Trump admin updates: Trump teases 'big day' at White House

President Donald Trump also said Zelenskyy can end the war "almost immediately."

Last Updated: August 18, 2025, 12:09 AM EDT

President Donald Trump returned from Alaska after his high-stakes meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the president's crime-reduction push in Washington, D.C. continues.

National Guard are in Washington as part of Trump's plan to reduce violent crime in the city.

On Friday, an order by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi designating the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration Terry Cole as the District's "Emergency Police Commissioner" was retooled after a legal challenge by local officials.

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Here's how the news is developing.
Aug 14, 2025, 12:43 PM EDT

Trump says 25% chance Putin meeting could fail

President Donald Trump, joining "The Brian Kilmeade Show" on Thursday, indicated there’s a 25% chance that his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin won’t be successful in achieving his goal of securing progress toward a ceasefire.

“This meeting sets up the second meeting, but there is a 25% chance that this meeting will not be a successful meeting, in which case I will run the country and we have made America great again," Trump said.

The president has said he wants the next meeting to include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are seen at the Elysee Palace, Dec. 7, 2024 in Paris, and Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses a Technology Forum in Moscow, Feb. 21, 2025.
AP

Trump even floated that teams stay in Alaska for the second meeting, given the logistics of the event.

"I don't know where we're going to have the second meeting, but we have an idea of three different locations, and will be including the possibility, because it would be by far the easiest of staying in Alaska. You know, we have, we have big flights of and he has the same thing," Trump said.

-ABC News' Kelsey Walsh and Michelle Stoddart

Aug 14, 2025, 9:38 AM EDT

Trump-Putin press conference is the 'plan' after Friday's summit, White House says

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the "plan" on Friday is for President Donald Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin to hold a joint press conference after their meeting.

Leavitt spoke at length on "Fox and Friends" on Thursday morning about Trump's upcoming trip to Alaska. Leavitt declined to get into specifics about Trump's strategy for negotiations ahead of the meeting, but did reiterate his determination to secure a peace deal.

"Tomorrow, bright and early, he will be departing the White House for our joint military base in Anchorage, Alaska, where he will engage in a one-on-one meeting with President Putin, which will be followed by a bilateral lunch with a respective delegation from both countries, and then a press conference," Leavitt said.

PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin | Donald Trump
Russian President Vladimir Putin giving a speech during an event to mark the 1160th anniversary of Russia's statehood in Veliky Novgorod on September 21, 2022, and Donald Trump looking on during a meeting with France's President at the Elysee Palace in Paris, on December 7, 2024.
Ilya Pitalev/SPUTNIK/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Leavitt indicated that there is a plan for a joint press conference after the meeting with both Trump and Putin taking questions.

"Will this be a joint press conference where both sides get to ask Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump?" the reporter asked.

"Yes, that is the plan," Leavitt confirmed.

-ABC News' Michelle Stoddart and Kelsey Walsh

Aug 13, 2025, 7:03 PM EDT

State Department cracks down on Cuba's medical labor export missions

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Trump administration will move to revoke visas and impose visa restrictions on Brazilian officials and former Pan American Health Organization officials, as well as levy visa restrictions against Cuban, African and Grenadan officials and their family members over their “complicity” in what he described as the Cuban government’s medical labor export schemes.

For years, Cuba has allowed countries to bring in medical workers from the country in exchange for financial compensation. The majority of that money goes to the Cuban government -- not the medical workers themselves.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio answers a reporter's question ahead of a meeting with Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric at the State Department, Aug. 6, 2025, in Washington.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP

“This scheme enriches the corrupt Cuban regime while depriving the Cuban people of essential medical care,” Rubio said in a statement.

According to a study commissioned by the State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons report, these and similar labor export programs bring in around $4 billion for Cuba each year.

-ABC News’ Shannon Kingston

Aug 13, 2025, 1:18 PM EDT

Trump says he will seek 'long-term' takeover of DC police force

President Donald Trump said he will seek "long-term" federal control of the D.C. police force during his remarks at the Kennedy Center on Wednesday.

According to Section 740 of D.C.'s Home Rule Act, Trump can only have control of the city's law enforcement for 30 days unless that is extended by Congress.

President Donald Trump takes a question from the press during a visit to the Kennedy Center in Washington, August 13, 2025.
Alex Brandon/AP

When asked whether he'd work with Congress to extend the emergency authorization allowing him to seize temporary control of local law enforcement, Trump responded, "We're going to need a crime bill, that we're going to be putting in, and it's going to pertain initially to D.C."

"We're going to be asking for extensions on that -- long-term extensions, because you can't have 30 days," he continued.

Trump also indicated that this will pertain "initially" to D.C., hinting that it could be a roadmap to be used in other cities in the future.

-ABC News' Michelle Stoddart

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