Welcome to the online version of Of the policy desktopA bulletin that gives you the latest report and analysis of the NBC News Politics Team of the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign.
In today’s edition, we have the latest at the meeting of President Donald Trump with the redistribution plans of Volodymyr Zelenskyy districts of Ukraine and the Republicans in Texas now that a group of Democratic legislators has returned home.
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Trump and Zelenskyy point out progress while gathering with European leaders in the Ukraine War
By Peter Nicholas, Megan Lebowitz and Kristen Welker
President Donald Trump met for about an hour at the White House today with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an accelerated effort to end the grinding war with Russia in acceptable terms for both parties.
Trump greeted the Ukrainian leader in the afternoon with a smile and a warm handshake, a big difference with the tense televised televised meeting, the two men held in February at the Oval office.
Just out of a summit in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump summoned Zelenskyy to see if they can resolve conflict points centered on the future security of Ukraine and the status of territory that the Russian army has seized in the east and south of Ukraine.
Several European leaders joined Zelenskyy and Trump in the White House to work towards an advance in the conflict of almost three and a half years that Trump himself has warned that he could explode in a third World War if he is allowed to persist.
When asked if US troops would help ensure a peace agreement, Trump did not rule out the possibility.
As a condition to end war, Putin has insisted that Russia retains about 20% of the Ukrainian territory that now controls. For his part, Zelenskyy has said that the Constitution of Ukraine prohibits him from giving any land.
Zelenskyy sat to Trump’s right on a dark and formal outfit with a necklace, a deviation from his normal outfit in times of war, which Trump commented favorably. (At the last Zelenskyy meeting at the White House, a journalist asked him why he didn’t wear a suit).
When his meeting with Trump ended, Zelenskyy said: “We had a very good conversation, maybe the best.”
What happens next is far from being clear. Trump said he will call Putin when he finished with negotiations for the day. Depending on the progress made, he said he would try to convene a meeting that has not happened since the war began: a trilateral summit with himself, Putin and Zelenskyy.
Read more →
Texas Democrats return to the State, finishing the confrontation of two weeks on the redistribution of districts
By Natasha Korecki and Ben Kamisar
Texas Democratic legislators returned to the State today after an absence of two weeks that temporarily prevented Republican leaders to promulgate a plan aimed at filling most of their party in the United States house, a measure that caused a national political storm over redistribution of districts.
The legislators decided to finish their confrontation after preventing Texas Republicans from approved a map of the Congress redfold during a special legislative session and after California Democrats counteracted their own proposal for the redistribution of districts. But the Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, requested a second special session, and with enough Democratic legislators now present in Texas, the legislature controlled by the Republican Party will be able to advance in its new map.
“We kill the corrupt special session, we resist unprecedented surveillance and intimidation, and gather the Democrats throughout the country to join this existential struggle for fair representation, remodeling the entire landscape of 2026,” said the president of the Democratic Caucus of Texas, the Wu Gen in a statement. “We will return to Texas more dangerous for the plans of the Republicans than when we left. Our return allows us to develop the necessary legal registry to defeat this racist map in court, take our message to the communities throughout the state and the country and inspire how to fight against these schemes of redistribution of anti -democratic districts in their own state houses.”
Texas Democrats, without any real legislative power, obtained praise throughout the country from the members of their party to delay the search for the Republicans of a rare redistribution effort of districts of the decade and raise awareness about the problem. The two -week quorum has been expensive, with the Democratic legislators facing a fine of $ 500 for each day they were absent. And many faced security threats while they were away from their families.
The Democrats began preparing the stage for their eventual return last week, declaring the victory over the Republicans’ decision to end their first special legislative session without vote. They said that their second condition to return was that the Democrats of California launch a plan that would seek to compensate any change of Texas that the Republicans made to their map, what they did on Friday.
Texas Republican leaders in the House of Representatives said they would take their Distriction Redistribution Plan on Wednesday.
“The house has passed through two tumultuous weeks, but this institution is prior to us and for a long time we will last each of us … This body has endured wars, economic depressions and quorum pauses that date back to the first session. This will also resist,” said Dustin Burrows, president of the Chamber of State Representatives. “We have finished waiting. We have a quorum. Now it is time for action. We will move quickly, and the schedule will require until our work is complete.”
Read more →
🗞️ The other main stories today
- 🪖 DC Takeover: Some Republican governors announced during the weekend that they are sending the National Guard troops of their states to Washington, DC, to complement Trump’s effort to combat the crime in the capital of the nation. And some troops will begin to transport firearms. Read more →
- ✉️ You’ve got mail: Trump said in a social publication of the truth that he would sign an executive order to try to get rid of the tickets by mail and the voting machines. Read more →
- 💲 Electoral settlement: Newsmax will pay $ 67 million as part of an agreement with Dominion Voting Systems, who had brought a demand for defamation against the conservative cable news channel about his unfounded statements that the 2020 elections were fraudulent. Read more →
- 🏃🏼 He is running: Former Senator Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, officially launched his 2026 Senate campaign, telling Henry Gómez that “he had no intention of running again, but changed his mind after receiving the breath of” more and more people “and seeing the first actions of the Trump administration. Read more →
- 🏃🏼♀️ She is running: The treasurer of the state of Pennsylvania, Stacy Garrity, announced that he is postulated for governor, becoming the first important republican candidate to jump into the race against Democratic governor Josh Shapiro. Read more →
- 🌽 Democrats field: The field of Democratic candidates who run for the Senate in Iowa was reduced, with state representative JD Scholten abandoning and supporting state fellow Josh Turek, reports the DES Moines record. Read more →
- Follow the updates of live policy →
That’s all of the politics desk for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner and Bridget Bowman.
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