Trump calls Biden’s letter to him ‘very nice,’ says may make letter public

In an interview Sunday on ABC News’ “This Week,” Democratic Sen. Jack Reed decried President Donald Trump’s recent verbal attacks on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and increased alignment with Russia.

“Essentially, this is President Trump surrendering to the Russians,” Reed told co-anchor Martha Raddatz.

“This is not a statesman or a diplomat,” Reed added. “This is just someone who admires Putin, does not believe in the struggle of the Ukrainians and is committed to cozying up to an autocrat.”

Reed said statements Trump made recently about Ukraine were “generally misleading or completely false,” and suggest he has “no real intention to engage the Ukrainian government to find out what they need” in negotiations with Russia.

“I’d be more confident in that suggestion if there was a vigorous dialogue between the Ukrainians and the United States with respect to these negotiations, that we understood where their lines are, et cetera. That apparently has not happened,” he said.

In order to solve the war in Ukraine, Reed said it will be crucial to “communicate to the Russians that we will be very, very serious about their actions in Ukraine.”

“What we have to do is keep the pressure on, and then go into negotiations — negotiations that will include the Ukrainians, not exclude them.” he said “And then with this pressure, hopefully, Putin will decide that the cost is too great to continue this effort.”

Talking to Raddatz later, Republican Rep. Mike Lawler slammed Russian President Vladimir Putin as “a vile dictator and thug” who is “clearly responsible for the war in Ukraine,” despite Trump’s false assertions earlier in the week that Zelenskyy started the war.

“Russia, China and Iran have been working in a coordinated effort to undermine and destabilize the United States, Europe, Israel and the free world,” Lawler said. “They are not our allies or our friends — we must be clear eyed about that.”

Lawler said he “did not agree with the President’s rhetoric about Volodymyr Zelenskyy,” but also said that Zelenskyy “saying that the president is falling for Russian disinformation does not help his cause.”

“What I would say is this, it does not behoove either side to have this public back and forth,” Lawler said. “I think President Zelenskyy needs to work with the administration, especially with respect to economic cooperation.”

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(WASHINGTON) — As President Donald Trump was sworn in for his second term, a long list of political leaders, tech CEOs, celebrities and others were in attendance in the U.S. Capitol.

Former Vice President Mike Pence was seen in the Rotunda, as well as former President Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton and former first lady Hillary Clinton. Former President George W. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush were also there.

Former first lady Michelle Obama — who has attended every inauguration since 2009, including Trump’s first swearing-in ceremony in 2017 — was not present.

Former President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden, as well as former Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff, were in attendance.

Several major tech CEOs were also there, including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and Tim Cook. Joe Rogan, whose podcast Trump appeared on during the campaign, was seen in the Rotunda.

Chinese Vice President Han Zheng was also attending the event.

Many GOP leaders were seen in the Capitol, including former Republican leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, former U.S. Speaker of the House John Boehner, Sen. Marco Rubio, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Sen. Tom Cotton.

Numerous Democrats were also present, including New York Mayor Eric Adams, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

Spotted in the Emancipation Hall overflow room were YouTube celebs Jake and Logan Paul, UFC fighter Conor McGregor and podcaster Theo Von.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin about ending the war in Ukraine, which started three years ago when Putin’s forces launched a full-scale invasion.

“I just had a lengthy and highly productive phone call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia,” Trump wrote in a lengthy post on his conservative social media platform. “We discussed Ukraine, the Middle East, Energy, Artificial Intelligence, the power of the Dollar, and various other subjects.”

On Ukraine, Trump said he and Putin “agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other’s Nations.”

“We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately, and we will begin by calling President Zelenskyy, of Ukraine, to inform him of the conversation, something which I will be doing right now,” Trump said. A source confirmed to ABC News that Trump and Zelenskyy were speaking by phone.

Trump added, “President Putin even used my very strong Campaign motto of, “COMMON SENSE.” We both believe very strongly in it.”

The discussion between Trump and Putin lasted an hour and a half, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

“President Trump spoke in favor of an early end to hostilities and a peaceful solution to the problem. President Putin, for his part, mentioned the need to eliminate the root causes of the conflict and agreed with Trump that a long-term settlement can be achieved through peaceful negotiations,” Peskov told reporters.

Ukraine’s Zelenskyy has demanded full territorial liberation, and earlier this week signaled a willingness to swap territory with Russia.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said earlier Wednesday that a return to Ukraine’s pre-war borders is an “unrealistic objective” in peace talks, as was NATO membership for Ukraine.

The comments were made at his first meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a coalition of countries working to support Kyiv, in Brussels.

“President Trump has been clear with the American people — and with many of your leaders — that stopping the fighting and reaching an enduring peace is a top priority,” Hegseth told leaders.

Trump has long maintained, and repeated in his post Wednesday, that the war in Ukraine would never have happened had he been president.

He also thanked Putin for the release of Marc Fogel, an American teacher who had been serving a 14-year prison sentence in Russia after being arrested on drug charges in 2021. Fogel arrived at the White House late Tuesday night.

ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman contributed to this report.

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