VANCE 'OPTIMISTIC' ON ISRAEL: Vice President Vance is in Israel as the Trump administration seeks to keep the peace agreement between Israel and Hamas intact.
The vice president met Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The two met in private just with their advisers in the room. Vance is also meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog today.
The vice president on Tuesday projected optimism about the Israel-Hamas deal, saying "everybody should be proud" of where the situation stands just more than a week after the ceasefire began and the remaining living hostages were released.
"I feel very optimistic. Can I say with 100 percent certainty that it's going to work? No. But you don't do difficult things by only doing what's 100 percent certain. You do difficult things by trying. And that's what the president of the United States has asked us to do," Vance said.
The administration has spent the past week trying to keep the ceasefire in place, particularly after both sides briefly returned to attack over the weekend. Israel said Hamas militants opened fire on its troops, killing two soldiers. Israel responded with airstrikes in southern Gaza, saying it targeted Hamas infrastructure.
Each side accused the other of violating the ceasefire but affirmed their commitment to keeping it intact.
Trump has on multiple occasions struck an aggressive tone in warning Hamas against any violations, saying the group will be eradicated if the ceasefire doesn't hold. He has clarified that U.S. forces wouldn't destroy Hamas themselves, but others would.
But the sight of Vance joining Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner in Israel illustrates the fragility of the peace agreement. The New York Times has reported that Trump administration officials are concerned that Netanyahu may pull out of the deal.
At least so far, the deal has held, and fighting hasn't renewed in the past few days since Israel and Hamas exchanged fire.
Vance said Tuesday that "constant effort" and "constant monitoring and supervision" will be needed to maintain peace.
▪ Time: Where does the Israel-Hamas ceasefire stand?
▪ The Hill: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) says 'no one' in the U.S. deserves Nobel Peace Prize for Gaza deal.
TRUMP-PUTIN SUMMIT DELAYED: Trump doesn't plan to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the "immediate future" despite a possible summit having been scheduled in Budapest, Hungary, in the coming weeks.
Trump told reporters last week that he hoped to meet with Putin, which would be his second meeting with the Russian leader since returning to office, within "two weeks or so." That announcement came as Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House.
But a White House official said Tuesday after a call between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, which they called "productive," that a meeting between the two wouldn't be happening soon.
"Therefore, an additional-in-person meeting between the Secretary and Foreign Minister is not necessary, and there are no plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the immediate future," the official said.
Trump's August summit with Putin in Alaska didn't advance the United States' push to end the war, and critics have alleged that Putin is stringing Washington along.
The president has expressed skepticism about giving Ukraine the Tomahawk missiles that Zelensky has desired, which would allow the country to strike deeper inside Russia. Trump said Monday that Ukraine could still win the war but said "I don't think they will."
▪ The Times of Israel: Proposal to end Ukraine war to include peace board modeled after Gaza deal.
▪ CBS News: Trump calls for war to end with Russia keeping control of occupied territory.
TRUMP PROBE SETTLEMENT? The president confirmed Tuesday that his attorneys are seeking a legal settlement with his own Justice Department for the department's investigations into him during the Biden administration.
The New York Times reported that Trump is demanding the department pay him about $230 million, after submitting claims through an administrative process that is often a precursor to lawsuits.
The first claim was filed in 2023, seeking damages for alleged violations of his rights, including the investigation into alleged ties between his 2016 campaign and Russia. The second claim, filed in summer 2024, accuses the FBI of violating his rights in searching Mar-a-Lago for the classified and sensitive documents that he kept there.
Trump didn't disclose the dollar amount but confirmed the push for a settlement when asked about the report.
"I don't know the numbers, I don't even talk to them about it. All I know is that they would owe me a lot of money, but I'm not looking for money. I would give it to charity or something," Trump said.
"And it's awfully strange to make a decision where I am paying myself. Did you ever have one of those cases where you have to decide how much you are paying yourself in damages? But I was damaged greatly, and any money I would get I would give to charity," he said.
The investigations from special counsel Jack Smith into Trump's retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago and efforts to stay in power following the 2020 election came to an end after Trump won last year's election.
HALLIGAN TEXTS: Interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan has drawn attention after sending a series of texts to a reporter concerning the criminal indictment she filed against New York Attorney General Letitia James (D).
Halligan, Trump's hand-picked prosecutor overseeing the Eastern District of Virginia, reportedly initiated the conversation with Lawfare journalist Anna Bower, texting back and forth with her over two days.
The journalist said that Halligan reached out after Bower posted on the social platform X about The New York Times reporting on the James case. James has been accused of mortgage fraud, renting a property that she was supposed to use as a primary residence.
James has denied wrongdoing and denounced the case as politically motivated. Her arraignment is scheduled for Friday.
Halligan told Bower that she is "reporting things that are simply not true." Bower asked on multiple occasions what she was getting wrong, to which Halligan responded "Honestly, so much" but that she couldn't say more as she couldn't share "grand jury stuff."
Halligan later told Bower that all the text messages she sent were off the record, but Bower responded that Halligan doesn't "get to say that in retrospect."
▪ ABC News: Halligan ousts two more top attorneys from prosecutor's office.
NYC DEBATE REDUX: The second and final general election debate of the New York City mayoral race is tonight, the last opportunity for the candidates to directly address voters from the same stage.
Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani and independent candidate Andrew Cuomo both have stepped up their attacks on each other and increased their media appearances with just two weeks left until Election Day.
Mamdani garnered attention for an appearance on Fox News, considered hostile territory for him. He made news in formally apologizing to the New York City Police Department for past comments he made calling them "racist" and "corrupt."
Cuomo, the former New York governor hoping to pull off an upset against Mamdani, took part in a string of media appearances over the past week, including on Fox, MSNBC's "Morning Joe" and John Catsimatidis's radio show "Cats Roundtable."
Cuomo's also increased his focus on calling for Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa to drop out of the race to avoid splitting the anti-Mamdani vote. He told Catsimatidis that Sliwa is a "spoiler."
Despite calls on him to drop out to avoid potentially throwing the race to Mamdani, who has led in polls but generally with less than 50 percent support, Sliwa has been adamant that he won't end his candidacy.
All of these tensions, and others, will likely be on display when the three candidates take the stage at 7 p.m.
▪ CBS News: NYC mayoral race is much tighter if Sliwa drops out, poll shows.
JAN. 6 RIOTER ARRESTED AGAIN: A man who was convicted of crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection and was pardoned by Trump has been charged with threatening to kill House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).
New York State Police said they received a tip that 34-year-old Christopher Moynihan sent text messages saying he was planning to kill Jeffries at an event in New York City on Monday. Moynihan was arrested and charged over the weekend with making a terrorist threat against Jeffries.
Jeffries thanked law enforcement and said Moynihan and other Jan. 6 rioters never should have been pardoned.
"Unfortunately, our brave men and women in law enforcement are being forced to spend their time keeping our communities safe from these violent individuals who should never have been pardoned," Jeffries said.
Prosecutors say Moynihan was among the first groups of rioters to enter the Capitol and ultimately breached the Senate chamber.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) condemned the alleged death threat against Jeffries but stopped short of criticizing Trump's pardon of Jan. 6 rioters.
"I will say that anybody — anybody — who threatens political violence against elected officials or anyone else should have the full weight and measure of the Department of Justice on their head," he said.
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