documents. Attorneys and family members told ABC News detainees are able to make some calls to family members from the detention center.
“These open and non-confidential visitation tents are very much unlike any other facility I have ever seen,” said attorney Vilerka Solange Bilbao, who submitted a declaration Wednesday as part of the lawsuit. “Typically, detention facilities provide enclosed confidential rooms for attorney-client visitation.”
In her declaration, Solange Bilbao said that her client claims that “several people were running fevers and showing COVID symptoms without being separated from the general population; that bathrooms were often out of order or overflowing; that rainwater regularly flooded the tents; and that medical requests were ignored.”
“He and others cannot tell whether it is day or night unless they ask because there is no natural light or clock,” Solange Bilbao said.
“These conditions are not only inhumane — the lack of basic care and communication access directly obstruct my ability to provide effective representation,” she said.
Several attorneys also claimed on Wednesday that people who were moved to “Alligator Alcatraz” were removed from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainee locator system, which typically provides online information about detainees’ current location.
“I’ve never seen treatment so deliberately cruel and explicit, more or less explicitly aimed at disincentivizing people from immigrating to the United States based on how they’re treated,” Lee said.
“He says it is worse than prison,” said Bichara of her fiance.
Collado would know, she says. He served a 17-year prison sentence after being convicted of drug charges in the U.S. in the 1990s, and of assaulting a fellow inmate. He’s paid the price for his crimes, Bichara said, and they planned to spend the rest of their lives together in a retirement community in Miami Gardens, Florida.
“He said, ‘I’ve been good for eight years. I don’t even have a speeding ticket. I’ve been paying my debt. You know, I’ve been doing well,'” she said.
Those plans were thrown into uncertainty last month when Collado, who came to the U.S. from Cuba, reported to a federal facility in Miramar, Florida, to complete an annual check-in due to his I-94 status, which gives legal authorization to be in the U.S. to those who entered the country with a temporary visa.
Federal officials detained him during the check-in and sent him to the recently constructed detention facility in the Everglades, according to his fiancee.
Bichara alleges that officials failed to provide Collado with his antidepressant medication during the first two weeks of his detention. He only got his medication, she said, after he unsuccessfully tried to take his own life.
Lee raised similar concerns about the medical conditions at the facility. He said his client Luis Manuel Rivas Velasquez fell sick last week and collapsed, but detention center officials allegedly ignored his pleas for medical attention.
“His cellmates had to drag him down a hallway where guards didn’t even know how to take his pulse to check whether he was still alive,” Lee said.
Both Collado and Rivas Velasquez have since been transferred out of “Alligator Alcatraz” to facilities in Texas, where their families have struggled to contact them, advocates said.
Bichara says she doesn’t know how to help her fiance at this point. Three different lawyers have advised her that challenging Collado’s detention would be costly and unlikely to succeed.
For now, she’s getting legal assistance from a nonprofit, but she worries that she might not see her partner again.
“Emotionally, I don’t know how to explain myself, because I don’t know what to say,” she said. “I don’t know what to think. I don’t know what to do.”
At a press conference on Thursday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that since the opening of “Alligator Alcatraz,” the state has seen an increase in the number of migrants voluntarily leaving the country. DeSantis said the state will be opening a new immigration detention facility, dubbed “‘Deportation Depot,” that “will have the same services that you have at Alligator Alcatraz.”
“We’ve been securing the border, enforcing immigration laws and removing illegal aliens who are in our society now, sending them back to their home country,” DeSantis said. “We have done more on this than any other state by a country mile.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Joe Raedle/Getty Images
(SANDERSON, Fla.) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on Thursday that his administration is opening a new immigration detention facility dubbed “Deportation Depot.”
The announcement of the new facility in north Florida comes one month after the state opened a detention center in the Everglades known as “Alligator Alcatraz.”
“We are authorizing and will be soon opening this new illegal immigration detention, processing and deportation facility here in North Florida,” DeSantis said at a press conference.
The new immigration detention center will be located at the Baker Correctional Institution in Sanderson, Florida. The governor said the facility, which is near Lake City Airport, will not house people indefinitely.
“We’ve been securing the border, enforcing immigration laws and removing illegal aliens who are in our society now, sending them back to their home country,” DeSantis said. “We have done more on this than any other state by a country mile.”
DeSantis said the new facility will be able to hold more than 1,300 detainees.
A federal judge last week temporarily halted any further construction on the Alligator Alcatraz facility to prevent possible harm to the sensitive Everglades ecosystem.
The state of Florida and President Donald Trump’s administration can continue to use the facility and house detainees there, but any further construction must be halted for 14 days, the order said.
(NEW YORK) —Tropical Storm Erin is forecast to strengthen into the first hurricane of the Atlantic season by Saturday morning and then become a major Category 3 hurricane by Sunday morning as it passes north of Puerto Rico.
But as of now, Erin is not expected to pose a direct threat to the U.S.
Puerto Rico can expect 1 or 2 inches of rain from Erin’s outer bands, as well as dangerously rough surf and a high risk of rip currents this weekend and into early next week.
After moving north of Puerto Rico, Erin is forecast to turn north.
The vast majority of meteorological modeling has Erin remaining over the ocean between Bermuda and the East Coast, passing by Bermuda around Wednesday.
While a landfall in the U.S. isn’t expected, there is a chance Erin could bring a few light rain showers to parts of the East Coast. And for those heading to the beach on the East Coast, Erin will bring a high risk of rip currents from Aug. 21 to Aug. 27.
Because Erin is still many days away, meteorologists in Bermuda and the U.S. East Coast will be watching the storm closely, as any deviation east or west could lead to significant impacts.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky listens as German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (not pictured) speaks during a joint press conference at the Chancellery following a virtual meeting hosted by Merz between European leaders and U.S. President Donald Trump on August 13, 2025 in Berlin, Germany./Photo by Omer Messinger/Getty Images)
()LONDON) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that the Friday meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin “will not achieve anything” if peace talks exclude Ukraine.
Decisions taken without Kyiv’s input will be “stillborn decisions,” Zelenskyy continued. “They are unworkable decisions. And we all need real and genuine peace,” the president said in an address to the nation last weekend.
Ukrainian expectations for the summit in Alaska are low, amid fears in Kyiv that the American and Russian leaders will seek to dictate Ukraine’s future without its participation.
Zelenskyy’s talks with European leaders and Trump on Wednesday, though, did appear to find consensus on key Ukrainian demands according to subsequent statements from Zelenskyy and his European counterparts, including that Kyiv will be the one to decide on any territorial concessions and that no such concessions can occur without binding security guarantees.
“We must learn from the experience of Ukraine, [and] our partners, to prevent deception by Russia,” Zelenskyy said in a statement posted to social media on Wednesday.
“There is no sign now that the Russians are preparing to end the war,” he added. “Our coordinated efforts and joint steps — of Ukraine, the United States, Europe, all countries that want peace — can definitely force Russia to make peace.”
Trump said Wednesday after the virtual meeting with Zelenskyy and European leaders that there will be “severe consequences” against Russia if Putin did not agree to stop his war on Ukraine.
Oleksandr Merezhko — a member of the Ukrainian parliament and chair of the body’s foreign affairs committee — likened the coming Alaska summit to the 1938 Munich Agreement — a pre-World War II accord by which European powers allowed Nazi Germany to annex part of Czechoslovakia without Prague’s consent.
“Putin secured a one-on-one meeting with Trump, providing an opportunity to influence U.S. policy and push for abandonment of Ukraine and European allies,” Merezhko told ABC News.
“Putin would like to use the summit to persuade Trump to blame Ukraine for the lack of progress on a ceasefire and give him a pretext to walk away from the negotiations,” Merezhko said.
“Putin is a very masterful manipulator and he will go into Friday’s meeting well prepared,” Merezhko added. “He will go in with well-prepared, planned and rehearsed talking points.”
John E. Herbst, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine now working at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, said Putin “wants a deal with Trump that will be presented to Kyiv and other European capitals as a fait accompli.”
The Kremlin’s goals remain the “elimination of Ukraine as a state and as a culture, elimination of NATO and undermining of the U.S. global positions,” Pavel Luzin, a Russian political analyst at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts, told ABC News.
There are several key — and thorny — issues for the two leaders to discuss.
Territory
Territory has been a main source of conflict between the two countries since Russia’s annexation of Crimea and fomentation of separatist revolt in eastern Ukraine in 2014.
Putin has remained firm in his demands. Any peace settlement, Moscow has said, must include “international legal recognition” of its 2014 annexation of Crimea and four regions it has occupied to varying degrees since launching its full-scale invasion in 2022.
Russia demanded that Ukrainian troops withdraw entirely from the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions — including areas that Russian troops do not control. The Kremlin claimed to have annexed all four regions in September 2022. Moscow also wants Kyiv to give up on any designs on taking back occupied Crimea.
Ahead of Friday’s meeting, Trump suggested that a “swapping of territories” could lead to a peace deal. However, Ukrainian officials quickly rejected that idea.
Zelenskyy held that the country would not give up any of its land, saying in a Saturday statement, “Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupiers.” The president has since said that any decisions on territorial concessions must be made by Ukraine, and that no such concessions can occur without Ukraine receiving binding security guarantees that include the U.S.
NATO ambitions
Russian officials are also looking for their own “security guarantees” regarding NATO, by which Ukraine would be permanently excluded from the alliance, which has a mutual defense agreement among members.
Putin has regularly expressed concern over NATO’s eastward expansion, framing the alliance’s growth as an existential security threat to Russia. He has repeatedly warned the alliance against accepting Ukraine as a member, accusing the organization of trying to turn the country into a launch pad for aggression.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Alexander Grushko, said in March that Moscow is seeking “the neutral status of Ukraine, the refusal of NATO countries to accept it into the alliance.”
Ukrainian officials have continued in their bid to join NATO — an ambition that has the backing of the vast majority of Ukrainians and is enshrined in the national constitution.
During a news conference earlier this year, Zelenskyy offered to step down from the presidency in exchange for admission to NATO. “If to achieve peace you really need me to give up my post — I’m ready. I can trade it for NATO membership, if there are such conditions.”
NATO nations, while backing Ukraine in its defensive war, have refused to allow Kyiv’s accession to the alliance. The alliance agreed at a 2008 summit that Ukraine “will become a member of NATO,” but the leaders of key allied nations — including the U.S. — have said Kyiv cannot accede while it is at war.
Limits to Ukraine’s military
Russian officials have demanded limits to the size of Ukraine’s military, which Moscow has framed as necessary to ensure its own security — a claim dismissed by Kyiv as false.
During peace negotiations in the opening days of the full-scale invasion, Moscow demanded that Ukraine reduce its military size to 50,000.
Zelenskyy, however, has expressed concern that any reductions to Ukraine’s military could allow Russia to secure more Ukrainian land, even with Western support. “The best thing is a strong army, a large army, the largest army in Europe. We simply have no right to limit the strength of our army in any case,” he said in December.
Russia is also demanding limits on Ukraine’s weapons arsenals and the sophistication of its military technology.
In the days leading up to Friday’s meeting between Trump and Putin, Ukraine has increased its long-range drone strikes into Russia. Ukrainian officials have said such attacks are part of its strategy to force the Kremlin into genuine peace talks.
Sanctions
The lifting of international sanctions on Russia may also be discussed during Friday’s meeting.
Russia is currently the world’s most sanctioned country with “50,000 or so measures,” according to The Center for European Policy Analysis. Russian officials have stated that a peace treaty should include lifting sanctions imposed since 2022.
The European Union has refused requests to reduce sanctions against Russia before a peace deal is secured, and Zelenskyy has called Putin’s suggestion that reductions could lead to lasting peace “manipulative.”
Trump has threatened to impose further sanctions on Russia and its top trading partners if Putin fails to commit to a ceasefire. Earlier this month, the U.S. announced additional tariffs on India related to its purchases of Russian oil.
“Everyone sees that there has been no real step from Russia toward peace, no action on the ground or in the air that could save lives,” Zelenskyy said earlier this week. “That is why sanctions are needed, pressure is needed.”
ABC News’ Patrick Reevell contributed to this report.
Members of the National Guard arrive at the Guard’s headquarters at the D.C. Armory on August 12, 2025 in Washington, DC. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he will seek more permanent federal control of the Washington, D.C., police force as he continues his efforts to ramp-up crime enforcement in the nation’s capital.
Earlier this week, Trump announced his plans to deploy National Guard troops in the nation’s capital, declaring a public safety emergency in order to put the Washington police department under federal control and station the National Guard on the city’s streets. Trump’s current control of the D.C. police force expires in 30 days, after which Congress would have to weigh in.
Asked Wednesday whether he’d work with Congress to extend the emergency authorization allowing him to temporarily seize control of local law enforcement, Trump said he’ll ask Congress for a “long-term” extension of federal authority over the Washington police force.
“We’re going to be asking for extensions on that — long-term extensions, because you can’t have 30 days,” Trump said at an event at the Kennedy Center.
Trump indicated at one point that he’d ask Congress for more funds to fight crime and to make repairs to Washington’s streets and parks.
“We’re going to make Washington beautiful. We’re going to redo roads. We’re going to redo the medians. The pavers and the medians are all throughout the city. We’re going to take all the graffiti off. We’re going to have to remove the tents. And the people that are living in our parks, we’re going to be redoing the parks, the grasses and all. We’re going to be going to Congress for a relatively small amount of money. And [Senate Budget Committee chair and GOP Sen.] Lindsey [Graham] and the Republicans are going to be approving it,” Trump said.
Trump has long threatened to take control of Washington, saying he wants to crack down on violent crime in the District although police statistics show that in the past two years, violent crime has gone down.
“Fighting crime is a good thing. We have to explain we’re going to fight crime — that’s a good thing,” Trump said Wednesday. “Already they’re saying, ‘He’s a dictator,’ he said, referring to Democrats. “The place is going to hell. We’ve got to stop it. So, instead of saying, ‘He’s a dictator,’ they should say, ‘We’re going to join him and make Washington safe.'”
“We’re going to be essentially crime-free. This is going to be a beacon, and it’s going to also serve as an example of what can be done,” Trump said.
National Guard troops began deploying in larger numbers along the National Mall overnight, according to a person familiar with the plan.
According to a person familiar with the effort, the latest plan calls for sending the activated Army soldiers to spots around the National Mall in the middle of the night so they will be visible to D.C. residents by Friday morning.
Officials said the Trump administration is still in the process of setting up a joint task force, which will be led by Army Col. Larry Doane. While the task force is expected to include 800 activated soldiers, D.C. residents won’t see that many on the streets.
The troops will work in shifts of 100 to 200 troops at a time, and some of them will be assigned to administrative or logistical roles in support of local law enforcement, officials told ABC News.
ABC News producers did not see any National Guard or increased law enforcement presence around Washington Wednesday afternoon — including around the National Mall, D.C. Armory or in Logan Circle where a man was gunned down and killed earlier this week.
A White House official told ABC News that, beginning Wednesday night, officials expected a “significantly higher National Guard presence to be on the ground throughout Washington, D.C.” The White House official added that beginning Wednesday night, the deployment will transition to round-the-clock, 24/7 operations. Those operations had been previously focused on evening and overnight hours.
On Tuesday night, more than 1,450 federal law enforcement officers and National Guard members patrolled Washington, according to a White House official. Law enforcement teams made 43 arrests on Tuesday night — nearly twice the number made Monday night, the official said.
Those law enforcement teams included 750 D.C. Metropolitan Police Department officers who were “uniformed, marked as patrol and directly assigned as anti-crime officers,” the White House official said. That was in addition to the federal law enforcement who had been previously mobilized in the area. The White House official said that there were about 30 National Guard troops on the ground last night.
The law enforcement teams were “deployed throughout all seven districts in D.C. to promote public safety and arrest violent offenders,” the White House official said.
After Trump’s announcement Monday, approximately 850 officers and agents fanned out over D.C. right after Trump declared a crime emergency in the capital, making 23 arrests, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday.
On Tuesday, National Guard troops were spotted on the National Mall, with many stationed around the base of the Washington Monument. The troops left Wednesday morning.
It was not immediately clear why the presence of U.S. troops along the National Mall was needed, other than to put Trump’s orders on display. The area, marked by museums, monuments and long stretches of grass, is known as a relatively safe part of the city that attracts mostly tourists and school groups.
ABC News’ John Parkinson contributed to this report.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that National Guard did not make any arrests of individuals in Washington.
