WASHINGTON (OSV News) — President Donald Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska Aug. 15, as Trump seeks to end that nation’s war in Ukraine.
The same week, Trump placed the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police Department “under direct federal control,” activated the National Guard to patrol the capital city, and said he would “get rid of the slums” in what he called an effort to combat crime in Washington. The State Department scaled back a key U.S. government report on human rights worldwide, reducing the types of abuses the Trump administration will criticize, an effort it called “streamlining.” And officials reacted to a deadly shooting at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the previous week.
Trump and Putin meeting
As a candidate for president, Trump repeatedly pledged he would end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours. But on his 207th day in office, Trump planned to meet face-to-face with the man who launched it, seeking a resolution.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and presidential envoy Steve Witkoff are expected to join Trump for the meeting.
En route to Alaska, Trump told Fox News’ Bret Baier he would “walk” if the meeting did not meet his expectations.
“I think it’s going to work out very well — and if it doesn’t, I’m going to head back home real fast,” Trump said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, part of the Kremlin’s delegation to the Alaska summit, arrived wearing a shirt that said CCCP, Russian initials for the former Soviet Union, or USSR, apparently in reference to a larger Russian empire.
The site of the meeting came with some irony. Alaska was previously colonized by Russia from the 18th century until Czar Alexander II sold it to the U.S. in 1867. But when Alaska’s vast natural resources later became more clear, Russia appeared to have seller’s remorse, with some even currently suggesting it should be taken back. Prior to the summit, Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev posted photos on X of historic Russian Orthodox churches in Alaska.
Pope Leo XIV on Aug. 13 told reporters about the planned summit between Trump and Putin, “I’m always hoping for a ceasefire.”
“There must be an end to the violence and so many deaths,” he said. “Let’s see how they can reach an agreement because the war has been going on too long.”
Trump federalizes DC police, says homeless encampments will be removed
In announcing his federalization of the police force in Washington, Trump said Aug. 11 at a press conference at the White House, that he would take “historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse.”
“This is Liberation Day in D.C., and we’re going to take our capital back,” Trump said.
D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb on Aug. 15 sued in response.
The District of Columbia’s Home Rule Act, the law that established the district’s local government, gives the president limited power to order Washington’s mayor to temporarily give over control of the city’s police department if the president determines “special conditions of an emergency nature exist.”
Crime in the nation’s capital has declined from a pandemic-era increase, with an analysis of police data by The Washington Post showing homicides are down 32% year-to-date.
In a social media post prior to the press conference, Trump also said, “The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY. We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital.”
The announcement prompted concern from groups that minister to men and women experiencing homelessness in the nation’s capital.
In a statement posted on its social media pages, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington said the group “encourages and prays that all those interacting with people experiencing homelessness in the District of Columbia will treat them with compassion, respect, and dignity.”
“We continue to work closely with our community and government partners to lift up the most vulnerable and marginalized amongst us and provide hope and help on their path to future stability,” the statement said.
Laurie Carafone, executive director of Network, a Catholic social justice lobby, argued in a statement that Trump’s move “assaults both human dignity and the moral responsibility to care for our neighbors.”
“If the President is serious about supporting safety in DC, he should call on the GOP Congress to release the over $1 billion of DC taxpayer funds that was stolen from our city — funding intended for violence prevention, police, firefighters, and education, among other core services,” Carafone said, in part. “This cynical attack flies in the face of our values of faith, justice, and what it means to be people living in a free and open society.”
State Department scales back annual human rights report
Revisions to the 2024 report originally compiled by the Biden administration cut many references to issues including corruption, restrictions on free and fair elections, rights to a fair trial or freedom of assembly, The Atlantic said.
The changed criteria softened the criticism nations, including El Salvador and Israel, may have otherwise received, Reuters noted. Critics of the move argued the criteria were changed to ease criticism of nations that Trump considers partners of his administration.
“The Human Rights Reports are intended to spotlight human rights abuses, to demonstrate the need to counteract the violations, and to help ensure that perpetrators will be held accountable,” Melanne Verveer, director of Georgetown University’s Institute for Women, Peace and Security, said in an Aug. 14 statement. “Without comprehensive and credible tracking of violations — including those against women — the United States signals that we are turning a blind eye to the full range of human rights issues and we risk emboldening those responsible to perpetuate their actions.”
In response to a question about such criticism of the new report at an Aug. 12 press briefing, Tammy Bruce, the outgoing State Department spokesperson, said, “I would ask that people view this as an indication of our point of view in general, that there’s no country that is singled out for condemnation or singled out for praise.”
“It’s the nature of the consistency of how … our diplomats, how President Trump and Secretary Rubio view the nature of what’s happening in those countries,” she said.
Bruce said the briefing was her last. She is stepping down from the post as Trump has nominated her to be deputy representative to the United Nations.
CDC director says misinformation led to deadly shooting at Atlanta headquarters
CDC Director Susan Monarez told staff Aug. 12 that the promotion of misinformation in the deadly shooting at the CDC headquarters in Atlanta on Aug. 8, ABC News reported.
Law enforcement officials said the man who opened fire at the CDC headquarters, killing a police officer, died by suicide. The shooter fired nearly 200 rounds of ammunition at the building, and authorities recovered five guns and over 500 shell casings from the scene, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.
Officials with that agency said they also discovered “written documentation that expressed the shooter’s discontent with the COVID-19 vaccinations” during their investigation of his home.
Monarez’s letter to staff said “misinformation and its promulgation” has led to “deadly consequences.”
“I will work to restore trust in public health to those who have lost it- through science, evidence, and clarity of purpose,” the letter said. “I will need your help.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visited the CDC headquarters Aug. 11. He wrote on X, “We are deeply saddened by the tragic shooting at CDC’s Atlanta campus that took the life of officer David Rose. We stand with his wife and three children and the entire CDC family.”
Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington. Follow her on X @kgscanlon.
