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First Post
21-07-2025
- Politics
- First Post
Did JD Vance secretly meet Rupert Murdoch before WSJ bombshell on Trump's letter to Epstein?
US Vice President JD Vance and his wife Usha on Tuesday flew to Montana to reportedly meet Rupert Murdoch, the owner of the Wall Street Journal. The development came a day before the outlet published its sensational piece about Donald Trump and the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump has since sued the Journal and Murdoch for $10 billion. What do we know about the meeting? read more US Vice President JD Vance with his wife Usha Vance. AP Did JD Vance secretly meet Rupert Murdoch before the Wall Street Journal dropped its bombshell story? That's the scuttlebutt inside Washington DC. The Journal last week published a salacious story about Trump and Epstein, alleging that a 2003 album created for the disgraced, late sex offender by Ghislaine Maxwell featured the US president's name and a drawing by him. The development came as Trump faced mounting outrage from his Make America Great Again (Maga) base over Epstein, who his administration maintained had no 'client list'. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Epstein died in jail during the first Trump administration. While authorities have said he committed suicide, many claim he was murdered. Trump has claimed that the note, which spoke of 'wonderful secrets' is fake. Trump is alleged to have had long-standing ties to Epstein. In 2002, he in a high-profile piece covering Epstein referred to him as a 'terrific guy' who he had 'known for years.'. But what do we know about this meeting between Vance and Murdoch? What was on the agenda? Does Trump need to watch his back? What we know Vance and his wife Usha flew to Montana on Tuesday, a day before the Journal published its sensational piece about his boss. Vance and Usha made the trip on Air Force Two – the Vice-President's official plane. Their plane touched down in Butte near the Murdoch family ranch in Montana. Butte is around 110 kilometres from the ranch. Murdoch bought the ranch from the Koch brothers, another famous billionaire family, in 2021. He is said to have paid around $280 million for the property. It is spread across two valleys and a mountain range and has around 12,000 cattle. It is near Yellowstone National Park along the Montana-Idaho border. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Vance met Murdoch, who stepped down from the post of CEO of Fox News and News Corp in 2023, as well as his son and successor Lachlan. A number of Fox executives were also present at the meeting. The meeting is said to have been brief. What was said in the meeting remains top secret. Rupert Murdoch and his son and successor Lachlan Murdoch. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the vice president's aircraft was only on the ground for just a few hours. Vance and Usha are thought to have taken a short hike during their trip to Montana. They were accompanied by Montana State Auditor James Brown, who reportedly helped plan the visit. Brown said he met the vice president when Vance landed at the airport and then helped escort Vance's entourage on an hourlong drive by driving second lady Usha Vance's staff. Does Trump need to watch his back? It all depends. Is Vance angling to get the top job himself? Did the Murdochs let Vance know what was coming and prepare him for any potential fallout? STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD While some might consider this far-fetched, they may do well to remember that Trump was not keen on picking Vance as his vice-president. He was thought to favour North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum for the position. However, billionaire Peter Thiel and other big Trump backers are thought to have pushed for Vance – with whom he has had a long relationship – to get the position. Some even speculated that many Trump backers were trying to position Vance as the successor to Trump. However, it must be noted that Vance has thus far remained loyal to Trump. He earlier at least somewhat reconciled Musk and Trump. The prior relationship between Murdoch and Trump is also instructive. Unlike Musk, Murdoch is also a lifelong conservative. In fact, Murdoch even attended Trump's inauguration earlier this year. He even visited him in the Oval Office. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD So is his son Lachlan, who is said to be even more strident about politics than his father. They have both been long-time backers of the Republican Party and conservative causes. It must also be pointed out that Vance is also the chief of the Republican National Committee's finance chair. He is basically the man who is spearheading fundraising for his party's midterms in 2026. So Vance could have simply been soliciting money from the Murdochs – who could theoretically donate unlimited amounts to his party thanks to the US Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling – or getting their ideological ducks in a row. The Trump lawsuit Trump's lawsuit filed in Miami federal court names Murdoch, Dow Jones, News Corp and its Chief Executive Robert Thomson, and two Wall Street Journal reporters as defendants, saying they defamed Trump and caused him to suffer 'overwhelming' financial and reputational harm. Dow Jones, the parent of the newspaper, is a division of News Corp. 'We have just filed a POWERHOUSE Lawsuit against everyone involved in publishing the false, malicious, defamatory, FAKE NEWS 'article' in the useless 'rag' that is, The Wall Street Journal,' Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. Donald Trump has announced a $10 billion dollar lawsuit against the Murdochs and the Wall Street Journal. 'I hope Rupert and his 'friends' are looking forward to the many hours of depositions and testimonies they will have to provide in this case,' Trump added. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD A spokesperson for Dow Jones said in a statement: 'We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit.' The lawsuit called Trump's alleged birthday greeting "fake," and said the Journal published its article to harm Trump's reputation. 'Tellingly, the Article does not explain whether Defendants have obtained a copy of the letter, have seen it, have had it described to them, or any other circumstances that would otherwise lend credibility to the Article,' the lawsuit said. To prevail on his defamation claims, Trump must show the defendants acted with 'actual malice,' meaning they knew the article was false or acted with reckless disregard for its truth. A $10 billion award would far exceed the largest defamation judgments and settlements in recent history. These include a $1.5 billion judgment against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and Fox News' settlement with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million. 'Ten billion dollars is a ridiculously high number,' said Jesse Gessin, a lawyer with experience in defamation and First Amendment litigation. 'It would be the largest defamation verdict in US history.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Trump has taken aim at the WSJ in recent weeks calling it a 'rotten newspaper', a 'rag' and claiming that it has 'gone to hell'. The Journal, unlike Fox News, has been extremely critical of Trump's second administration particularly on tariffs. With inputs from agencies
Daily Mail
20-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
JD Vance visited Murdoch ranch one month before Epstein revelations
JD Vance made a trip to Rupert Murdoch 's Montana ranch one month before his newspaper published that Donald Trump sent Jeffrey Epstein a salacious birthday card. The vice president spoke with the 94-year-old media mogul, his son Lachlan Murdoch and a group of other Fox News executives at the $280 million estate on June 11, sources told the Associated Press around the time of the visit last month. The exact nature of the meeting and Vance's conversation with the group was not disclosed - but it appeared to be brief. Murdoch and other top executives are known for hosting powerful politicians across the summer at their sprawling estates. According to flight restrictions issued by the Federal Aviation Administration, the vice presidential aircraft, Air Force Two, was only on the ground for a matter of hours. It landed in Butte – which is approximately 70 miles from the Murdoch ranch – around 2.30pm, according to NBC Montana. Murdoch bought the 340,000-acre Beaverhead cattle ranch from the billionaire Koch family, which had owned the property for 70 years, in 2021. The ranch, located near Yellowstone National Park, is one of the largest in the state, and has a nearly 28-mile long private trout fishing river and is populated by elk, antelope and mule deer. After the Murdoch meeting, the vice president and his wife, Usha, then took a hike, Montana State Auditor James Brown, who helped plan the trip, told Montana Talks. Air Force Two then departed shortly after nightfall, an airport source told Politico's West Wing Playbook. Murdoch and his media organization have long been friendly with Republicans and the Trump administration. He appeared at Trump's inauguration and was spotted earlier this year in the Oval Office. However, their relationship has appeared to have soured and Trump launched a blistering attack on Murdoch's newspaper the Wall Street Journal. One month after Vance's mysterious meeting, the Journal reported that Trump sent Epstein the card in 2003 as part of a collection collated by Ghislaine Maxwell. Trump has furiously denied the allegations and hit the newspaper and its owner with a $10 billion lawsuit. Trump's lawsuit, obtained by shows the libel suit filed in the Southern District of Florida against WSJ, Dow Jones, Rupert Murdoch and the paper's reporters who published the story in what Trump called a 'powerhouse' suit on Truth Social. Trump is requesting a jury trial and is suing 'for damages, punitive damages, court costs, and such other relief as the Court deems just and proper, not to be less than $10 billion dollars.' A bombshell report in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday claimed Trump wrote a 'bawdy' 50th birthday card to Epstein, which concluded: 'Happy Birthday - and may every day be another wonderful secret.' The newspaper said it had reviewed a typewritten letter bearing Trump's signature, framed by the seemingly hand-drawn outline of a naked woman, that Ghislaine Maxwell included in a 2003 birthday album. In the text, the paper claimed Trump wrote: 'We have certain things in common, Jeffrey' and that both of them know that 'there must be more to life than having everything.' The message is said to have included an X-rated drawing of a naked woman, with Trump's famous signature squiggle written across her genitals to mimic pubic hair. According to the Journal, the naked woman appeared to have been hand-drawn with a marker, with a pair of arcs indicating the woman's breasts and a squiggly signature reading 'Donald' appearing in her pubic region, mimicking hair. 'I never wrote a picture in my life. I don't draw pictures of women,' Trump told the WSJ. 'It's not my language. It's not my words.' Trump has denied writing the letter or drawing the picture, calling it 'false, malicious, and defamatory.' The Wall Street Journal bombshell, which Trump thoroughly denounced on social media, comes amid major MAGA outrage over a DOJ and FBI report published last week indicating no further Epstein-related files will be released. Since then, Republicans in Congress have faced pressure from their constituents to force the DOJ to release the files and conservative influencers have been pressuring lawmakers to act.
Time of India
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
How Robert Hunt convinced the world he was a NASA astronaut (and a dozen other things)
Source: Instagram/@from_quarks_to_quasars You might imagine there are few professions on Earth you could convincingly impersonate, especially ones like astronaut, fighter pilot, or Navy SEAL. Jobs that require top-clearance, rigorous physical tests, and years of specialized training. But Robert Hunt, a man from Medford, Massachusetts, somehow managed to convince the world he was all of them. By the time he was 27, Hunt had racked up an extraordinary list of fabricated identities: television producer, inventor of a spray-on diaper cream, U.S. Senator, Marine, baseball star, and most famously, NASA astronaut. In an interview with conducted over six phone calls in March 2025, Hunt proudly declared: 'I was literally the best at what I did.' Early signs of a born conman According to The Boston Herald, Hunt's father, Leo, recalled his son's first con at the age of 14, when he sold a neighbor painted sparrows as yellow canaries. 'When the birds Roy [Robert] sold him took a bath, all the paint, or yellow chalk, or whatever the hell it was, started to come off. And they were sparrows! Sparrows!' His obsession with space reportedly began at age 7, the night he watched the Apollo 11 moon landing on TV. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Trending in in 2025: Local network access control [Click Here] Esseps Learn More Undo From there, the fantasy only grew. reported that during the Vietnam War, teenage Hunt would sneak into Chelsea Naval Hospital, dress in discarded military uniforms, and salute himself in the mirror. In 1979, Hunt claimed he joined the Marine Corps under a delayed-entry program. But after an administrative error, he was sent home from Parris Island with an 'honorable discharge.' 'It was disappointing, because that was my dream,' he told 'I knew everything there was about the Marine Corps and the Navy, so when I graduated, I just carried on the dream.' According to he began bluffing his way onto military bases, slipping into barracks, and claiming fake credentials. 'I knew the curriculum; I knew the commands; I knew the structure.' That same year, he reportedly dressed as a second lieutenant and snuck into Pease Air Force Base in New Hampshire, where his first wife worked. He was later caught snooping around Air Force Two—the Vice President's jet. The incident ended with an FBI investigation and the collapse of his marriage. Building a fake astronaut Through the 1980s, Hunt used doctored military records and borrowed evaluation reports to build an elaborate identity. He forged documents to show he was a helicopter pilot with Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 461, according to He admitted: 'You just had to have the balls to do it.' With fake credentials, he procured flight suits, Navy astronaut wings (purchased for $20), and even gave himself a promotion, becoming 'Capt. Hunt, America's youngest Marine astronaut.' He claimed to have trained at the Johnson Space Center, studied rocket boosters at Morton Thiokol, and flown classified missions aboard the space shuttle Atlantis. He told audiences: 'Atlantis reaches seven Gs during takeoff and glides in from 220,000 feet with zero power.' He showed off blackened 'heat tiles' from his alleged shuttle reentry, tiles that were actually burnt kitchen flooring. In 1989, Hunt was riding high on his fantasy life. He gave motivational talks, spoke at schools, and was even honored with honorary citizenship in Dublin, Ireland in December 1988. During one speech, he described 'top secret' space missions and bombing runs over Libya from an F/A-18 jet launched from the USS Coral Sea. According to state trooper Andrew Palombo, who later investigated him, the stories were pure fiction. The Beginning of the end In January 1989, Trooper Palombo received a complaint at Logan Airport. A woman claimed that a NASA astronaut had visited her home in full Marine uniform, convinced her 18-year-old son to enlist, and when he changed his mind, demanded $4,000 for a 'Pentagon favor' to cancel the enlistment. The astronaut? 'Captain Robert Hunt.' Palombo, quoted by The Daily Item, learned that Hunt had been discharged from the Marine Reserve in 1979 after a psychological evaluation. Furious at the impersonation, Palombo began digging deeper. 'He got the stuff on credit by posing on the phone as an officer and a gentleman... It was worth about $1,000, and of course, he didn't pay for it.' He told The Boston Herald: 'He's a flim-flam man... we figure he's squeezed at least $60,000 out of people since September.' On January 28, 1989, Palombo searched Hunt's home. What he found was astounding: police badges, NASA helmets, flight jumpsuits, medals from wars that happened before Hunt was even born. He was arrested for larceny. On trial, Hunt pleaded guilty to larceny by false pretenses for using his wife's corporate card and swindling $4,000 from the recruit's family. He received a two-year suspended sentence and walked free by May 1989. From astronaut to fake SEAL commando Freedom didn't slow him down. He briefly considered honest work—as a plumber—but instead used the money to buy another Navy uniform. 'That's when I became a commando,' he told He showed up at the Presidio of San Francisco as the commander of SEAL Team Six, slept in officers' quarters, and spent three weeks working in an emergency operations center before being arrested again. After being caught parking in a general's reserved spot, the FBI charged him with false impersonation. He pleaded guilty in July 1994 and served one year in prison. Even after prison, Hunt's con continued. Trooper Palombo—far outside his jurisdiction, kept tabs on him. When Hunt started dating a wealthy Canadian golfer and claimed to be a federal drug agent, Palombo tipped off Canadian authorities. Palombo died in 1998 in a motorcycle crash. Hunt, years later, expressed regret: 'What I regret is the people who got hurt.' After the September 11 attacks and increased scrutiny, Hunt admitted his schemes became 'impossible.' The Stolen Valor Act of 2005 also made it illegal to claim military awards or decorations fraudulently. According to Hunt now lives quietly in New Hampshire, works in construction, and spends his free time watching the History Channel. 'I eventually grew up,' he said. 'I stopped dreaming of space.'
The Hill
25-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Putin shows more signs of ignoring Trump on ending Ukraine war
Russian President Vladimir Putin is increasingly showing signs of ignoring President Trump's entreaties to work toward an end to the Ukraine war, something Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had long warned. Russia overnight launched one of the largest missile and drone attacks on Ukraine yet, killing at least a dozen people and injuring scores more. Zelensky in posts on social media said nearly 300 attack drones had been launched by Russia overnight, as well as 70 millions of various types, including ballistic missiles. Kyiv was attacked as part of the onslaught, as well as 11 other regions, Zelensky said. 'These were deliberate strikes on ordinary cities. Ordinary residential buildings were destroyed and damaged. In Kyiv, dormitories of the university's history department were hit,' he said. 'There were also strikes on enterprises. Tragically, people were killed, including children.' Zelensky, who Trump memorably chewed out in an Oval Office meeting in February, said the new strikes were a justification of new sanctions on Russia, which he accessed of dragging out the war. 'The world may go on a weekend break, but the war continues, regardless of weekends and weekdays. This cannot be ignored,' said Zelensky, who argued that 'silence of America, silence of others around the world only encourage Putin.' Trump vowed to end the Russia-Ukraine war during last year's campaign but has had little success in doing so. The new assault by Russia comes after diplomatic efforts by Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to push Putin toward the negotiating table. Rubio earlier this month said peace would only be possible after a Putin and Trump phone call, essentially saying lower-level negotiators could do little without a push from Putin. On Monday, Trump held a two-hour call with Putin, and later spoke with Zelensky. After the call, he said Kyiv and Moscow needed to discuss a peace plan, effectively backing away from his previous calls for an immediate ceasefire. Trump has outlined a global sanctions regime in which Russia's crucial oil exports are cut off, by imposing penalties on both Russia and its key trading partners. Following the calls on Monday, he told reporters he remained optimistic that Putin would come around to peace. 'I think he's had enough. It's been a long time. This has been going on for more than three years,' Trump said. He added that Putin was having trouble 'extraditing' himself from the war, echoing comments from Vice President Vance heading into the discussion. 'I'm not sure that Vladimir Putin has a strategy himself for how to unwind the war,' Vance told reporters on Air Force Two. Other observers might argue that Putin has little interest in ending the war. At times it also has appeared that Putin is calling Trump's bluff by concluding that the U.S. president will not follow through on threats of sanctions against Russia. Zelensky, for his part, said Sunday there would be little progress unless Trump truly followed up with efforts to pressure Russia. 'Without truly strong pressure on the Russian leadership, this brutality cannot be stopped. Sanctions will certainly help. Determination matters now – the determination of the United States, of European countries, and of all those around the world who seek peace,' he wrote. 'The world knows all the weaknesses of the Russian economy. The war can be stopped, but only through the necessary force of pressure on Russia. Putin must be forced to think not about launching missiles, but about ending the war.' Trump envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellog condemned the violence in a post on X on Sunday, though his statement did not explicitly single out Russia or Putin for blame. 'This is Kyiv. The indiscriminate killing of women and children at night in their homes is a clear violation of the 1977 Geneva Peace Protocols designed to protect innocents. These attacks are shameful. Stop the killing. Ceasefire now,' Kellog wrote.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Will Vance remark about US bailing on Ukraine encourage Putin to sink nascent peace talks?
Vice President JD Vance's suggestion this week that the U.S. could walk away from supporting Ukraine if peace talks with Russia stagnate could serve as catnip for the Kremlin, according to experts who say Russian President Vladimir Putin might choose to smother progress in hopes of getting America to wash "its hands of the war." While President Donald Trump has indicated that the U.S. may disengage from the negotiations as a last resort if they prove futile, Vance has taken the rhetoric a step further by saying the U.S. is definitely open to doing so. "We're more than open to walking away," Vance told reporters on board Air Force Two on Monday, just moments before a high-stakes phone call between Trump and Putin. "The United States is not going to spin its wheels here. We want to see outcomes." But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy cautioned that no one wins if the U.S. steps aside from the talks, except for Russia. "It is crucial for all of us that the United States does not distance itself from the talks and the pursuit of peace because the only one who benefits from that is Putin," Zelenskyy wrote in a Monday post on X. Vance's remark about abandoning mediation between the two countries would only embolden Russia, even though a lack of U.S. involvement still wouldn't give Putin everything he wants, according to John Hardie, the deputy director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies' Russia program, a nonprofit research institute based in Washington. Read On The Fox News App For the moment, Moscow still benefits from U.S. involvement in the talks because the Kremlin wants the U.S. to help advance a deal that benefits Russia and alleviates sanctions, Hardie said. "But, for the Kremlin, the United States washing its hands of the war would be the next best outcome if it means an end or reduction to U.S. support for Ukraine, especially since President Trump may well move to normalize relations with Russia anyhow," Hardie told Fox News Digital. "So the administration's threat to walk away risks perversely incentivizing Kremlin intransigence. A better approach would be to ramp up the economic and military pressure on Russia if Putin continues to reject compromise." Russia still desires normalization with the U.S., which can only happen if the war ends swiftly and relatively amicably, said Peter Rough, a senior fellow and director of the Center on Europe and Eurasia at the Hudson Institute think tank. "That reset in relations is a giant carrot the administration is dangling in front of the Kremlin," Rough told Fox News Digital. "If the U.S. walks away because Russia will not make peace, however, then that carrot disappears as well." Rough noted that other administration officials besides Vance, including Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have mentioned the possibility of walking away from a deal, so Vance's comments don't necessarily reflect a huge change in policy. And it's unclear right now what exactly stepping aside would mean. "The purpose of those comments has been to impress on the Kremlin that U.S. patience is not limitless," Rough said. Vance hasn't shied away from issuing bold foreign policy statements since becoming vice president. From sparring with Zelenskyy in the Oval Office in February to appearing to counter Trump when Vance remarked in May that the war in Ukraine was far from over after Trump indicated a deal might emerge soon, Vance has been outspoken in a way most vice presidents haven't been. When asked for comment or if there were any concerns about Vance's Monday statement, the White House referred Fox News Digital to Vance's office. Vance's office declined to provide comment when asked if his remarks would encourage Russia to sit the negotiations out and continue its attacks. Why Zelenskyy Keeps Pushing Nato Membership Even Though Trump Says It's Not Happening Vance has adopted an outspoken approach as vice president, starting off with his fiery February statements at the Munich Security Council in which he asserted that Europe needed to "step up in a big way to provide for its own defense." That boldness has carried over into the Russia-Ukraine negotiations, where Vance has taken a proactive approach, at times appearing to be forging his own path. Vance and Rubio engaged in discussions to end the conflict in Ukraine with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Rome on Sunday, among other issues. Vance and Rubio also discussed the Trump administration's efforts to end the war with Vatican prelate Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher on Monday. Aboard Air Force Two on Monday, Vance said the negotiations had reached "a bit of [an] impasse" between the two countries and that the conflict is not the Trump administration's war to wage but rather belongs to former President Joe Biden and Putin. "There is fundamental mistrust between Russia and the West. It's one of the things the president thinks is, frankly, stupid, that we should be able to move beyond," Vance told reporters. "The mistakes that have been made in the past, but ... that takes two to tango." "I know the president's willing to do that, but if Russia's not willing to do that, then we're eventually just going to have to say ... this is not our war," Vance said. "It's Joe Biden's war, it's Vladimir Putin's war. It's not our war. We're going to try to end it, but if we can't end it, we're eventually going to say, 'You know what? That was worth a try, but we're not doing it anymore.'" Trump Insists Ukraine-russia Peace Deal Is Close, But Mistrust In Putin Leaves Experts Skeptical Vance's Monday statement came just before Trump was scheduled to speak with Putin, seemingly undercutting the high-leverage telephone call and also underscoring Vance's influence over foreign policy matters in the White House. Specifically on Ukraine negotiations, Vance has remained outspoken, engaging in confrontation when Zelenskyy visited the White House in February. In that exchange, Vance accused Zelenskyy of being "disrespectful" after Zelenskyy pointed out that Putin has a track record of breaking agreements and countered Vance's statements that the path forward was through diplomacy to end the war in Ukraine. "Do you think that it's respectful to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?" Vance asked at the Oval Office meeting. Almost immediately after the U.S. signed a minerals deal with Ukraine on May 1, Vance said the war in Ukraine wouldn't end in the near future, despite the fact that Trump indicated the previous week that an agreement was on the horizon. "It's not going anywhere," Vance told Fox News on May 1. "It's not going to end anytime soon." Still, he characterized the agreement as "good progress" in the negotiations. Trump and Putin spoke over the phone Monday to advance peace negotiations to halt the conflict between Moscow and Kyiv, just days after Russia and Ukraine met in Turkey to conduct their first peace talks since 2022. After the call, Trump said both countries would move toward a ceasefire and advance talks to end the war. Meanwhile, Trump has suggested continued U.S. involvement may not be a viable option moving forward, but he has been reticent about specifics on what would actually prompt him to walk away from the talks. For example, Trump said on May 8 in an interview with NBC News that he believes peace is possible but that the U.S. wouldn't act as a mediator forever. "Well, there will be a time when I will say, 'OK, keep going, keep being stupid," Trump said in the interview. "Maybe it's not possible to do," he said. "There's tremendous hatred." Still, Trump signaled that the U.S. would take a backseat in the negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv after his call with Putin. "The conditions for that will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know the details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of," Trump said in a Monday post on Truth Social. Trump has continued to distance the U.S. from the conflict, and he later described the conflict as a "European situation." "Big egos involved, but I think something's going to happen," Trump told reporters on Monday. "And if it doesn't, I'll just back away and they'll have to keep going. This was a European situation. It should have remained a European situation." Trump also doubled down on extracting the U.S. from the war, claiming it didn't involve U.S. personnel. "It's not our people, it's not our soldiers … it's Ukraine and it's Russia," Trump said in the Oval Office on Wednesday while hosting South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. Trump Says He Could 'Walk Away' From Russia-ukraine Talks, Cites 'Tremendous Hatred' On Both Sides According to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, sanctions against Russia could ramp up in the event Russia fails to cooperate. "President Trump has made it very clear that if President Putin does not negotiate in good faith that the United States will not hesitate to up the Russia sanctions along with our European partners," Bessent said Sunday in an interview with NBC. Vance has previously said the concessions that Russia is seeking from Ukraine to end the conflict are too stringent but believes there is a viable path to peace and wants both to find common ground. "The step that we would like to make right now is we would like both the Russians and the Ukrainians to actually agree on some basic guidelines for sitting down and talking to one another," Vance said at the Munich Leaders Meeting in Washington on May 7. Russia's demands include Ukraine never joining NATO and preventing foreign peacekeeper troops from deploying to Ukraine after the conflict. Russia is also seeking to adjust some of the borders that previously were Ukraine' article source: Will Vance remark about US bailing on Ukraine encourage Putin to sink nascent peace talks?
