President Trump says Zelenskyy should not target Moscow with strikes
Trump's comments to reporters about Zelenskyy on July 15 came after The Financial Times reported earlier in the day that Trump privately encouraged the Ukrainian president in a July 4 call to escalate his country's attacks on Russia.
During that conversation, Trump asked Zelenskyy whether Ukraine could strike Moscow if the United States provided Ukraine with long-range weapons, the newspaper reported, citing anonymous sources briefed on the discussion.
'No, he shouldn't target Moscow," Trump said July 15, when asked by a reporter whether Zelenskyy should attack Russia's capital city.
More: 'Oh really?': Trump says his wife Melania has some thoughts on Vladimir Putin
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt appeared to confirm The Financial Times report in a statement to USA TODAY, but she said Trump's remarks had been taken out of context.
"President Trump was merely asking a question, not encouraging further killing. He's working tirelessly to stop the killing and end this war," Leavitt said.
Trump reaffirmed a new 50-day ultimatum for Putin to end the war with Ukraine as he took questions on the South Lawn of the White House before heading to Pittsburgh, where he touted private investments in artificial intelligence in Pennsylvania.
Growing increasingly frustrated by Putin's continued attacks on Ukraine, Trump on July 14 threatened to impose 100% "secondary tariffs" on Russia's trading partners if a ceasefire is not reached in that timeframe.
'At the end of 50 days, if we don't have a deal, it's going to be too bad," Trump said. "The tariffs are going to go on and other sanctions.'
More: Trump offers Putin an ultimatum, as Senate pressure builds to sanction Russia
Trump: US 'not looking' to give Ukraine long-range missiles
Trump also announced this week that the United States would send weapons to NATO to assist in Ukraine's war efforts. But the United States is not considering supplying Ukraine with long-range missiles, the president told reporters on July 15.
'No, we're not looking to do that," Trump said.
Russia's war in Ukraine has raged on for more than three and a half years – since Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Trump has blamed both Putin and Zelenskyy, at various times, for the ongoing war.
More: From 'obsolete' to the 'opposite of that': Trump changes tune on NATO, criticizes Putin
In a major shift in tone, Trump has begun criticizing Putin for continuing his military onslaught on Ukraine despite signaling an openness to peace privately in conversations with the president. Nonetheless, Trump told reporters he's not taking sides in the Russia-Ukraine war.
'I'm on nobody's side," Trump said when asked whether he's on Ukraine's side now. "You know whose side I'm on? Humanity's side. I want to stop the killing of thousands of people.'
Contributing: Reuters
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Why it's so challenging for Trump to fire Powell
A firing of Jerome Powell by President Trump would likely open up a legal war never before seen in the US, without any guarantee of a courtroom victory for the White House. That may be why Trump hasn't done so. Yet. Powell has made his intentions clear. He said earlier this year that he wouldn't leave if Trump tried to fire him and that his removal is 'not permitted by law.' Fed officials privately have been preparing for a legal battle as far back as Trump's first term, when the president also toyed with removing the chair, according to the Wall Street Journal. The strength of Powell's case is based on some protections of Fed autonomy already embedded in US statute. The Federal Reserve Act, which created the central bank in 1913 and was amended in 1935, states that each member of the Fed board shall hold office for 14 years "unless sooner removed for cause by the President." The intention of the "for cause" condition was to enhance the Fed's independence by making it more difficult for a president to fire its board members, who are appointed by the president. There are also signs that the Supreme Court would step in if Trump were to act, although the high court's views on the topic are unclear. In an ambiguous ruling earlier this year, Supreme Court justices allowed Trump to temporarily proceed with the firings of board members at two other independent agencies. In granting the administration's request, the court said that in its judgment, the government "is likely to show" that the fired board members exercised "considerable executive power," a view that suggests the president possesses broader power to remove the officials at will. Read more: How much control does the president have over the Fed and interest rates? Legal challenges from those board members are still playing out at an appeals court. But Powell got a good sign Thursday when a Washington, D.C., district court judge ruled that another Trump firing of FTC commissioner Rebecca Slaughter was illegal and that she should be reappointed. The judge cited a 90-year-old Supreme Court precedent that limits the power of the president to dismiss independent agency board members except in cases of neglect or malfeasance. That precedent offers Powell a layer of protection. It was set in a 1935 case titled Humphrey's Executor v. US that challenged President Franklin Roosevelt's termination of the US Federal Trade Commissioner. The court held that the president's authority to terminate agency officials at will was limited to purely executive officers, and not those leading independent agencies that engage in regulation and adjudication. Congress, the court said, had power to limit the president's removal power over those officials "for cause" — then described that term to mean inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance. Trump is challenging whether that precedent applies across various independent agencies, but the Supreme Court has not yet made a definitive ruling on whether it should stand. If the precedent falls and leaves no explicit protection for the central bank, a Powell firing could certainly be a lot easier to pull off. 'For cause' Powell does have one major vulnerability, however. That 'for cause' language embedded in the Federal Reserve Act hasn't really been defined or tested in court. The statute also doesn't have any language that specifically addresses the chair of the Board of Governors. And the White House has been using a new line of attack against Powell that could offer a path to a 'for cause' dismissal, as the president and his allies raise concerns about a $2.5 billion renovation of the central bank's headquarters. "I mean it's possible there's fraud involved with the $2.5 billion renovation," Trump told reporters on Wednesday, after saying earlier that the project "sort of is" a fireable offense. He said he wasn't planning to fire Powell but also left the door open, saying, "I don't rule out anything, but I think it's highly unlikely, unless he has to leave for fraud.' National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett — one of Powell's potential successors — said last Sunday on ABC News's "This Week" that whether the president has the legal authority to fire Powell before his term is up next May "is being looked into" and that "certainly, if there's cause, he does." But he also acknowledged it was a 'highly uncertain legal matter.' Politico reported that outside lawyers told the White House counsel's office it would likely lose a legal fight with Powell if Trump removed Powell solely over accusations that he mishandled renovations and that White House officials were also unsure whether it would work. Politico quoted one official who said, 'Whether or not it's illegal, I don't know. But is it a good thing to point out to damage this guy's image? Yeah.' The White House is certainly showing no signs of letting up on its pressure. They are seeking a site visit to see the Fed's renovations in person. Powell has asked the Fed's inspector general to review the costs involved. He also sent White House budget director Russ Vought a letter Thursday offering a point-by-point rebuttal of questions raised about the project and denying reports of a VIP elevator and VIP dining rooms. "We take seriously the responsibility to be good stewards of public resources," he said, and "we have taken great care to ensure the project is carefully overseen.' Case Western Reserve University business law professor Eric Chaffee said he thinks Powell would win any legal battle with the White House on the 'for cause' clause, but he doesn't think such a confrontation will come to pass given that Powell only has 10 months left as chair. "We're just so close to the end of the term that I think the Trump administration is very likely just to wait things out,' he said. Alexis Keenan is a legal reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow Alexis on X @alexiskweed. Click here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
The Hill
25 minutes ago
- The Hill
Trump's 50-day Ukraine ultimatum is doomed to fail
President Trump campaigned on a promise to end the Ukraine war within 2 4 hours of returning to the White House. Now back in the White House, he finds himself hemmed in by the realities of great-power politics. Trump's self-confidence has collided with the entrenched dynamics of a grinding conflict. Frustrated, he has turned to familiar tools of coercion: threats, pressure tactics and a new flow of advanced weapons to Kyiv. Trump's latest initiative gives Moscow a 50-day deadline to end its war in Ukraine. He has threatened secondary sanctions on Russia's key trading partners and opened a fresh weapons pipeline to Kyiv, hoping this twin-pronged approach will force Russian President Vladimir Putin's hand. But like Trump's earlier attempts to employ brute pressure as a substitute for diplomacy, this initiative reflects impatience more than strategic clarity. Trump once believed that his personal rapport with Putin, coupled with a dealmaker's instinct, could bring about a ceasefire. But six months into his new term, his peace push lies in tatters. Russia continues to press its territorial ambitions, while Ukraine, bolstered by Western military support, shows little interest in making major concessions. Instead of a breakthrough, Trump faces a deepening quagmire. The irony is unmistakable — the president who pledged to end America's entanglements in ' forever wars ' is now escalating U.S. involvement in one that is deflecting American attention away from more-pressing strategic challenges, including from China, which is seeking to supplant the U.S. as the world's foremost power. Trump's new Ukraine strategy bears an eerie resemblance to his Iran policy, when he tried to bomb Tehran into submission, only to end up entrenching animosities further and weakening U.S. leverage. There is no doubt that ending the war in Ukraine is in America's strategic interest. The conflict has absorbed vast U.S. resources, diverted diplomatic bandwidth and strained transatlantic cohesion. More importantly, the war has delayed Washington's ability to focus on the key Indo-Pacific region — the world's emerging economic and geopolitical nerve center. The pivot to the Indo-Pacific is not merely aspirational. A leaked memorandum titled 'Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,' signed by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, identifies China as the Pentagon's 'sole pacing threat.' The Trump administration is seeking to reorient the U.S. military posture to prepare for a potential showdown in Asia over Chinese aggression against democratic Taiwan. The war in Ukraine, by draining American attention, resources and capabilities, undermines this rebalancing. Seen from this angle, Trump is right to seek an end to the conflict. But his approach — escalating arms transfers while threatening punitive sanctions on countries that do business with Russia — is unlikely to yield peace. If anything, it risks prolonging the war by reinforcing the belief in Kyiv that Washington remains committed to a military solution. In fact, Trump's threat to impose harsh penalties on Russia's trading partners lacks credibility. Such sanctions would trigger a U.S. showdown with China, which trades nearly $250 billion annually with Russia, including major oil and gas imports. Sanctioning India could upend America's Indo-Pacific strategy aimed at maintaining a stable balance of power. History offers little support for the notion that coercion alone can deliver durable peace. Military pressure may bring parties to the table, but diplomacy is what cements outcomes. The Dayton Accords, which ended the Bosnian war, and the Camp David Accords, which brought peace between Egypt and Israel, were both products of tough negotiations rather than deadlines and threats. Trump's maximalist tactics risk backfiring on multiple fronts. Sanctioning Russia's trading partners could alienate crucial 'swing' nations in the global contest with China. These states are already wary of U.S. unilateralism, and some of them could be pushed into Beijing's orbit. Moreover, punitive economic measures often fail to change state behavior, especially when national security interests are at stake, as is the case for Russia in Ukraine. Meanwhile, a flood of advanced new U.S. weapons to Ukraine may boost short-term battlefield performance but will do little to bridge the wider diplomatic impasse. Putin, faced with increased Western backing for Kyiv, is unlikely to scale back his goals. Instead, he may double down, calculating that time and attrition are on his side. The real path to peace in Ukraine lies not in deadlines or ultimatums, but in a forward-looking diplomatic initiative that recognizes the legitimate interests of all parties while seeking to uphold Ukraine's sovereignty. The Biden administration made limited overtures in this direction, but Trump, who claims to be a great dealmaker, has an opportunity to go further. Instead of trying to impose peace through pressure alone, he must find ways to bring both sides to the table — with credible inducements and face-saving compromises. This will require working with international partners — not just NATO allies, but also influential neutral states like India and the United Arab Emirates that can serve as mediators. It will also require a nuanced understanding of Russia's domestic political constraints and Ukraine's security concerns. None of this is easy, but it is more likely to succeed than a strategy built on coercion and deadlines. Despite promising to end the war quickly, Trump now finds himself caught in the same bind as his predecessor. His failure to secure a ceasefire has deepened America's involvement in the war — the very entanglement he vowed to end. Unless he pivots toward a more diplomatic course, his 50-day ultimatum to Moscow will go the way of his 24-hour pledge: unmet and quietly shelved. Deadlines don't make peace. Diplomacy does.
The Hill
25 minutes ago
- The Hill
LGBTQ+ mental health hotline shuts down
WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — The LGBTQ-specific part of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline shut down Thursday following a directive from the Trump administration, drawing bipartisan criticism from lawmakers and mental health advocates who warn the move endangers lives. The specialized LGBTQ+ line, launched in 2022, offered targeted support for individuals in crisis and had fielded more than 1.2 million calls, texts, and chats since its debut. 'There's more than a million of those moments where someone thought it would be better if they weren't here, and they had someone to call,' said Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kan.). The Trump administration eliminated resources for diversity, equity and inclusion programs, including this crisis line. 'It's been very successful,' said Rep. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.). 'And President Trump has determined to put politics ahead of care, ahead of saving lives.' According to the Trevor Project, about 40 percent of LGBTQ youth seriously considered suicide in the past year. Those with access to affirming mental health services like the 988 line were significantly less likely to attempt it. Even some Republicans, such as Rep. Mike Lawler (N.Y.), are urging the Department of Health and Human Services to restore the LGBTQ+ line. 'To me, this is about saving lives,' said Lawler. 'It is about preventing suicide. And it's something all of us as Americans should be unified on.' Lawmakers say the shutdown not only strips away critical mental health support but also sends a harmful message to vulnerable communities. 'Whether you are part of the LGBTQ community, whether someone in your family is or you have friends that are, every single one of us should be concerned about that,' Davids said. Lawmakers have sent a letter urging HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to immediately reverse the shutdown. As of now, the agency has not announced any changes.
