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Aug 19, 2025 - World

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a Tuesday press briefing that President Donald Trump is putting "tremendous public pressure" on Russia to end its war against Ukraine. Her example was "sanctions on India." "Look, the president has put tremendous public pressure to bring this war to a close. He's taken actions as you've seen — sanctions on India and other actions as well," Leavitt said in a video posted by journalist Aaron Rupar. "He has made himself very clear that he wants to see this war end. And he has scoffed at the ideas of others that have been raised that we should wait another month before any meeting takes place. The president wants to move, and he wants to bring this war to an end as quickly as possible."Trump alleged that India is indirectly financing Russia by making massive profits from its oil trade. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC on Tuesday that India is "just profiteering. They're reselling. This is what I would call the Indian arbitrage — buying cheap Russian oil, reselling it as product."Matt Smith, oil market analyst at Kpler, told CNBC, "India buys Russian oil at a discount due to sanctions, refines it into gasoline and diesel, and then sells the product back to regions that have sanctioned Moscow such as Europe."Before the invasion, India imported a minor amount of Russian crude oil. Now, however, CNBC said that imports of Russian oil have "surged." Currently, India is Russia's largest customer of oil, followed by China as the second-largest. Trump issued an additional 25% tariff on India that will begin at the end of the month, the Times of India noted Monday. Meanwhile, any crude oil being sold from Russia to India is on hold.Ahead of his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump told the press that he wasn't sure about whether he'd impose secondary sanctions on purchasers of Russian oil, in addition to the Indian producers. "If I have to do it, I'll do it. Maybe I won't have to do it," said Trump. Trump offered to relax sanctions in February if Putin agreed to a ceasefire, Bloomberg reported at the time. It wasn't a successful pitch, however. While the administration has threatened additional sanctions against Russia, it hasn't instituted any; instead, it has targeted India. See the clip below or at the link here. — (@)

Aug 19, 2025 - World

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell was caught off guard after conservative news outlet Newsmax settled a defamation suit with Dominion Voting Systems by agreeing to pay $67 million over bogus 2020 election claims.During a Tuesday appearance on his Lindell TV network, the pillow executive said he didn't understand why Newsmax would settle because President Donald Trump had hinted at an executive order banning voting machines."I think it's bizarre," Lindell remarked. "I think [network CEO] Chris Ruddy and the lawyers over at Newsmax are completely oblivious to what's coming out of the White House.""It's the most nonsensical thing I've ever seen," he continued. "We're getting rid of the machines. They've all got to go. For Newsmax to do this, I couldn't believe it."Lindell insisted that voting machine companies' "days were numbered" in the U.S."This stuff isn't just about getting rid of the machines," he said. "We're going to, the problems are going to be shown and what happened in the 2020 election.""We're not stopping until we show what actually happened and not just that election, other elections, and how fast the crimes go all the way back to Venezuela with these machine companies," Lindell added.The MyPillow CEO asserted that he would "never" stop attacking Dominion, even though he is facing a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit from the company.Watch the video below from Lindell TV.

Aug 18, 2025 - World

President Donald Trump issued his vision of a peace plan for the war in Ukraine from his Truth Social account on Monday, a plan that one expert said could "go off the rails at any moment."The plan was issued after Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and several leaders of European nations at the White House. "During the meeting we discussed Security Guarantees for Ukraine, which Guarantees would be provided by the various European Countries, with a coordination with the United States of America," Trump's post reads in part. "Everyone is very happy about the possibility of PEACE for Russia/Ukraine."The plan raised several questions for Julia Ioffe, a founding member and Washington correspondent for Puck News. Ioffe appeared on CNN's "The Lead with Jake Tapper," hosted by Pamela Brown, on Monday, to discuss the plan. "First, wow," the Russian-born American journalist said about the plan. "Second of all, I'll believe it when I see it."Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that he would not accept security guarantees from NATO or European countries to end the war in Ukraine. Ioffe found it curious that the European delegation would discuss security guarantees based on Putin's past statements. "What kind of security guarantees are acceptable for Ukraine but not too much for Russia?" Ioffe asked. She also noted that Putin appears to want to end the war and secure his gains in Ukraine. However, Trump has given Putin no reason to stop the war, she added. There are also outstanding questions about whether Russia will be allowed to keep Ukrainian land or if it will have to give back land that it has taken, Ioffe noted."We'll see, but this could go off the rails at any moment," she said. Watch the entire clip below or by clicking here.

Aug 18, 2025 - World

President Donald Trump has evolved on his demand for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, and MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace thinks she knows why. Wallace began with the Oval Office meeting on Monday between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. "Trump largely behaved himself. That counts as news," she said. When it comes to the ceasefire, however, Trump has been all over the place since Friday. "He did, though, either wittingly or unwittingly, make some news," Wallace continued. "It had to do with the necessity for a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia. Listen to what Trump had to say on the topic throughout last week. And now something seemingly changed on that topic this afternoon."She played several clips of Trump promising a ceasefire. "It could be a good meeting, and we'll go a step further. We'll get it done," Trump promised on Aug. 11. "I'd like to see a ceasefire very, very quickly.""I want to see a ceasefire rapidly," Trump said on Friday. "I don't know if it's going to be today. But I'm not going to be happy if it's not today.""So, uh, we'll see what happens," Trump told Fox News, also on Friday. "I won't be happy without some form of a ceasefire." But things changed Monday afternoon. Wallace remarked that it was after he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. "I don't think you need a ceasefire, you know? If you look at the deals that I settled this year, they were all at war, I didn't do any ceasefires," said Trump. "And, uh, I know that it might be good to have, but I can also understand strategically, well, one country or the other wouldn't want it. You have a ceasefire and they rebuild, and rebuild, and rebuild, and, you know. Maybe they don't want that. But if you look at the six deals that we made, peace and, you know, long-term, long-running wars, I didn't do any ceasefires."Wallace said Russia doesn't want a ceasefire. "So all of a sudden a ceasefire — I don't do ceasefires. We don't need those. Then, about an hour ago, Donald Trump shared this news on a key piece of any negotiations, security guarantees for Ukraine."See the clip below or at the link here. - YouTube www.youtube.com

Aug 18, 2025 - World

Republican leadership in Texas refused to let Democratic state Rep. Nicole Collier leave the House chamber after she refused to agree to a 24/7 police "escort."For the first time in days on Monday, the Texas House of Representatives achieved a quorum following Democratic lawmakers' decision to return to the state despite an ongoing redistricting battle that could award five or more seats to Republicans.House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R) said that Democrats who left the state would only be allowed to leave the chamber on Monday if they signed an agreement to be accompanied by an escort from the Texas Department of Public Safety. NBC News correspondent Ryan Chandler reported that Collier was "locked into the House chamber" because she refused to sign the document."Members are really not happy with the individual DPS escorts," Chandler noted. "Say they are not free to move on their own.""In my heart I don't feel compelled to sign it," Collier told Chandler. "I'll just sit here, I don't know… I guess I'll wait til Wednesday."