Before the Russia Talks, a Key Conference Call: Starting Line

Summit Pre-Gaming

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin didn’t invite Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to Friday’s face-to-face conversation in Alaska, adding to the importance of a separate multi-leader conference call today.

Zelenskiy and the leaders of France, Germany, the UK, Italy, Poland, and Finland are scheduled to be on the call with Trump and Vice President JD Vance. “I will deliver a message that all sensitive issues about Ukraine must be discussed in the presence of Ukraine,” Zelenskiy told reporters today.

The conversation comes after EU leaders reiterated their opposition to forcibly changing international borders.

Putin is demanding that Ukraine give up the Donetsk and Luhansk regions as a condition to unlock a ceasefire. That would require Ukraine’s troops to withdraw from more than 3,400 square miles of its own territory, handing Moscow a victory that its army couldn’t achieve militarily. Read More

Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov as part of the preparations for Friday’s summit, which Rubio and Trump have described as a “feel-out meeting” that will help the administration decide whether to keep up economic and military pressure to secure a peace deal.

“The goal of this meeting for the president is to walk away with a better understanding of how we can end this war,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said. Read More

There’s been another kind of summit pre-gaming, as well: a phone call between Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Read More

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Congress Weighs In On DC Takeover

Some of the 800 National Guard members deployed by Trump have begun arriving in DC. And as Maeve Sheehey and Lillianna Byington report, even though they’re out on recess, members of Congress are planning legislative follow-ons.

The House Oversight Committee is scheduling a September hearing with Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) and other city officials.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) was already sponsoring a bill (S. 440) that would overturn the 1973 DC Home Rule Act, along with a bill (S. 2404) to limit the city’s ability to enact emergency legislation.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said he’ll offer a resolution to reverse Trump’s state of local emergency and restore full home rule powers.

Like the other proposals, prospects for enactment are slim; the GOP has a large enough majority to quash Democratic proposals in the House, and such a small majority in the Senate that overcoming a 60-vote threshhold is unlikely. Read More

See Also: Trump Misstates Washington Crime Data to Justify Takeover (New York Times)

Potential Harvard Settlement

A resolution could be near in Trump’s squeeze of Harvard University, which according to someone familiar with the negotiations has signaled it’s willing to pay $500 million.

That money would be used for workforce training programs. In exchange, the White House would restore more than $2 billion in frozen federal funds.

Last month, Brown University agreed to pay $50 million over 10 years for such programs in its home state of Rhode Island. Harvard has repeatedly ruled out paying a direct fine to the government, as Columbia University agreed to do.

Meanwhile, negotiations are underway with the University of California at Los Angeles. In exchange for releasing $584 million in frozen federal research funding, Trump wants UCLA to pay $1 billion. UCLA is the first public university to enter talks with the administration over frozen funds. Read More

Some of the frozen funds are the subject of a court order issued last night. US District Judge Rita F. Lin told the administration to restore science research grants and confirm by next Tuesday that it’s done. Read More

Culture Clues

Since he fired the top management and put himself in charge, anything Trump might say about the Kennedy Center would get attention. But he couldn’t resist just a bit more drama ahead of today’s announcement of the next Kennedy Center Honors recipients.

“GREAT Nominees for the TRUMP/KENNEDY CENTER, whoops, I mean, KENNEDY CENTER, AWARDS,” he wrote on Truth Social.

The Kennedy Center itself added its own clues on Instagram: “A country music icon, an Englishman, a New York City Rock band, a dance Queen and a multi-billion dollar Actor walk into the Kennedy Center Opera House….”

And there’s more on the Trump culture beat.

You may recall Trump’s speech last month in Iowa in which he said he had a vision for celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in an original way: “We’re going to have a UFC fight, think of this, on the grounds of the White House. We have a lot of land there,” Trump said.

Here’s an update: “It’s absolutely going to happen,” Dana White, the fight company’s CEO told The Associated Press. “Think about that, the 250th birthday of the United States of America, the UFC will be on the White House south lawn live on CBS.”

Trump’s been thinking about museums, too. In a letter to Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie Bunch III, the White House laid out in detail the steps it expects the organization to take as part of a review to “assess tone, historical framing, and alignment with American ideals.”

Pot’s Moment

Kate Ackley reports that the marijuana industry is trying to make the most of the lobbying window that’s open as the White House considers changing the federal government’s classification for cannabis.

The industry wants cannabis to be listed as a schedule III substance, which would allow standard business tax deductability. Right now it’s a schedule I substance, the same as heroin.

You might have seen the ad from America First Agriculture Action Inc. praising the president keeping his promises to renew tax cuts. “Now it’s time to fulfill another promise from President Trump and reschedule cannabis, which supports over 400,000 jobs,” a narrator says.

Foes are advertising, too. The group Smart Approaches to Marijuana bought time on Fox networks urging Trump not to reschedule. The group also is reaching out quietly to administration officials and allies, said president and CEO Kevin Sabet. Read More

Eye on the Economy

Not a for-sure, but noteworthy: a signal from the Trump administration that monthly economic reports might not end if a contributor to the Project 2025 manifesto becomes the next Bureau of Labor Statistics chief.

“I believe that is the plan, and that’s the hope, and that these monthly reports will be data that the American people can trust,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told a press briefing.

Trump’s choice to head the BLS, EJ Antoni, has floated the idea of suspending the BLS’s monthly jobs report. Read More

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Return of a Blue-Slipped Nominee

This time around, there’s no home-state Democrat to stop Edmund LaCour from getting a federal judgeship.

Tiana Headley reports that Trump plans to nominate LaCour, Alabama’s solicitor general, for a seat on the US District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.

Trump had nominated LaCour to a Middle District of Alabama judgeship in 2020. A Senate tradition known as blue slipping gives deference to home-state senators on judicial nominations, and then-Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) blocked LaCour. Read More

Before You Go

Homesick Texans: Citing multiple unnamed sources, ABC News reports that the lawmakers who left Texas to prevent the quorum needed to ram through a one-party redistricting plan are planning to return to Austin as soon as this weekend. The Texas state House Democratic caucus said in a post on social media that they were “still assessing their strategies going forward,” declining to comment further. Read More

Election 2026: In New York, Zach Williams scrutinizes the challenge to Gov. Kathy Hochul from her lieutenant governor, former Rep. Antonio Delgado. And are you ready for a Sherrod Brown comeback? Ian Kullgren and Greg Giroux report that having him in the race probably gives Democrats their best shot at making Ohio’s US Senate race competitive.

Courts Hacked: A foreign adversary breached the federal judiciary’s case management system, targeting sealed documents in sensitive cases, according to three people familiar with the matter. Cases included those involving fraud, money laundering, and agents of foreign governments. Read More