PRESIDENT TRUMP took a hardline with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ahead of their high-stakes summit in Alaska at the end of the week.

Speaking to reporters at the Kennedy Center, Trump promised there would be “severe consequences” if Russia fails to reach a ceasefire deal with Ukraine after the summit.

“There will be consequences,” Trump said. “I don’t have to say. There will be very severe consequences.”

Asked if he believed Putin will stop targeting civilians in Ukraine, Trump responded:

“I’ve had that conversation with him. I’ve had a lot of good conversations with him. Then I go home and I see that a rocket hit a nursing home, or a rocket hit an apartment building, and people are laying dead in the street. So I guess the answer to that is no, because I’ve had this conversation.”

Trump and Vice President Vance met virtually with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other European leaders Wednesday to strategize ahead of the summit.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz organized the meeting, as European leaders seek a united front to stand against Putin’s land demands and to ensure Ukraine’s future security.

“We have had a very good call,” European Commission President Urusula von der Leyen posted on X.

“Today Europe, the US and NATO have strengthened the common ground for Ukraine,” she continued. “We will remain in close coordination. Nobody wants peace more than us, a just and lasting peace.”

Trump said that after his Friday summit, he hopes to arrange a trilateral meeting with Putin and Zelensky “almost immediately.”

The Russian military broke through Ukraine’s frontlines in the eastern Donetsk region this week, pushing forward with the new offensive only days before Putin’s meeting with Trump.

Putin also had his own summit with an ally Wednesday, speaking with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un about the “bravery, heroism and self-sacrificing spirit” of the North Korean fighters that have joined Putin’s war efforts, according to North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency.

Zelensky on Wednesday warned that Putin is “bluffing” about being open to peace.

“I stress that any questions concerning our country’s territorial integrity cannot be discussed without regard for our people, for the will of our people and the Ukrainian constitution,” Zelensky said.

Trump has in recent days taken shots at both Putin and Zelensky, adding an element of uncertainty to the meeting, which will take place at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage.

The president has turned on Putin in recent weeks, authorizing the sale of U.S. defensive munitions to European countries to pass through to Ukraine. Trump has also threatened economic sanctions on Russia’s trading partners, and hit India with steep tariffs for continuing to buy Russian oil.

However, Trump has also lashed out at Zelensky.

The Hill’s Ellen Mitchell writes:

“President Trump’s sharp criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday is sending chills across Europe, where leaders are working to guard against the worst-case scenario: Trump aligning with Russian President Vladimir Putin to force a bad deal on Kyiv.”

Trump has said that any deal will have “good stuff, not bad stuff, also some bad stuff for both” parties.

Trump’s talk of land swaps has Kyiv and its European allies on edge, as they fear the president will give Putin a sweetheart deal that carves-up Ukraine.

Zelensky is drawing a red line, saying he won’t cede portions of the Donbas region to Russia to achieve a deal.

“We will never leave the Donbas,” Zelensky told reporters, saying Russia would use it as a “springboard for a future new offensive.”

The Hill’s Ashleigh Fields writes:

“Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and captured most of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions within Donbas. The Kremlin has already expressed a desire to keep Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson before committing to ending the violent strikes in eastern Europe.”

Trump has so far downplayed expectations for the meeting with Putin.

The White House has described the Putin meeting a “listening session” and a “feel-out meeting.”

Trump is already fuming at the press coverage of the meeting, pointing to John Bolton, the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, who has been blanketing the airwaves to warn Trump is giving Putin everything he wants.

Some experts have warned through the media that Putin is merely seeking a photo-op with Trump on American soil to show his strength back home.

“Very unfair media is at work on my meeting with Putin,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Constantly quoting fired losers and really dumb people like John Bolton, who just said that, even though the meeting is on American soil, ‘Putin has already won,’ What’s that all about? We are winning on EVERYTHING.”

“The Fake News is working overtime (No tax on overtime!). If I got Moscow and Leningrad free, as part of the deal with Russia, the Fake News would say that I made a bad deal!,” he continued. “But now they’ve been caught Look at all of the real news that’s coming out about their CORRUPTION. They are sick and dishonest people, who probably hate our Country.”

💡Perspectives:

• The Atlantic: Putin could be laying a trap for Trump.

• The American Spectator: Trump has Putin where he wants him.

• The Hill: Stop the senseless slaughter and starvation in Gaza.

• The Nation: An interview with Zohran Mamdani.

• Tablet: Mamdani’s fantasy island.

Read more: 

• Russia is behind hacking of federal court system.

• Netanyahu hints Gaza ceasefire talks focus on releasing all hostages.

• Israel is in talks to resettle Palestinians from Gaza in South Sudan.

• Trump’s DC move forces Democrats to again grapple with crime.

• Trump wields funding card in fight with DC.

• President Trump said Wednesday he’ll seek “long-term extensions” from Congress to prolong his federal takeover of the Washington, D.C., police department.

   

• A federal appeals court voted 2-1 to lift an order requiring the Trump administration to resume billions of dollars in foreign aid payments. 

• Actor Sylvester Stallone, disco singer Gloria Gaynor and rock band KISS will be recognized as Kennedy Center Honors recipients, in the first awards gala held since President Trump’s overhaul of Washington’s prominent arts destination.

©  Rich Pedroncelli, Associated Press

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said Wednesday he’ll move forward with a new gerrymander after he says President Trump “missed” his deadline to call off redistricting in Texas.

Newsom said he’d hld a press conference this week to detail how California, which has an independent districting commission, would draw new maps and take them directly to voters in a special election later this year.

The nonpartisan watchdog group Common Cause, which was initially against blue states retaliating against Texas’s redistricting, is now signaling openness to it.

Common Cause said in a statement it would not “endorse partisan gerrymandering even when its motive is to offset more extreme gerrymandering by a different party,” but it also said that “a blanket condemnation in this moment would amount to a call for unilateral political disarmament in the face of authoritarian efforts to undermine fair representation and people-powered democracy.”

“We have established a fairness criteria that we will use to evaluate all countermeasures so we can respond to the most urgent threats to fair representation while holding all actors to the same principled standard: people—not parties—first,” Common Cause president and CEO Virginia Kase Solomón said in a statement.

It appears the standoff in Texas will continue, with Democrats holding a joint press conference this afternoon with Indiana Democrats in Chicago.

Indiana Gov. Mike Braun (R) says he’s considering redrawing the Hoosier State’s maps after a meeting with Vice President Vance last week.

The Texas Senate on Tuesday passed a new GOP-friendly House map, bringing it one step closer to final passage. It’s an identical map to the one passed by state House Republicans and could help the GOP pick up an additional five House seats in next year’s midterm elections.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has called for a new special session to take effect later this week after Democrats ran out the clock on the first special session by fleeing the state. Abbott says he’ll continue calling for new special sessions until the Democrats return.

MEANWHILE…

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate former Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s (D) political group and others for helping fund the Democrats who fled the state.

“These outside groups appear to be acting in violation of federal public corruption and election laws,” Cornyn said.

Cornyn is in a bitter primary battle against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), who called for O’Rourke’s arrest earlier this week.

In the latest edition of The Gavel, The Hill’s courts newsletter, Zach Schonfeld reports:

“A chasm has emerged between two Texas Republican Senate candidates in the legal fight against Democrats who fled the state to block a redistricting push…It has also become a shadow war in the state’s upcoming Senate GOP primary.”

 Click here to sign up & get The Gavel in your inbox.

💡Perspectives:

• Free Beacon: Dems curse more, obey less, protect criminals at all costs.

• The Free Press: Is Trump’s takeover of D.C. lawful?

• New Republic: Trump is taking over D.C. police because he’s a racist thug.

• Jeanine Pirro: The fight to make D.C. safe and beautiful.

• The National Review: Anti-semitism is everywhere.

Read more: 

• West Point, Air Force Academy settle lawsuits on race-based admissions.

• Trump administration must restore hundreds of UCLA research grants.

• Billy Long’s IRS ouster follows clashes with Treasury.

• Schools brace for MAHA changes to lunches.

©  Greg Nash

The four major U.S. stock market indices hovered near their all-time highs Wednesday, as investors bet the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next month.

The combination of lower-than-expected inflation from President Trump’s tariffs and a weak jobs report have set the table for Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to potentially cut rates at the next central bank meeting in September.

Trump has been pressuring Powell to cut rates, nicknaming him “too late” and threatening to investigate renovations taking place at a Federal Reserve building in Washington.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent kept the pressure on Wednesday, calling for a 50 basis point cut at the next meeting followed by a “series of rate cuts” down the road.

💡Perspectives:

• The Liberal Patriot: Economic pessimism remains potent among voters.

• Wall Street Journal: Does Trump’s BLS have a plan to make data reliable?

• The Hill: Trump’s tariffs will leave lasting scars.

• Progressive: Chicago’s sanctuary fights back.

• The Hill: Trump wants to make the census count.

Read more: 

• GE Appliances shifts more production to US.

• Trump’s China deal on Nvidia, AMD AI chips prompts security concerns.

• Trump’s nominee to oversee jobs, inflation data faces shower of criticism.

Someone forward this newsletter to you? Sign up to get your own copy: TheHill.com/Evening. See you next time!