Putin Coming to America For Trump Summit, Redistricting Fight Grows, Trump's DC Plan: AM Update 8/11

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Good morning, everyone.

I'm Megan Kelly.

It's Monday, August 11th, and this is your AM update.

This direct engagement by President Trump obviously is leading us closer to a peace.

President Trump and President Putin set to meet in Alaska this week in a potentially major step toward peace.

Could President Zelensky also join them?

We are talking about emergency measures to respond to what's happening in Texas, and we will nullify what happens in Texas.

The redistricting battle that started in Texas grows into a massive national fight.

And President Trump taking the helm, promising to clean up Washington, D.C.

What exactly does he have planned?

All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM update.

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An historic summit set for later this week between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin right here on U.S.

soil.

President Trump breaking the news on Truth Social that he would be meeting in Alaska.

with President Putin this Friday.

Exact timing and location yet to be announced.

This marks the first time Mr.

Putin has stepped foot in the U.S.

in nearly a decade, the last one being a September 2015 session of the United Nations General Assembly, where he met with then-President Barack Obama.

It comes after the Trump administration's envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with Mr.

Putin for more than three hours in Russia last Wednesday, reportedly receiving the framework of a ceasefire deal the Russians say they would support.

Sunday morning on Fox, Vice President J.D.

Vance praising the development and the potential for peace in the region.

This is a major breakthrough for American diplomacy.

If you go back, this war has been going on for over three years at this point.

Well over a million Russians and Ukrainian dead soldiers.

We have been aggressively working trying to break the log jam.

One of the most important log jams is that Vladimir Putin said that he would never sit down with Zelensky, the head of Ukraine, and the president has now got that to change.

We're at a point now where we're now trying to figure out, frankly, scheduling and things like that around when these three leaders could sit down and discuss an end to this conflict.

Now, I don't think you can actually sit down and have this negotiation absent the leadership of Donald J.

Trump.

This is something where the president needs to force President Putin and President Zelensky really to sit down to figure out their differences.

We, of course, condemn the invasion that happened.

We don't like that this is where things are, but you've got to make peace here.

And the only way to make peace is to sit down and talk.

You can't finger point.

You can't, you know, wag your finger at somebody and say, you're wrong, we're right.

The way to peace is to have a decisive leader sit down and force people to come together.

Before the announcement of the Alaskan summit, President Trump discussing the potential deal from the White House on Friday with a nod to the difficult issue of Mr.

Putin's land grabs.

You know, a lot of Russians have died.

A lot of Ukrainians have died.

So we're looking at that, but we're actually looking to get some back.

And

some swapping.

It's complicated.

It's actually nothing easy.

It's very complicated, but we're going to get some back.

We're going to get some

switched.

There'll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both.

It's unclear what specific land would be included in a swapping of territories, but the issue has animated the Ukrainian side.

Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky taking to acts on Saturday with a response writing, quote, Ukraine is ready for real decisions that can bring peace.

Any decisions that are against us, any decisions that are without Ukraine, are at the same time decisions against peace.

They will not achieve anything.

These are stillborn decisions.

They are unworkable.

Zelensky also posting a video where he said what translated to, quote, Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier.

Several European leaders releasing a joint statement Sunday praising President Trump's quote work to stop the killing in Ukraine, but in the next paragraph seeming to counter the strategy of meeting with mister Putin now, writing, quote, we are convinced that only an approach that combines active diplomacy, support to Ukraine, and pressure on the Russian Federation to end their illegal war can succeed.

On the American Sunday shows, NATO Secretary General Mark Ruta, who recently developed a bit of a bromance with President Trump at the June NATO summit, sounding optimistic here from CBS and ABC.

I think it is very good that President Trump will test him and we'll see how far he can get on Friday starting this process.

And He basically broke the deadlock.

President Trump in February is starting the dialogue with Putin.

I think that was crucial.

We had a great NATO summit under his leadership, committing to 5% defence spending, so that it is a clear signal to our main threat, which is Russia, that we are serious.

And this is all clear evidence that President Trump is absolutely adamant to bring this war to an end, but also to keep maximum pressure on Putin.

And next Friday will be important because it is testing Putin how serious he is in this whole process, which will then have to continue after Friday with Ukraine involved, with others involved, to bring this war to an end.

Former National Security Advisor under Trump 1.0, John Bolton, who never misses an opportunity to criticize Trump, sounding less convinced during an interview with ABC Sunday.

I think Trump has made some mistakes already.

Number one, in holding this meeting on American soil, legitimizing a pariah leader of a rogue state.

Second, he's allowed Putin to get first mover advantage by putting his peace plan on the table first.

You can already see from Trump's own statements, he thinks that Zelensky has to make constitutional modifications for Ukraine to cede territory.

Now, Zelensky has flatly rejected that, but what Putin gets more than anything else is an opportunity one-on-one to try and get his magic working again with Trump.

There remains an open question about whether this bilateral meeting could become trilateral, with Ukrainian President Zelensky attending Friday's Alaska summit in some capacity.

NBC quoting one official in the Trump administration saying, it's being discussed.

And everyone is very hopeful that would happen.

On CNN Sunday, U.S.

Ambassador to NATO Matt Whitaker weighing in.

I certainly think it's possible.

There can't be a deal that everybody that's involved in it doesn't agree to.

And, you know, I mean, obviously, it's a high priority to get this war to end.

You know, the carnage and the dying is terrible.

I think this direct engagement by President Trump obviously is leading us closer to a peace.

You know, the two sides have been communicating.

They've exchanged prisoners.

They've exchanged bodies of the fallen.

But, you know, this, if we can get a deal done on terms that both sides agree, that will save thousands of lives.

A Kremlin official previously dismissing the idea of Mr.

Putin meeting with Mr.

Zelensky directly.

However, the NBC report notes President Zelensky could be on site to meet with President Trump and others without necessarily crossing paths or sitting in the same room with his Russian foe.

Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markavrova, was non-committal, but not ruling it out on CBS Sunday.

He is ready to be anywhere

to advance the agenda of peace.

So if needed, President Zelensky, of course, will be present at the meetings.

We have been very open about it, but let's see how this will go.

But he's not planning to be in Alaska on Friday.

If he will be planning to do that,

we'll be there.

This summit comes as support among Ukrainians for a prolonged war in Russia is fading and fast.

According to a new Gallup poll conducted in July and released last week, 69% say Ukraine should seek to negotiate an ending to this war as soon as possible, while just 24% say Ukraine should continue fighting until it wins the war.

Just two years earlier, those numbers were nearly reversed.

Meanwhile, more than 70% of Ukrainians say the US, UK, and EU can play a significant role in peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia.

Coming up, the left and right amplify the redistricting and gerrymandering fight with political leaders across the country, promising Texas is just the beginning.

And President Trump set to unveil his plan to make Washington, D.C.

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The issue of gerrymandering and redistricting at the forefront of American politics as the Texas Democrats who ran away from their state remain at large camped out in blue states like Illinois and New York in an effort to stop Texas from adding five new House seats in predominantly red districts.

California Governor Gavin Newsom promising to fight fire with fire and match the five seats with five new ones in his largely blue state during a press conference Friday.

We are moving forward.

Make no mistake.

California is moving forward as a state that's larger than 21 state populations combined.

We are talking about emergency measures to respond to what's happening in Texas, and we will nullify what happens in Texas.

We will pick up five seats with the consent of the people, and that's the difference between the approach we're taking and the approach they're taking.

White House Communications Director Steve Chung firing back in a comment to the LA Times: quote: Gavin Newsom is a loser of the highest order, and he will never be president, no matter how hard he prostitutes himself to the press.

Perpetual political loser Betto O'Rourke urging for more rule-breaking during a rally Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas.

We don't await the punch thrown by these would-be fascists to land.

We punch first and we punch harder.

We want California and New Jersey and Illinois and Maryland and every other state where the Democrats hold the governor's mansion, the Assembly, and the state senate to redraw their congressional districts now, not wait for Texas to move first to maximize Democratic Party advantage.

Listen, you may say to yourself, well, those aren't the rules.

There are no refs in this game.

Fuck the rules.

We are going to win whatever it takes.

On Fox yesterday, Vice President J.D.

Vance signaling that the redistricting battle will continue.

Fresh off a trip to Indiana to strategize similar efforts there.

One of the things that you see in a lot of red states is blue states have really aggressively gerrymandered such that they've actually made it harder for the majority of the state of Indiana to have their voice heard in their federal elections.

Because if California has crazy gerrymanders, Illinois has crazy gerrymanders, New York has crazy gerrymanders, what it does is it actually suppresses the will of the people in states like Indiana.

California has way more House seats than it should because they have such a high population of illegal aliens.

So they get rewarded for welcoming illegal aliens into their state, giving them federal benefits, actually asking the taxpayers of states like Ohio to subsidize them.

And then those same taxpayers in Ohio and Indiana and elsewhere, they have fewer congressional representatives because of what California has allowed to happen.

That's ridiculously unfair.

And the only real way to fight back against it is for us to redistrict in some ways as aggressively as these hard blue states have done.

The governor of one of those states, Democrat J.B.

Pritzker of Illinois, pressed by NBC host Kristen Welker Sunday.

over the obvious hypocrisy when it comes to attacking Texas Republicans for something his state has done for years.

What do you say to those who argue that it's it's hypocritical for you to criticize Texas for partisanship when your state also drew maps to boost your party's standing?

Well, remember that what Texas is trying to do is, again, violate the Voting Rights Act.

We didn't.

This is, it's cheating.

Donald Trump is a cheater.

He cheats on his wives.

He cheats at golf.

And now he's trying to cheat the American people out of their votes.

Well, look, sticking on your state's map, every major group that grades the fairness of congressional maps gives your state an F.

Common cause and nonpartisan government watchdog even says your map, and I'm going to quote, represents a nearly perfect model for everything that can go wrong with redistricting.

And I guess the question is, you talk about preserving democracy.

How do you preserve democracy if you're using the same tactics that you've criticized Texas Republicans for?

But as I say, what they're talking about is a distraction.

The reality is that the violation of people's voting rights is what Texas is attempting to do.

What?

President Trump teasing a major announcement coming later today, which he will make during a press conference this morning at the White House, tied to helping Washington, D.C.

clean up its act.

This after the president directed a surge in federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, U.S.

Marshals Service, DEA, and others, to increase police presence in the capital city beginning this past Friday for what is expected to be at least a week, following the news that a 19-year-old former Doge staffer was viciously assaulted by approximately 10 juveniles in a late-night carjacking.

Mr.

Trump taken to Truth Social Sunday to preview his announcement, writing, I'm going to make our capital safer and more beautiful than it ever was before.

The homeless have to move out immediately.

We will give you places to stay, but far from the capital.

The criminals, you don't have to move out.

We're going to put you in jail where you belong.

It's all going to happen very fast, just like the border.

Be prepared.

There will be no mister Nice Guy.

We want our capital back.

Vice President Vance weighing in over the weekend on X, quote, our nation's capital has become ridden with out-of-control violent crime thanks to misguided local leadership.

President Trump is putting a stop to this lawlessness.

According to USAFacts.org, Steve Ballmer's organization, citing CDC data, Washington, DC had the fourth highest homicide rate of any metropolitan area in the country in 2023, the most recent stats available.

Mr.

Trump has previously floated the idea of a federal takeover of the nation's capital, which would require congressional approval.

President Trump also reportedly directed the Pentagon to draw up plans to use military force against Latin American drug cartels, which the Trump administration has declared as terrorist organizations.

According to the New York Times, that includes the possibility of direct military operations by American troops in international waters and on foreign soil to target the cartels.

While the military actions are still in the planning phase, a White House spokesperson appearing to confirm the directive to the Times, saying,

President Trump's top priority is protecting the homeland, which is why he took the bold step to designate several cartels and gangs as foreign terrorist organizations.

And that'll do it for your AM update.

I'm Megan Kelly.

Join me back here for the Megan Kelly Show, live on SiriusXM Triumph Channel 111 at Noon East, on youtube.com slash Megan Kelly, and on all podcast platforms.

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