Free Republic

President Joe Biden may cancel a state visit to the United Kingdom if a deal is not reached on the Northern Ireland Protocol of the Brexit treaty, according to reports. Former British premier Boris Johnson’s rehashed version of Remain voter Theresa May’s Brexit deal left Northern Ireland — an integral part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as the name would suggest — effectively still inside the European Union for the purposes of customs and regulations, with EU judges still having jurisdiction in the Province.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday made an unannounced visit to Bakhmut, a city in eastern Ukraine that has experienced intense Russian shelling for weeks. Zelensky’s office said the president visited with soldiers fighting to defend the city and presented them with awards. “The president listened to the commander’s report on the operational situation, logistical support and proposals for further actions,” Zelensky’s office said. “While in the area of hostilities, Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the Ukrainian warriors for their courage, resilience and strength, which they demonstrate while repelling enemy attacks.” Russia has attempted for weeks to take Bakhmut, which could allow...

Wednesday on FNC’s “Hannity,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) commented on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D-CA) visit to the southern border, which he said was a sign Newsom was considering a 2024 presidential run. Graham noted Newsom’s remarks, which he said showed a “pivot” from the Democratic Party’s position on border security. “Newsom going to the border tells me he’s serious about running,” Graham said. “He’s doing the one thing a Democrat has to do if they want to be viable in 2024. Admit the obvious. The border is broken. I understand it’s broken, and I intend to fix it.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday said he would not visit the southern border during his trip to Arizona, despite an ongoing migration crisis. The president spoke briefly with reporters as he left the White House for a trip to Arizona to promote new investments in semiconductor chip manufacturing. When asked why he was going to a border state without visiting the border, Biden replied, “Because there are more important things going on.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday took another jab at Elon Musk, suggesting he come and visit Ukraine to see the war for himself after the billionaire last month proposed Ukraine cede territory to Russia. Zelensky, appearing at The New York Times’s DealBook Summit, said he wasn’t sure if someone has had an “influence” on Musk, but added he should visit the country to better understand the conflict. “If you want to understand what Russia has done here, come to Ukraine and you will see this with your own eyes without any extra words,” Zelensky said. “And after that, you...

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), the likely next Speaker of the House, will visit the border on Tuesday to spotlight President Joe Biden’s failure to curb the inflow of terror suspects and fentanyl. On “Tuesday, I’m going down to the border again,” McCarthy declared at a Saturday meeting of Republican supporters in Las Vegas, adding: We’re gonna get a new update [on the border] because you know why? When I become Speaker [of the House], we’re going to move a hearing down on the border, and I’m going make it bipartisan on both sides. Another promise I’ll make you — I...

US President Joe Biden has departed Bethlehem and is on his way to Ben-Gurion... (President Biden spoke alongside Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem and said: "The Palestinian people are in pain now, we feel the frustration and helplessness in Washington.)

President Volodymyr Zelensky got a first-hand look at the destruction in the frontline southern port city of Mykolaiv, a rare trip for the Ukrainian leader outside the capital of Kyiv, according to reports. Zelensky’s office posted a video on Telegram of the visit to the city of roughly 485,000 people near the Black Sea, which has been repeatedly pummeled by Russian shelling.

A Twitter pal compared this to FDR visiting American soldiers during the Battle of the Bulge. Jonathan Last calls it literally Churchillian, since Churchill also made a point of visiting the front repeatedly to remind his men that their leaders hadn’t forgotten them or their sacrifice.That’s important at this stage of the war, now that Kiev and Kharkiv have been liberated while Ukrainian troops in the Donbas are going through hell. Eighty percent of the country, including the capital, is facing nothing more than occasional airstrikes. Businesses are open, embassies are operating, life has regained a semblance of normalcy. The...

President Biden will visit Saudi Arabia this month after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed Thursday to increase production, according to multiple reports. OPEC’s decision to expand production could help Biden tamp down domestic inflation, which at 8.3% was near a four-decade high in April, driven in part by soaring energy prices.

President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that he and first lady Jill Biden would travel to Uvalde, Texas, after a mass shooting at an elementary school. Biden said his trip to the Uvalde community would “let them know that we have a sense, just a sense of their pain and hopefully bring some little comfort to the community in shock, and grief, and in trauma.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell took three Republican senators along on a surprise trip to Kyiv Saturday for a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — where he called on the US to designate Russia as a “terrorist state.” “I believe that this visit once again demonstrates … the strength of ties between the Ukrainian and American nations,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address, even as a bipartisan bill to send $40 billion in additional aid remained stalled in Congress — while both Finland and Sweden inched closer to joining NATO.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that President Biden has no plans to visit Ukraine despite first lady Jill Biden’s recent trip to the country. When asked in a press conference if the first lady’s trip would “change the calculations” for President Biden, Psaki said he would “love” to go to Ukraine but has no current plans to do so.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan made a surprise visit to Ukraine on Monday. The Catholic archbishop of New York posted a video to Twitter from Lviv in western Ukraine. “We didn’t know for sure if we’d be able to get here, but — thanks be to God — we were able to leave Poland yesterday and come here to Ukraine,” said Dolan, who has been touring refugee and aid facilities in neighboring Poland and Slovakia.

President Biden agreed to visit Israel in the coming months during a call with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Sunday. In a readout of the call, the White House said Biden and Bennett also spoke about shared regional and global security issues, including the threat Iran and its proxies present.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that President Joe Biden should come to Ukraine. Anchor Jake Tapper said, “President Biden called what Putin is doing here genocide. President Macron of France said that he didn’t think it was constructive to raise the rhetoric like that, that it wasn’t healthy. What was your response to both Biden and Macron?

Montana Sen. Steve Daines (R) and Ukrainian-American Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) this week became the first American lawmakers to travel to Ukraine in the aftermath of the Russian invasion, with Daines concluding after their visit that there is “indisputable evidence of war crimes” in the country. The pair spoke with Ukrainian officials on the ground and traveled to various sites of destruction from the war.

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson has made a surprise visit to Kyiv (Kiev) for a sit-down meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky. The visit was revealed by the Embassy of Ukraine to the United Kingdom in a social media post showing the British and Ukrainian leaders sitting together at a conference table flanked by the British and Ukrainian flags.

First lady Jill Biden will make a visit to Kentucky on Thursday to accompany state and federal officials as they survey the damage from the tornados that tore through the state last month. "First Lady Jill Biden and Deputy FEMA Administrator Erik Hooks will travel to Bowling Green, Kentucky where they will join Governor Andy Beshear and First Lady Britainy Beshear to survey recovery efforts following the devastation from recent tornadoes," the White House said in a statement.

President Biden during a Saturday press conference called the impact of the severe storms and tornadoes that swept through multiple states in the Midwest and South Friday night into Saturday morning, killing at least 70 people and destroying livelihoods, “a tragedy.” Speaking from Wilmington, Delaware, he said, “I want folks in all these states to know we're going to get through this. We're going to get through this together and the federal government is not going to walk away."