Europe pushes Trump on red lines in Alaska
▪ Europe, Ukraine hope for chilly Putin summit
▪ The Hill interview: Newsom defends redistricting fight
▪ Progressives take center stage in mayoral contests
▪ Israel steps up Gaza offensive
Strategy was the word of the day on Wednesday as President Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders huddled on a virtual call to unify their positions ahead of Friday's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump and Putin will meet on the outskirts of Anchorage in a highly anticipated one-on-one to discuss the future of the war in Ukraine.
The summit marks the first meeting between a U.S. and Russian leader since before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Despite the high stakes, the White House sought to temper expectations for the talks, using terms like 'listening session' and 'feel-out meeting.'
The White House has steered clear of making any firm commitments about what will come out of Friday's gathering at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, and details have been scarce as officials work to rapidly pull the event together on a week's notice.
'There's a very good chance that we're going to have a second meeting that will be more productive than the first,' Trump said Wednesday. 'Because the first is I'm going to find out where we are and what we're doing.'
FRONT-LINE PUSH: That back-and-forth worries Ukraine's European allies, especially as Moscow escalates its attacks. The Russian military pierced pockets of Ukraine's front lines in the eastern Donetsk region this week, pushing forward despite the planned summit.
Trump, along with European leaders and Zelensky, held a joint meeting Wednesday, organized by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, to discuss Trump's upcoming huddle with Putin. In a joint press conference with Merz after the call, Zelensky said he warned Trump that Putin is 'bluffing' about his openness to a peace deal.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Trump agreed that Ukraine should be involved in any talks on territory. Merz said any negotiations over territory must use the front lines as a 'starting point' but ruled out international recognition of Russia's occupation. But the German chancellor was noncommittal when asked if Trump had agreed to conditions such as providing security guarantees for Ukraine.
'There is hope for movement,' Merz said.
▪ Politico: EU leaders sounded upbeat after their Ukraine call with Trump. They could be in for a rude awakening.
▪ BBC: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer sees a viable chance for a Ukraine ceasefire as Zelensky arrives in London.
▪ The Washington Post: Even before the Alaska summit, Putin is redrawing global order to his liking.
▪ The New York Times: Trump has largely held back from harsh criticism of Putin personally, despite recent complaints about Russian intransigence in ending the war in Ukraine.
THE LAST FRONTIER: Alaska will take a rare step into the spotlight with Friday's summit, an unusual position for the 49th state, which is typically on the periphery of national politics. But the setting will be a key one as Trump and Putin descend on the former Russian colony. Alaskans told The Hill's Al Weaver that they believe it is fitting that talks between the two nations will come to their shores.
WILD CARD: Two days out from the summit, the president's positions continued to shift. Trump on Wednesday threatened 'severe consequences' if Russia did not stop the fighting after this week's summit, then minutes later acknowledged that he is unlikely to be able to get Putin to stop targeting Ukrainian civilians.
Trump said he hoped to arrange a second meeting quickly involving Putin and Zelensky — to make concrete progress on a ceasefire — and that a second meeting might not happen at all
'This isn't my war,' Trump told reporters on Wednesday. 'It is what it is, and I'm here to fix it.'
Smart Take with Blake Burman
New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is upping his rhetoric when it comes to President Trump. New polling from Siena University shows the democratic socialist with a comfortable 19-point lead over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
I asked Scott Tranter, data science director at Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ), where the race stands.
'It's against the conventional wisdom, right? Remember, we talked a month ago, everyone said, 'Hey, we're going to hear about Zohran Mamdani. It's going to eat away at his poll numbers,'' Tranter said. 'Now that's not eating away at his poll numbers. He's getting bigger.'
DDHQ's polling average has Mamdani up by 14 points. While 81 days can be an eternity in politics, and we could potentially see the field shrink, keep in mind that same poll also shows Mamdani as the preferred choice for independents as well as Democrats.
Burman hosts 'The Hill' weeknights, 6p/5c on NewsNation.
3 Things to Know Today
Foreign aid groups that sued to recover billions of dollars in funds frozen by Trump cannot challenge the decision, a federal appeals court ruled.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday said the Federal Reserve's benchmark interest rate should be at least 1.5 percentage points lower than it is now. Trump said Wednesday he has narrowed his search for Fed Chair Jerome Powell's successor to three or four candidates and may announce his choice early.
Two of the law firms that reached deals with Trump this year to avoid punitive executive orders were pressed to help settle trade deals.
Leading the Day
TRUMP DIGS IN ON D.C. POLICING: The president on Wednesday referred to Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) without naming her ('nice woman'), while sounding much like a mayor himself when he expanded his crime-fighting rhetoric to include his disapproval of potholes, damaged curbs and neglected urban maintenance.
Trump also accused the city government of using 'rigged' crime statistics, although the data, which shows a 30-year low in violent crime, comes from the Justice Department.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said the capital will be 'essentially crime free' under his watch and hinted that his 30-day federal takeover of the police might last longer than that. 'We're going to be asking for extensions on that, long-term extensions, because you can't have 30 days, ' he said.
But under home rule law, the president would need approval from Congress to extend the temporary federalization of the city's police.
'No f—ing way,' Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said when asked if Democrats would support an emergency extension. 'We'll fight him tooth and nail,' the senator told Substack's ' The Parnas Perspective,' suggesting some unidentified Senate Republicans privately share misgivings about the president's D.C. crime-fighting tactics.
Trump this week deployed 800 National Guard members to bolster crime fighting in Washington, D.C., on an emergency basis through Sept. 25. In a show of force, guard members fanned out to the National Mall to cluster near popular museums. They appeared unarmed. Some posed for photos and chatted with tourists and passersby.
Trump also has taken aim at the homeless population in Washington, ordering the removal of tent encampments and makeshift shelters. He said on social media that he wants the homeless population moved 'FAR' from the capital.
Those policies remain vague. Washington's unsheltered residents ' will be given the option to leave their encampment, to be taken to a homeless shelter, to be offered addiction or mental health services,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said this week. Those who refuse ' will be susceptible to fines or to jail time,' she added.
▪ The Washington Post: D.C. man who threw a wrapped Subway sandwich at police was arrested on Sunday and charged with a felony.
The president said he plans to push for congressional backing of a crime bill that would ' pertain initially to D.C.' but ultimately become a ' very positive example ' for other cities.
Trump is girding for post-Labor Day clashes with House and Senate Democrats when lawmakers return to Washington ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline to keep the government funded. Some Democrats, including Schumer, have suggested they would shut down the government over their opposition to GOP rescissions of previously appropriated federal funding.
The president said he's willing to meet with House and Senate Democratic leaders for what would be the first time this year, but he argued their expected opposition made such a sit-down seem fruitless.
'Well, I will, I guess, but it's almost a waste of time to meet because they never approve anything,' Trump told reporters on Wednesday.
'If we want money to fight crime, if we want money [for] only good things, just good things — let's not even talk about controversy — they don't want to meet about anything,' he added. 'They are led by insane people.'
Schumer returned fire on social media, using Democrats' messaging to voters that Trump has 'no plan to lower costs for hardworking Americans, or stop cuts to health care, veterans and Social Security.'
▪ The Hill: Blue-state California will redraw congressional maps after Trump 'missed' a deadline, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said Wednesday on social media amid the ongoing redistricting clash sparked by Texas Republicans and Trump over adding House seats to the majority.
Where and When
The president will receive an intelligence briefing at 11 a.m. Trump will deliver remarks in the Oval Office at 1 p.m.
The House will hold a pro forma session on Friday at noon and will return to work in Washington on Sept. 2.
The Senate will hold a pro forma session on Friday at 10:15 a.m.
Zoom In
YOUNG CHILDREN & VACCINES: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) may pull authorization for Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for children younger than 5, an age considered vulnerable during infection. The shift would send states scrambling and complicate parents' efforts to get young children vaccinated ahead of the coming respiratory virus season.
Pfizer has confirmed the FDA may not renew the emergency use authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 6 months to 4 years. The company has asked that authorization for emergency use for young children remain in place.
'It is important to note that these deliberations are not related to the safety and efficacy of the vaccine which continues to demonstrate a favorable profile,' Pfizer told CNN.
Moderna has a COVID-19 vaccine available for children ages 11 and younger, which was granted FDA approval in July — but only for children at 'increased risk for COVID-19 disease.'
Separately, the FDA is weighing whether to require warning labels for use of antidepressants during pregnancy. Doctors say they worry the agency is poised to revive a debate about the drugs' safety, which could discourage pregnant people from seeking needed treatment for depression. 'The risk of birth defects and other problems for babies of mothers who take antidepressants during pregnancy is very low, ' according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
EDUCATION TREPIDATIONS: Students pondering higher education are questioning the value of certain colleges and universities amid a public tug-of-war between the Trump administration and elite institutions, according to consultants who help students apply for admission. They report encountering students' hesitations about high costs, campus tensions, visa pauses and even the foundational arguments about needing a higher degree.
GAZA: Israeli attacks killed at least 25 aid-seekers in Gaza on Wednesday, health officials and witnesses said. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will 'allow' Palestinians to leave the enclave during an upcoming military offensive in Gaza.
Israel said it will widen its military offensive against Hamas to areas of Gaza that it does not yet control, where most of its residents have sought refuge. The plans have sparked condemnation across the globe and within Israel, and they could be intended to raise pressure on Hamas to reach a ceasefire.
Netanyahu supports Trump's vision of relocating many of the 2 million people in Gaza through what the prime minister refers to as 'voluntary migration.' Critics warn the scheme could amount to ethnic cleansing.
'Give them the opportunity to leave. First, from combat zones, and also from the strip if they want,' Netanyahu said in an interview on Israeli television. 'We are not pushing them out but allowing them to leave.'
▪ The New York Times: Israeli ministers take jabs at the military chief as the Gaza plan stokes tensions.
▪ BBC: Humanitarian groups say Israel's vetting process prevents life-saving aid from getting into Gaza.
Opinion
What Trump needs to remember on his way to Alaska, by David Ignatius, columnist, The Washington Post.
Drug approvals hit an FDA wall, by The Wall Street Journal editorial board.
The Closer
Take Our Morning Report Quiz
And finally … It's Thursday, which means it's time for this week's Morning Report Quiz! With war and peace in mind, we're eager for some smart guesses about Alaska, site of a Friday meetup between Trump and Putin.
Be sure to email your responses to asimendinger@thehill.com and kkarisch@thehill.com — please add 'Quiz' to your subject line. Winners who submit correct answers will enjoy some richly deserved newsletter fame on Friday.
Czar Alexander II, under financial strain from the Crimean War, sold Alaska to the United States. What was the price tag for the land deal inked in 1867?
1. $1 million
2. $4 million in gold
3. $7.2 million
4. $10 million
What is Alaska's largest export?
1. Oil and gas
2. Seafood
3. Rare earth minerals
4. Paper
During the 2008 presidential contest, a remark — 'You can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska' — inspired a famous joke about former Gov. Sarah Palin (R) and foreign policy experience. Where did Americans first hear the joke?
1. CBS's 'Late Show with David Letterman'
2. NBC's 'Saturday Night Live' (SNL)
3. ABC's 'Good Morning America'
4. NBC's '30 Rock'
In 2021, top U.S. officials traveled to Alaska for two days of contentious talks with representatives from which nation?
1. Canada
2. Colombia
3. China
4. Chad
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