Free Republic

The United States has already struck 200 trade deals, President Donald Trump said in an interview this week — but he refused to say with whom. Trump’s comments come just two weeks after he announced a 90-day pause on most of the sweeping global tariffs he imposed earlier this month to allow time for trade negotiations with hundreds of countries slugged by the punishing levies. Only China was exempted from the 90-day pause. “I’ve made 200 deals,” Trump told Time Magazine in a wide-ranging interview published Friday, “100%.” Pressed on which countries he had made deals with, Trump refused to...

Russian President Vladimir Putin said during his Thursday news conference that he has “reservations” about a 30-day ceasefire proposal in the Ukraine war, saying it’s not clear how the situation would develop in the region of Kursk and elsewhere if a ceasefire was implemented. Putin lauded the US idea as “great and correct” and said Russia supports it in theory, but there are many things that still need to be discussed before a deal is agreed to. Putin went on to raise many questions about a potential ceasefire, including how it would be verified. He also said the ceasefire must...

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has suggested that NATO’s Article 5 collective security protections be extended to Ukraine, without offering it full membership in the Alliance. She made this statement while speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the EU leaders' meeting in Brussels. "Clearly, the main issue is peace in Ukraine, and I believe we must all do everything we can to support the peace process, welcoming the U.S. initiative and those working towards peace. However, a just peace requires clear security guarantees," Meloni stated.

France is proposing a partial one-month truce between Russia and Ukraine, Emmanuel Macron and his foreign minister have said, as European efforts to bolster support for Kyiv accelerate in the face of uncertain US backing. On Monday, a day after European leaders rallied around Ukraine at a summit in London, Jean-Noël Barrot said: “Such a truce – on air, sea and energy infrastructure – would allow us to determine whether Vladimir Putin is acting in good faith” and gauge his attitude to “real peace negotiations”.

I have repeatedly urged President Trump that it is crucial for this war to end with a decisive and unmistakable defeat for Putin and Russia.

Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger is expected to return to a courtroom this week ahead of his summer murder trial for the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students in November 2022. A hearing Thursday will consider 12 suppression motions filed by Kohberger’s defense. It will be the first time Kohberger has been back in court in over two months, when his defense team asked a Boise judge to “sanction” prosecutors over “inadequate disclosures” through the discovery process. His defense team is requesting expert witnesses be excluded from the case as a solution. His team is attempting to have...

Ron DeSantis came out against our current blank check n’ hack cliches Ukraine policy, stating the indisputable truth that Ukraine was not a vital US interest worthy of risking World War III with Russia. The next day he was proven right when a Russian SU-27 knocked a US Reaper drone into the Black Sea. Hey, feeding Russians (and Ukrainians) into a meat grinder is all fun and games until we get dragged into the abattoir too. Of course, all the right people got really mad about it – when Bill Kristol, Adam Kinzinger, David French, Max Boot and Mitt Romney...

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick – a Democrat serving a 28-year sentence for corruption – is seeking President Donald Trump’s help to get out of prison early, according to reports. Kilpatrick, writing on the Free Kwame Project website, says he has undergone a spiritual transformation since resigning from office in 2008 following a text-messaging sex scandal. “By God’s grace, I have received a pardon from Him, through Christ Jesus. I pray that I will receive the opportunity for Pardon/Clemency from the President of the United States as well,” he writes.