Stories

Browse major news stories and see what officials have said.

Sep 25, 2026

Five Days After Trump Signs the Russia Sanctions Bill, Rubio Announces That Putin Is Invited to the G20 at Trump's Doral Resort — "We Hope That's an Invitation He'll Accept" — and Republican Senators Answer That Putin Is "a Pariah" Who Should Be Treated "Like the Dictator He Is"

On Wednesday, September 23, 2026, at the U.N. General Assembly and after meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the United States had invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Group of 20 summit it is hosting December 14-15 at Trump National Doral Miami, President Trump's golf resort. Rubio said engaging adversaries is how "to solve problems." He also said Russia and Ukraine had both shown interest in a limited ceasefire covering grain and energy. If Putin attends, it would be his first in-person G20 since before Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The International Criminal Court has an outstanding arrest warrant for him, but the United States is not a party to the court. On September 24 the Kremlin said no decision had been made on whether he would go. The invitation came five days after Trump signed the Graham Russia and Iran sanctions bill. Several Republican senators criticized it. Mike Rounds of South Dakota called it "a mistake" and called Putin "a pariah." Pete Ricketts of Nebraska said Putin "should not be invited," and Todd Young of Indiana said "elevating Vladimir Putin is not where we should be focused right now." Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee said Rubio had made clear the administration "has no intention of isolating Russia," and Richard Blumenthal called the invitation "absolutely disgraceful, despicable."

“[Bipartisan letter to President Trump from 14 senators, led by Jeanne Shaheen and Roger Wicker:] President Putin bears sole responsibility for launching Russia's full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine. Allowing him to participate in a G20 Summit in the United States raises serious concerns about legitimizing and normalizing a government that continues to attack Ukrainian civilian targets every day. … As Russia continues its war against Ukraine and refuses to agree to a just and lasting peace agreement, its government should not be afforded a business-as-usual treatment alongside other nations at G20 events. … We urge you to reverse course and rescind the invitation to President Putin.”
Jerry Moran (R-KS) · Sep 25, 2026

Sep 23, 2026· Updated

A Putin-Allied Russian Oligarch Paid for Donald Trump Jr.'s Island Wedding Celebration — the Couple Call It "an Extraordinarily Generous Wedding Gift From a Friend," the President Says "Not a Big Deal!," and Chris Murphy Tells the Senate "Never Before Has a Foreign Enemy of the United States Paid for the Family Wedding of the President"

On September 14, 2026, ProPublica reported that Umar Kremlev — a Russian oligarch close to Vladimir Putin, secretary general of the International Boxing Association, whose boxing operations are financed by the state energy giant Gazprom — paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses for Donald Trump Jr.'s May 2026 wedding festivities in the Bahamas. According to the report, Kremlev's organization rented a private island for the roughly 50-guest post-wedding celebration at about $100,000 a night, paid an estimated $70,000 for a fireworks show and helped plan the event. Kremlev and a Russian delegation attended; so did Jared Kushner, who is helping lead U.S. negotiations with Russia over the war in Ukraine. President Trump did not attend. Hours after the report, Bettina Trump confirmed on Instagram that Kremlev "very generously hosted two incredible nights of celebrations" as "an extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend," writing that "friendship doesn't require a political motive." A spokesperson for Trump Jr. said "Umar is a personal friend of Don." President Trump said he had "no idea who Umar is" and called the party "Not a big deal!" Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) called it "naked corruption in plain view" on the Senate floor that evening. On September 15, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, sent Trump Jr. a letter demanding he preserve all records of his relationship with Kremlev and any White House communications about the celebration, writing that the reporting "may be the most serious allegation against you to date."

“[T]he last Russia hoax cost this country years of progress. We are not doing it again over a private citizen's wedding. … Don Jr. is a businessman, not an administration official. There is no evidence he sold access to the presidency.”
Jim Banks (R-IN) · Sep 23, 2026

Sep 23, 2026· Updated

Trump Sends Witkoff and Kushner to Moscow and Kyiv With "a Proposal to End the War" — Putin Halts Strikes on Kyiv for 72 Hours, and a Republican Senator Answers That "You Don't Get Any Credit for Kissing His Ass"

Special envoy Steve Witkoff and White House adviser Jared Kushner met Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Saturday, September 5, 2026, for more than three hours followed by dinner — the first substantive US-Russia meeting since direct talks broke down roughly six months earlier. Announcing the trip from the Oval Office the day before, President Trump called the two men "great negotiators" and said "they're bringing with them a proposal to end the war." Putin ordered a 72-hour pause in strikes on Kyiv so the envoys could travel on, and on Sunday, September 6, they met President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv — the first visit by either man to the Ukrainian capital — touring the bomb-damaged St. Sophia's Cathedral before talks. Kushner said afterward that he and Witkoff wanted to "go back to the trilateral format" with Russia and Ukraine at the same table; Witkoff said he was "confident that there'll be a good resolution here." The White House said the delegation also thanked Putin for releasing former US Marine Robert Gilman from Russian custody. The substance of the American proposal was not released. The sharpest on-record American criticism came from within the president's own party: Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), on NBC's "Meet the Press" the same Sunday, called Putin "a pirate" with "blood under his fingernails," said "you don't get any credit for kissing his ass," and argued the United States has Putin cornered and should press the advantage rather than trade concessions.

“I think both sides have expressed an interest in some limited ceasefire that involve grain and energy. Obviously, you know, that won't be easy either. [Rubio spoke after meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the U.N.]”
Marco Rubio (R-FL) · Sep 23, 2026

Sep 18, 2026· Updated

The Senate Passes the Russia and Iran Sanctions Bill 86-11 and Names It for Lindsey Graham a Month After He Died — "This Is a Big Effing Deal," Blumenthal Says, Quoting Graham's Last Words to Him

On August 7, 2026, the Senate passed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 by a vote of 86-11, breaking a stalemate that had lasted more than a year and handing the late South Carolina Republican a posthumous version of the bill he had spent years failing to move. The measure imposes primary and secondary sanctions on Russia and the financial network sustaining its war in Ukraine, targeting the "shadow fleet" of shell corporations and repurposed maritime infrastructure along with Russian officials, oligarchs, their family members and financial institutions. It authorizes tariffs of up to 100 percent on the five largest importers of Russian crude and natural gas by volume — in practice China and India — and extends the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996, renewing sanctions on Iran's energy and weapons sectors that were set to lapse at the end of the year. The bill had been blocked for months by the White House's unwillingness to accept binding sanctions authority. It moved only after a bipartisan group — Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Darline Graham Nordone (R-S.C.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Jim Risch (R-Idaho) — announced an agreement on July 28, seventeen days after Graham died at 71 at his Capitol Hill home. They said there was "no greater way to honor" his legacy. Blumenthal, a co-author, told the floor: "I'm not even going to try to channel my inner Lindsey Graham, except to say, as he said to me in some of his last words, 'This is a big effing deal.'" Graham's sister Darline Graham Nordone — appointed to his seat on Trump's recommendation — said he "believed that this was the most consequential piece of legislation that he had ever led." Not everyone was satisfied. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) forced a vote on an amendment limiting Trump's tariff authority under the bill; it failed 32-64. On the House side, Foreign Affairs ranking member Greg Meeks (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) warned that the final text "still contain[s] the broadest possible waiver authority for President Trump, who already has the power to impose these sanctions on Russia under U.S. law but has refused to do so," and Meeks said he opposed "handing President Trump a Trojan horse for tariff authorities he has repeatedly abused." The House is expected to take the bill up when members return from summer break on August 31.

“I wish Lindsey were here to celebrate this historic day. I know he would be so proud.”
Darline Graham Nordone (R-SC) · Sep 18, 2026

The Same Day the House Clears the Russia Sanctions Bill, Shaheen and Wicker Introduce a Bipartisan Resolution for Russia's Democracy Advocates — "For Nemtsov, for Navalny, and for the Courageous Russians Who Carry Their Torch Today"

On September 16, 2026 — the same day the House passed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act 262-159 — Senate Foreign Relations Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Senate Armed Services Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) introduced a bipartisan resolution recognizing the US national interest in supporting Russian democracy advocates. The resolution honors Russians imprisoned, exiled or killed for opposing Vladimir Putin's government — Wicker named Boris Nemtsov and Alexei Navalny explicitly — and ties Putin's repression at home to his war abroad. Shaheen argued the invasion of Ukraine was itself rooted in Putin's fear that Russians would want what Ukrainians were building. It is a narrow, symbolic measure, but a notable one: the top Democrat on Foreign Relations and the top Republican on Armed Services jointly rebuking Russia's internal repression, with Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) signing on as co-sponsors.

“My colleague Senator Shaheen and I introduce this resolution for Nemtsov, for Navalny, and for the courageous Russians who carry their torch today. Putin casts a repressive shadow over Russia, but these heroes work toward a bright future they cannot yet see. The U.S. Senate honors their efforts and looks forward to the day when Russia is led by and for its people.”
Roger Wicker (R-MS) · Sep 16, 2026

Trump Says He Will Bill Europe for the Weapons the United States Already Gave Ukraine — "We Will Be Asking for That Money, Though Somewhat Belatedly" — and Halts Munitions Sales to Allies While He Denies the Iran War Has Drained the Stockpile

On September 3, 2026, President Trump wrote on Truth Social that the United States would seek retroactive payment from European countries for the munitions and military aid sent to Ukraine under the Biden administration. "Hundreds of Billions of Dollars was given to Ukraine and NATO, free of charge, that Europe would have paid for — If they were only asked, but we will be asking for that money, though somewhat belatedly!" He did not name which countries he meant, or identify any legal mechanism for collecting. The post was also a rebuttal. Reporting through late August had described U.S. precision-munitions stockpiles heavily depleted by six months of war with Iran, and combatant commanders had formally objected to extending the campaign. Trump wrote that the United States has "virtually unlimited amounts of Mid to High Grade Ammunition" and is producing at "levels never seen before" — while simultaneously confirming a pause in sales to allies: "We are taking them for ourselves, the U.S.A., rather than selling them to others, but the sales to allies will soon again, begin." The demand landed as European governments were already refusing to join the Iran campaign. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, speaking at the G20 finance meeting in North Carolina, described a global energy shock driven by both the Ukraine and Iran wars. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, had just returned from a bipartisan congressional delegation to Ukraine. She called the president's demand "outrageous" and said she would increase Ukraine funding if Democrats win the House.

“[If I] chair the Appropriations Committee, we will increase funds. And if we've got that same case in the Senate, then we've got the House and the Senate in sync to try to move forward.”
Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) · Sep 4, 2026

The Trump Administration Brings a Sanctioned Russian Finance Minister to a G20 Meeting on American Soil — Europe Refuses the Family Photo and Shaheen Says the White House Is Handing Putin a Platform

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov — sanctioned by the United States in April 2022 — attended the U.S.-hosted G20 finance ministers' meeting in Asheville, North Carolina on August 31, 2026. It was his first in-person G20 appearance since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and he was there at the Trump administration's invitation. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met Siluanov bilaterally on the sidelines. According to Reuters, when Siluanov raised areas of possible cooperation, Bessent cut him off, saying nothing was possible until the war ends. European finance ministers objected loudly: German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil called the invitation "quite troubling" and said he would not pose for a photo with his Russian counterpart, and Siluanov was ultimately left out of the traditional family photo. Trump defended the invitation the next day. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, tied the episode directly to the stalled Russia sanctions bill that the Senate passed 86-11 in August and that the House has not taken up. The meeting landed the same week Russian strikes killed civilians in Kyiv for a sixth consecutive day.

“We like getting along with everybody. One of the reasons that I’m so successful, I get along with everybody.”
Donald Trump (R-FL) · Sep 1, 2026

House Discharge Petition Forces Ukraine Aid Vote, Bypassing Speaker Johnson

A discharge petition introduced by Rep. Greg Meeks (D-NY) reached the required 218 signatures on May 13, 2026, forcing a House floor vote on the Ukraine Support Act (H.R. 2913) — bypassing Speaker Mike Johnson, who had blocked the legislation. The bill would authorize $1.3 billion in military aid and other assistance to Ukraine, up to $8 billion in loans, and impose new sanctions on Russia. Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-CA) provided the decisive 218th signature. All 215 House Democrats signed, joined by Republicans Brian Fitzpatrick (PA) and Don Bacon (NE). The vote is expected to be scheduled for early June. Even if the bill passes the House, it faces significant headwinds in the Republican-controlled Senate and from the White House. The development marks the sixth successful discharge petition of the 119th Congress — an extraordinary number for a maneuver that had succeeded only a handful of times in the previous quarter-century.

“A message to our Ukrainian friends: Help is on the way.”
Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) · May 13, 2026

Trump Brokers 3-Day Russia-Ukraine Ceasefire Ahead of Victory Day

On May 8–9, 2026, President Trump announced that Russia and Ukraine agreed to a 3-day ceasefire (May 9–11), coinciding with Russia's Victory Day commemorations, along with a 1,000-for-1,000 prisoner exchange. Trump called it potentially "the beginning of the end" of the four-year war that began with Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. The ceasefire largely failed to hold — both sides accused the other of violations, with Russia's Defense Ministry claiming over 23,000 Ukrainian violations and Ukraine reporting Russian drone and artillery strikes on civilian areas of Kharkiv and Kherson that killed at least two people on May 11. The Congressional Ukraine Caucus — co-chaired by Reps. Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Quigley (D-IL), Kaptur (D-OH), and Wilson (R-SC) — had backed Ukraine's ceasefire proposal in the days before the announcement, calling on Russia to demonstrate good faith.

“In a joint statement, the Congressional Ukraine Caucus co-chairs said: 'Ukraine has extended an olive branch: an immediate, temporary ceasefire grounded in the protection of human life and the pursuit of a just peace. In the face of Russia's continued aggression, this proposal reflects the moral clarity of a free people: willing to seek peace, unwilling to surrender sovereignty, and determined to defend the dignity of their nation. We stand united—Democrats and Republicans—in support of Ukraine's sovereignty, in defense of international law, and in recognition of the immense sacrifices already made by the Ukrainian people.'”
Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) · May 5, 2026

King Charles III Addresses Joint Session of Congress, Urges Ukraine Support and NATO Unity

On April 28, 2026, King Charles III became only the second British monarch in history to address a joint session of the United States Congress, receiving 12 standing ovations. The address, delivered during a state visit timed to the 250th anniversary of American independence, was widely read as a pointed but diplomatically careful message to the Trump administration on several of its most contentious policy departures. The King called for "unyielding resolve" in support of Ukraine and urged Congress to stand firm with NATO allies, drawing a bipartisan standing ovation — notable given deep Republican divisions over continued military aid to Kyiv. He praised diversity and interfaith cooperation, highlighted the importance of checks on executive power, and invoked the shared history of the US-UK alliance through two world wars. He also referenced the WHCD shooting from three days prior, saying acts of political violence "will never succeed." While careful not to name Trump or any policy directly, analysts noted that Charles's emphasis on alliance commitments, Ukraine, and democratic norms carried unmistakable relevance to current US political debates. Trump called the speech "fantastic."

“King Charles gave a fantastic speech. He loves our country and I love him. It was a great honor to have him here.”
Donald Trump (R-FL) · Apr 28, 2026

king-charles

congress

3 statements