Trump Grows Frustrated with Putin, Warns Russia of Tougher Sanctions

As President Donald Trump trades barbs with the Kremlin, both the administration and the Senate are mulling imposing tougher sanctions on Putin’s Russia to force the country to the negotiating table and end its war in Ukraine. 

Despite reported deliberations inside the second Trump administration, the president has so far declined to ratchet up sanctions on Putin’s regime in the hopes of facilitating good-faith negotiations. The administration’s options in generating incremental financial leverage over Russia are somewhat limited.

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Trump: Putin Call Went ‘Very Well’, Negotiations to Start ‘Immediately’

Trump and Putin

Following his call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump expressed optimism about the call and posted to Truth Social that Russia and Ukraine will immediately begin negotiations to achieve a ceasefire. 

He noted that “the conditions for that will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of.”

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‘You’re Fools’: Trump Backs Rubio on Prospect of Walking Away from Ukraine Talks

Donald Trump

President Donald Trump on Friday confirmed that the United States was prepared to walk away from efforts to end the Ukraine war if either side proved intransigent.

“If for some reason one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we’re just going to say ’you are foolish, you’re fools, you’re horrible people’ and we’re going to just take a pass,” Trump told reporters. “And Marco’s right in saying it.”

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Before Weaponizing Russia Against Trump, Biden and Other Democrats Reaped Lucrative Benefits

Obama white house

While Democrats weaponized invented Russia collusion claims in an attempt to sink President Donald Trump’s first term, in retrospect the party’s leaders have often gone soft on Russia when it wanted to reap financial or political benefits for themselves or allies.

From the Obama-era “Russian Reset” and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Skolkovo investment project to Hunter Biden’s business in Moscow and President Joe Biden’s waiving of sanctions against a Russian pipeline, key Democratic figures reaped political and financial benefits from going soft on Moscow.

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U.S. Envoy Witkoff Arrives in Russia to Meet with Putin in Search of Ukraine Ceasefire Deal

Russia and America

U.S. special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff has arrived in Russia and is set to meet with Russia President Vladimir Putin on Friday. 

The meeting between Witkoff and Putin will be the third one this year as President Trump continues to press for a permanent or least temporary end to the roughly three-year-long Russia-Ukraine war. 

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Crossfire Hurricane Answers Remain Blacked out Years After Trump Declassification Order

Donald Trump

Key documents from the FBI’s politicized Crossfire Hurricane investigation into false allegations of Trump-Russia collusion remain hidden from public view, but a new order from President Trump will reveal more answers — and documents already obtained by Just the News provide clues on what is to come.

Just the News obtained a portion of the Crossfire Hurricane documents slated for declassification in January 2021, although the majority of the FBI records remain out of the public’s reach due to the Justice Department thwarting Trump. The documents revealed by Just the News in 2021 were interesting both for the new details they revealed and for what remained. Large sections still remain blacked out and hidden from public view behind ongoing redactions.

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U.S. Reaches Terms with Russia, Ukraine on Black Sea Shipping Ceasefire Deal

Donald Trump and Ukraine

The U.S. reached agreements with Ukraine and Russia on Tuesday to stop attacks on maritime traffic in the Black Sea and lay the groundwork for further progress toward peace, the White House announced.

Both Russia and Ukraine agreed to “ensure safe navigation, eliminate the use of force, and prevent the use of commercial vessels for military purposes in the Black Sea” in separate agreements, and both warring states also agreed to come up with plans to implement an agreement to not attack each other’s energy infrastructure, the White House announced. The progress announced Tuesday is the result of several days of negotiations involving Russian and Ukrainian representatives in Saudi Arabia.

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Commentary: Revive Nuclear Energy in America

Nuclear Energy

The United States used to be the undisputed leader in nuclear power and still has more operating reactors than any other nation, with 94 currently in service. But in the last 35 years, only one new nuclear power plant has been built in the U.S.—Plant Vogtle in Georgia, which only recently began commercial operations.

Meanwhile, 25 nuclear reactors are under construction in China, seven in India, four each in Turkey, Egypt, and Russia, and two each in South Korea, Bangladesh, Japan, the UK, and Ukraine. The nations of Argentina, Brazil, France, Iran, and Slovakia are all building one plant at present.

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The Northern Flank Strategy: Michael Patrick Leahy Decodes Trump’s Push for Canada’s Statehood

Michael Patrick Leahy

Michael Patrick Leahy, CEO and Editor-In-Chief of The Tennessee Star, said he believes President Donald Trump’s calls for Canada to become the 51st U.S. state is a negotiating tactic in disguise that will set up the U.S. in a position to take control over Canadian territories north of the 60th parallel to fortify the area with defenses in the event of Arctic incursions by Russia or China.

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Commentary: Europe Must Fully Cooperate with Trump’s Ukraine Peace Efforts

Trump and Ukraine

Although a ceasefire to stop the killing in Ukraine appeared closer this week after Ukrainian President Zelensky sent President Trump a letter promising to cooperate with his peace efforts, European states are floating several unhelpful proposals that could hurt the peace process.

Zelensky was supposed to sign a deal at the White House last Friday, giving the U.S. access to his country’s rare earth mineral deposits. However, Zelensky’s insistence on first resolving other issues and his rude behavior during an Oval Office meeting with President Trump and Vice President Vance caused him to be booted from the White House and his relationship with Trump to break down.

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Tennessee U.S. Rep. Mark Green: Ukrainian President Zelensky’s Performance in the Oval Office Showed his ‘Addiction to the Blank Check Created an Entitlement’

Rep. Mark Green, Michael Patrick Leahy

Tennessee U.S. Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07) said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s “addiction to the blank check” the U.S. provided to Ukraine to assist in its fight against Russia under the previous administration “created an entitlement,” pointing to the foreign leader’s performative antics at the White House last week.

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Letter to the Editor: Give Peace a Chance

Volodymyr Zelenskyy

We are in a teachable moment about political agendas, the way the left creates and abandons their narratives, and even how a nation goes to war.

For example, the media recently ignored the most historic divorce of the era.  No, it’s not Johnny Depp and Amber Herd, or Tom Brady and Gisele.  It’s the American left and Russia – former name: Union of Soviet SOCIALIST Republics.  The biggest consequence of that stunning reversal is the party that used to call for detente with Soviet Russia now wants to facilitate military action toward Putin and Russia.

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EJ Haust Puts Ukraine, Russia Negotiations Towards Peace into Perspective

EJ Haust, a digital marketing expert and official guest host of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, analyzed the ongoing negotiations toward peace between Russia and Ukraine, framing the situation between the two countries from the perspective of Americans.

Haust analyzed after listening to U.S. Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s remarks at NATO headquarters in Munich this week, where Hegseth said the most likely deal to lead towards a peace deal rooted in “realism” will see Ukraine not joining NATO and Russia continuing to occupy territory it has already seized in Ukraine.

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Vance in First Major International Speech Criticizes European Leaders for ‘Retreat’ from Core Values

JD Vance

Vice President JD Vance on Friday, used his first major speech on the international stage, the Munich Security Conference, to criticize European leaders for what he considers their stifling opposing viewpoints and of retreating from “fundamental values.”

He told attendees biggest threats facing Europe are not from China or Russia, but the issue of mass migration and laws that restrict free speech, according to The Hill newspaper. 

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‘I Feel Like the Luckiest Man on Earth’: Marc Fogel’s Release Marks Major Diplomatic Win

President Donald Trump and Marc Fogel

President Donald Trump welcomed newly-freed American Marc Fogel at the White House late Tuesday, following his release from a Russian prison where he was incarcerated for nearly 1300 days. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz announced the diplomatic development after he was received into American custody.

“I feel like the luckiest man on Earth right now,” Fogel said to media in an emotional White House press conference.

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Former U.S. Ambassador to Denmark Carla Sands Explains Why the U.S. Must Acquire Greenland for National Security Purposes

Carla Sands

Carla Sands, former U.S. ambassador to Denmark during the first Trump administration, said the U.S. acquisition of Greenland would be a vital national security move for America and its allies.

Greenland, the world’s largest island, is a North American island autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.

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Biden Gives Ukraine One More Handout Before Leaving Office

Biden and Ukraine

The Biden administration sent approximately $500 million worth of aid to Ukraine on Thursday as the conflict continues to drag on without any clear end in sight.

The equipment covered by Thursday’s funding will include air defense missiles, gear to help Ukraine use F-16 jets, air-to-ground armaments and more. President-elect Donald Trump has clearly stated that he wants to broker an end to the Russia-Ukraine war, and Biden administration officials are arguing that the aid will give Ukraine as much leverage as possible before the two sides potentially head to the negotiating table to end the conflict.

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Dave Brat: Ukraine’s War with Russia ‘True Tragedy’ Fueled by U.S. Interests

Dave Brat

Liberty University’s School of Business Dean Dave Brat recently returned from a trip to Kiev, Ukraine, with religious leaders and academics to survey the country amid its ongoing war with Russia.

Brat said Ukrainian officials were attempting to woo his group of conservative Christians on board with funding the country’s fight against Russia during the week-long trip; however, he noted that his stance on funding the war “hasn’t changed.”

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Commentary: America Must Stay Out of the Crisis in Syria

Trump Syria

After the sudden overthrow of Syria’s brutal dictator Bashar al-Assad, there has been plenty of media commentary expressing optimism about the likely new Syrian government led by the rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Although this group is a former al Qaeda offshoot, it claims to have reformed, intends to establish a moderate and tolerant government, and plans to hold elections.

The Biden administration appears ready to give a new HTS government the benefit of the doubt. Biden officials have said they will recognize and support a new government in Syria if it makes certain commitments to the U.S., including renouncing terrorism and destroying chemical weapons in the country. The Biden administration also is considering lifting U.S. terrorist designations from the HTS and its leader, Abu Mohammed al-Golani.

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Shock Admission: ActBlue Tells Congress It Didn’t Block Foreign Gift Card Donations to Democrats until Fall

Act Blue donation platform

ActBlue, the massive online fund-raising platform for liberal causes, has informed Congress it did not automatically block donations made with foreign-bought gift cards until recently, a potentially significant revelation in an ongoing investigation into whether China, Russia, Iran or Venezuela routed illicit money to Democrat candidates.

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Trump Signals Shift from Unnecessary Military Intervention with Reaction to Assad Ouster in Syria

Trump and Syria

The unexpected fall of the Assad regime in Syria to a ragtag team of Islamist insurgents plunged the Middle East into a new era of uncertainty and opportunity while putting the world on notice that Donald Trump’s return to power was already uprooting decades of interventionist foreign policy in America.

Trump signaled the shift in dramatic fashion, yawning at the Islamist rebels’ final push into Damascus to oust Bashar al-Assad as not a battle America needed to fight and then using its aftermath to urge Russia, long a backer of Assad, to focus instead on seeking a peaceful end to its war against Ukraine.

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DOD Sends an Additional $988 Million Package to Ukraine

Biden and Ukraine

The U.S. Department of Defense announced a new round of nearly $1 billion in U.S. taxpayer money for Ukraine as the conflict with Russia continues. Total U.S. taxpayer funding for Ukraine now totals $62 billion since the war began.

The latest package will provide Ukraine with munitions for rocket systems, Unmanned Aerial Systems, and maintenance and repair programs to sustain and bolster its combat power.

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Obama-Biden-Clinton Nuclear Giveaway to Russia a Decade Ago Comes Back to Bite America

Sec State Hillary Clinton

by John Solomon and Steve Richards   The U.S. nuclear energy sector’s dependence on Russian uranium created during a failed Obama-era reset with Moscow is coming back to bite Americans as the Kremlin moves to block future exports of the vital fuel. Vladimir Putin’s new restrictions on uranium exports to the U.S., announced last week, come as the country’s war in Ukraine continues to heighten tensions with the United States and the West. His announcement created an immediate impact, as uranium prices soared and worries grew that American utilities might have trouble meeting electric demand next year. It’s the latest fallout from a series of foreign policy decisions crafted by Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton that inexplicably strengthened Putin’s ability to wage economic warfare with energy supplies such as natural gas and uranium. “Everything the Democrats have done has emboldened Russia and their ability to actually leverage their dirty gas production,” Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., told the Just the News, No Noise television show on Monday night. Tenney’s House district is home to New York’s remaining nuclear power reactors. Enriched uranium is a vital component of nuclear power plants in the United States, which account for a fifth of electricity production…

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Commentary: Making America Safe Again Will Be Donald Trump’s Highest Priority as President

Donald Trump

In my opinion, the most important of all of Donald Trump’s promises during the 2024 presidential campaign was to “make America safe again” by restoring American leadership and peace through strength.

This is because Joe Biden will leave Trump with grave national security challenges around the world. U.S. weakness under Biden, Biden’s frivolous foreign policy that designated climate change as the top U.S. national security threat, and major foreign policy failures have caused U.S. and global security to seriously deteriorate since 2021.

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Commentary: America’s Adversaries Are Rooting for Kamala Harris

Kamala Harris Rally

Although America’s ferociously anti-Trump media refuses to admit it, there is a powerful group of people who cannot vote in the U.S. presidential election but are rooting for Kamala Harris to win: the leaders of China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, terrorist groups, and other U.S. adversaries.

America’s adversaries took full advantage over the past three years of a sharp decline in American global influence and deterrence. This resulted in new wars and massive terrorist attacks, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a surge in provocations and threats by China against Taiwan and in the South China Sea, the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre against Israel, a new 7-front war against Israel, a dangerous increase in Iran’s sponsorship of terrorism and major gains in its nuclear weapons program, a huge increase in North Korean missile tests, 11 million illegal migrants crossing our southern border, and other threats.

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Commentary: After Just Four Years of Biden-Harris, America’s National Security Is in Tatters

China President Xi Jinping and President Joe Biden

Ronald Reagan’s query to the American people in his October 28, 1980, debate with incumbent President Jimmy Carter was so simple and so devastating that it is still employed today: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” While most Americans are far worse off today than they were four years ago, with rising prices, inflation, a hollow economy, and unchecked immigration, so too are the U.S., its allies, and its partner’s national security interests, which are far worse off than they were four years ago.

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Garland Vows to Thwart Foreign Election Interference Ops as DOJ Charges Iranians over Trump Hack

Merrick Garland

Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday vowed to thwart foreign efforts to interfere in the U.S. election after the Justice Department brought charges against a group of Iranians who allegedly hacked the Trump campaign.

The DOJ on Friday filed an indictment of three Iranian nationals for hacking the Trump campaign and distributing its emails to news outlets. All three individuals charged are reportedly members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, NBC News reported.

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Commentary: Nazis, Marxists, and the History of Ideas

Mussolini and Hitler

In light of recent events and discussions attempting to rehabilitate the historical reputation of Germany’s Nazis, it might be worthwhile to re-examine the foundations of the ideology that underpinned National Socialism and its close cousin fascism. Those who embrace the revisionism that excuses the Nazis’ crimes appear to believe that by doing so, they are defending themselves and their ideological brethren from unfair and ahistorical attacks by the broader left. They think—or at least seem to think—that because fascism is considered a “right-wing” ideology that was specifically pitted against both Communism and Western liberalism, it can hardly be as awful as has been assumed and that its association with unvarnished evil is mere propaganda.

They are wrong. Indeed, the very foundations of their sentiments are mistaken and result from the radical mischaracterization of history and the evolution of ideas in the two centuries after the Enlightenment.

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