To what a victory at the top for Trump – and for Putin: from the Political Bureau

Welcome to the online version of Political officeA newsletter that brings you the latest report and analysis of the NBC News Policy team from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign campaign.

In today’s edition, Kristen Welker describes the challenges of the meeting in person between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, their first since 2019, when they arrive in Alaska. After shaking her hand on the tarmac, Putin joined Trump in his car. Follow the updates live here.

In addition, Rob Wile answers the question of this week’s reader on what happens to money that the government collects from prices.

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– Adam Wollner

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The high stakes for Trump as he finds himself face to face with Putin

Kristen Welker analysis

The summit of President Donald Trump today with Russian President Vladimir Putin comes with incredibly high issues for the future of the Russian war with Ukraine – and for Trump himself.

The president seemed to be reduce expectations Before the face -to -face meeting, telling Fox News Radio yesterday that “25% chance that this meeting is not a successful meeting”.

So what does a victory for Trump look like?

A senior administration official also told me that Trump “is realistic that it is probably a process in several stages and that he was ready and positive about this step forward.” But Western and American officials say that a victory for Trump is an unconditional and immediate cease-fire, and that if there are attached conditions, it is a victory for Putin.

It remains to be seen if Putin will try to blur these talks by raising other problems with his program, such as an agreement on nuclear weapons and by softening the sanctions against Russia. It is also clear if Trump will offer incentives to the Russians and will hold his promise in Ukraine and European allies that he will not negotiate the territory.

All this highlights Trump’s political risk as he sails in a war that cost hundreds of thousands of lives and has fueled a robust debate over the duration of the United States to provide financial and military support to Ukraine.

Trump said during the 2024 campaign that he would end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours after taking office, but he recognized that it was much more complicated than he could have done. Meanwhile, recent surveys have revealed that more voters disappear its war management.

A recent Wall Street Journal Survey found a thin majority of voters (51%) disapproving Trump management of the Russian-Ukraine war, while 41% approved (the survey had an error margin of more or less than 2.5 percentage points). This survey also showed that 58% of voters were in favor of sending additional financial assistance to Ukraine, an increase of 10 points since January, while 36% were in opposition.

We will dive into the fallout from the top of the issues raised on “Meet The Press” this Sunday with the Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Senator Chris Murphy, D-Conn.

Learn more on the Trump-Putin summit:

• Putin enters Alaska to speak with Trump a strength positionby Henry Austin
• Closed from the Alaska summit, Ukrainians are looking forward to Trump-Putin’s falloutby Richard Engel, Marc Smith, Dyna Mayer, Alexander Smith and Dan de Luce

• The best advisers to attend the Trump-Putin meeting which was to be 1 against 1By Peter Alexander

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✉️ Mailbag: Where is the price?

Thank you to everyone who sent us an email! This week’s question comes from Tara Vargas:

“Trump claims to ratify in billions of prices. I read that money is entering the general fund. But is it really? What if it is not, where?”

To answer this, we turned to Business Reporter Rob Wile. Here is his answer:

Yes, it goes to the General Fund of the American Treasury – something that the department calls “America’s Checkbook” – and is used to finance daily and long -term government operations, ranging from wages of federal employees to payments of interest.

Congress establishes how the General Fund is spent in its credit bills. Although the Treasury Department follows income from income, it does not generally provide a set of funds from a given source of income for a specific purpose.

“You can consider (pricing income) as helping to reduce the global deficit or compensate for the costs of the Big Beautiful Bill,” said Marc Goldwein, Vice-President Director and Senior Policy Director of the Non-Sample Committee of the Reflection Group for a responsible federal budget. “It does not fall into any type of dedicated fiduciary funds.”

In July, the Treasury took about $ 29 billion in prices. Each month since April, when Trump has announced that “reciprocal” prices have seen record revenues on prices. the complexity of the prices and their impacts. »»

The United States Office for Government’s responsibility, the Federal Government Audit Agency has found long and long-term problems with the way general funding is followed and reported, although it does not suggest funds that are actively diverted.

The Treasure, He said in March“Records transactions as a group total instead of individual sales, then treats them through a variety of systems.”

He continued: “Consequently, we did not have enough information to determine if the amounts reported are reliable, and therefore the schedules were not verifiable. More recently, we have identified additional challenges that have an impact on the capacity to clearly follow the funds.

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It’s all of the political bureau for the moment. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner.

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