As President Donald Trump floats the idea of meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the question in Washington and Seoul is whether there could be any real substance left in a summit that once dominated global headlines.

For Trump, the answer may lie less in new breakthroughs and more in reviving an old diplomatic gamble: the belief that personal diplomacy can succeed where conventional statecraft has failed.

‘I got along great with Kim Jong Un. I liked him, he liked me,’ Trump told reporters on Monday — a reminder of his trademark tactic of flattering America’s adversaries, a style that infuriates critics. ‘I’d love to meet him.’

Trump’s approach to North Korea has always been defined by spectacle — the 2018 Singapore summit, the DMZ handshake and the failed Hanoi talks in 2019. While direct engagement briefly lowered tensions and paused North Korea’s nuclear tests, Pyongyang has since dramatically expanded its nuclear arsenal, tested more advanced solid-fuel missiles and aligned more closely with China and Russia.

It has also claimed to test new underwater nuclear-capable drones and satellite systems — and has declared that talks focused on nuclear disarmament are a nonstarter.

Trump has floated sanctions relief in exchange for denuclearization.

‘Well, we have sanctions,’ Trump said of possible discussion points. ‘That’s pretty big to start off with. I would say that’s about as big as you get.’

During a speech last month, Kim said he has a ‘good memory of Trump’ but would meet him only ‘if the U.S. drops its hollow obsession with denuclearization.’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said U.S. policy toward North Korea remains focused on urging Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons.

‘Our North Korea policy remains the same. It’s the denuclearization of North Korea. It’s an objective that we have all been pursuing for decades,’ Rubio said.

Further compounding U.S. concerns is North Korea’s growing relationship with Russia. North Korea has provided Russia with troops for its war in Ukraine, and Western officials remain concerned about what Pyongyang is receiving in return from the nuclear-armed state. U.S. officials have warned that Russia may be sharing advanced satellite technology with North Korea.

The budding Moscow–Pyongyang relationship is a ‘national security challenge that needs to be addressed one way or the other,’ he added.

North Korea has so far not responded to Trump’s latest overture. On Friday, the president hinted at the difficulty of reaching Kim’s team.

‘I think they are sort of a nuclear power,’ he said. ‘They have a lot of nuclear weapons but not a lot of telephone service.’

Kim wants North Korea to be formally recognized as a nuclear power.

Absent a framework for a breakthrough in recent tensions, any summit risks a repeat of Hanoi: high drama, few deliverables.

Still, some see opportunity. Even a limited freeze on long-range missile tests or nuclear production could stabilize the peninsula — and Trump would remain the only Western leader who has Kim’s ear.

President Donald Trump offered new details about his upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday, saying he expected the meeting to last several hours.

Trump made the comments during a diplomatic dinner hosted by South Korean President Lee Jae‑myung on Wednesday. Trump was caught on a hot mic as he sat down for the meal, saying his meeting with Xi on Thursday morning would last ‘three to four hours.’

‘We’re going to have something that’s going to be very, very satisfactory to China and to us. I think we’re gonna have a — I think it’s going to be a very good meeting. I look forward to it tomorrow morning when we meet,’ Trump said.

During his formal remarks, Trump also said he was confident that South Korea’s conflict with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un would ‘work out very well.’

‘You have a neighbor that hasn’t been as nice as they could be, and I think they will be. I know Kim Jong Un very well, and I think things will work out very well,’ he said.

Trump said earlier this week that he would be open to meeting with Kim during his time in South Korea. Trump is entering the final leg of his five-day Asia trip on Wednesday, having already visited Japan earlier this week.

‘I’d love to meet with him if he’d like to meet. I got along great with Kim Jong Un. I liked him, he liked me,’ Trump said during a gaggle on Air Force One on Monday.

Trump met with Kim multiple times during his first term, becoming the first U.S. president to set foot in North Korea. No meeting has been announced for this week, however.

Trump’s talks with his South Korean counterpart come as the two countries move closer to completing a new trade agreement.

Henry Haggard, former minister counselor for political affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, told Fox News Digital, ‘Trump’s main objective in meeting Lee Jae-myung is to secure a trade deal and, along with that, $350 billion in investments in the United States.’

‘He will also seek to push Lee to commit to a stronger stance against China, and to increase defense spending. Lee will seek to charm Trump, as the key to keeping the bilateral relationship on track is for Lee to have a stronger relationship with Trump.’

Lee is head of a left-leaning government that has so far shown reluctance to enhance South Korea’s partnership with the U.S. for fear of provoking Chinese backlash.

Fox News’ Efrat Lachter contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump spoke to the press while en route to South Korea on Tuesday aboard Air Force One and made remarks about his authority to deploy U.S. military forces domestically — something that will likely draw legal and political concerns.

Trump was traveling to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), where he is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

During the media availability, Trump claimed he could deploy U.S. military forces into American cities if necessary, claiming that ‘the courts wouldn’t get involved.’

When speaking with reporters, he said he would consider using the military beyond the National Guard if the need arises.

‘I would do that if it was necessary,’ he said. ‘It hasn’t been necessary. We’re doing a great job without that.’

Trump also argued that, as president, he has the power to take such an action.

‘If I want to enact a certain act, I’m allowed to do it routinely,’ he said. ‘I’d be allowed to do whatever I want… You understand that the courts wouldn’t get involved. Nobody would get involved.’

He added, ‘I could send the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines. I can send anybody I wanted, but I haven’t done that because we’re doing so well.’

Trump made it a point to use San Francisco as an example, describing how federal officials were ‘all set to go last Saturday’ to intervene in the city but held off after local leaders asked for a chance to handle it themselves.

‘We would have solved that problem in less than a month,’ he said, adding that federal intervention ‘would go a lot quicker and it’s much more effective.’

He also emphasized what he described as progress in other parts of the U.S.

‘Memphis is making tremendous progress,’ Trump said. ‘It’s down, I think, almost 70%, 60–70%. And within two or three weeks it would be down to almost no crime.’

The president is scheduled to meet with Xi on Wednesday to discuss fentanyl trafficking, trade policy and border security.

Senate Republicans offered a rare rebuke against President Donald Trump and his trade strategy on Tuesday, despite still remaining largely in lockstep amid the ongoing government shutdown.

A handful of Senate Republicans joined Senate Democrats to end Trump’s use of emergency powers to implement steep, 50% tariffs on Brazil. While the resolution, led by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., advanced from the upper chamber, it can’t be taken up in the House until early next year.

That’s because House Republicans recently passed a rule that would not allow the chamber to consider legislation dealing with Trump’s tariffs until January of next year.

Five Senate Republicans, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, joined all Senate Democrats to advance the resolution with a 52-48 vote.

Their defection from their GOP colleagues comes after Vice President JD Vance warned lawmakers not to vote against Trump’s usage of tariffs during Senate Republicans’ closed-door lunch earlier on Tuesday.

Vance argued after the lunch that tariffs give Trump leverage to craft new trade deals that benefit the country and urged Republicans not to break ranks against the president.

‘To vote against that is to strip that incredible leverage from the president of the United States. I think it’s a huge mistake and I know most of the people in there agree with me,’ he said.

Trump initially used emergency powers to enact stiffer tariffs on Brazil in July and argued ‘that the scope and gravity of the recent policies, practices, and actions of the Government of Brazil constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat’ to the U.S.

It’s not the first time the Senate has disapproved of Trump’s tariffs. Earlier this year, Republicans joined Democrats to rebuke Trump’s emergency declaration for 25% tariffs against Canada, and they tried and failed to reject his use of global tariffs. 

Kaine also has plans to bring two more resolutions, one to block tariffs on Canadian goods and the other on Trump’s global tariffs, later this week.

‘It makes no sense to impose tariffs on Brazil, and it’s just being done to back up the president’s friend,’ Kaine told reporters ahead of the vote.

Kaine was referring to former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who at the time of Trump’s declaration, was being prosecuted for an attempted coup after an election loss in 2022. He was sentenced to 27 years in prison in September.

Paul argued that ’emergencies are like war, famine, tornado, not liking someone’s tariffs is not an emergency.’

‘Tariffs are an import tax, they are a tax, not a tax on China,’ Paul said. ‘It’s a tax on the people who buy stuff from China, which are mostly Americans. Taxes are supposed to originate in the House, so I will continue to vote to end the emergency.’

When asked why more Senate Republicans hadn’t joined him on his tariff position, Paul said, ‘Fear.’

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., questioned the validity of pardons granted by former President Joe Biden after the release of a high-profile report by the House Oversight Committee.

‘It sounds like a terrible novel or something, but this is reality,’ Johnson said in response to the House GOP’s allegations that Biden’s inner circle conspired to hide signs of mental decline in the former president.

‘And so the pardons, for example, he pardoned categories of violent criminals and turned them loose on the streets, and he didn’t even know who. He didn’t even know what the categories were, apparently, much less the individual people, that he pardoned.’

Johnson said the pardons were ‘invalid on their face.’

‘I mean, I used to be a constitutional litigator. I would love to take this case,’ he said.

The committee’s GOP majority released a 100-page report on Tuesday morning detailing findings from its months-long probe into Biden’s White House, specifically whether his inner circle covered up signs of mental decline in the ex-president, and if that alleged cover-up extended to executive actions signed via autopen without Biden’s full awareness.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., heaped doubt on whether Biden actually signed off on all of his executive actions when the autopen was used — in particular, the thousands of clemency orders he authorized during his term.

Comer said Biden’s autopen-authorized actions should be considered ‘void’ and called on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to review the matter.

Asked at his press conference about whether there was a legal avenue to nullify Biden’s executive actions signed by autopen, Johnson signaled that he saw such an opportunity as it related to Biden’s pardons specifically.

‘You can’t allow a president to check out and have unelected, unaccountable, faceless people making massive decisions for the country,’ Johnson said.

A Biden spokesperson pushed back on the committee’s conclusions in a statement to Fox News Digital made Tuesday morning, however.

‘This investigation into baseless claims has confirmed what has been clear from the start: President Biden made the decisions of his presidency. There was no conspiracy, no cover-up, and no wrongdoing. Congressional Republicans should stop focusing on political retribution and instead work to end the government shutdown,’ the spokesperson said.

In an interview with The New York Times in July, Biden affirmed he ‘made every decision’ on his own.

The House Freedom Caucus is holding an event this week aimed at praying for an end to political violence as well as those affected by the ongoing government shutdown.

The conservative caucus’ prayer call will be co-led by the Family Research Council, a Christian public policy group.

Attendees are expected to include House Republicans in the Freedom Caucus, former Trump Cabinet official Ben Carson and Frank Turek of Turning Point USA, whose founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated in an act of political violence earlier this year.

In addition to prayers for an end to political violence and the government shutdown, attendees are also expected to pray for President Donald Trump, Congress and peace for Israel.

The event is slated for Thursday, which will mark Day 30 of the ongoing government shutdown.

There appears to be no clear end in sight to the fiscal standoff, with both Republicans and Democrats still firmly entrenched in their positions.

Republicans are pushing for a short-term extension of fiscal year (FY) 2025 federal spending levels called a continuing resolution (CR), aimed at giving congressional negotiators more time to strike a more enduring deal for FY2026 — which began on Oct. 1.

The GOP bill also included some $88 million in increased security spending for Congress, the White House and the Supreme Court, given the heightened political threat environment.

That measure passed the House on Sept. 19 with support from just one Democrat and all but two Republicans.

It’s stalled in the Senate, however, where at least five more Democrats are needed to overcome a filibuster. Democratic leaders are demanding any funding bill be paired with an extension of COVID-19-era Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire at the end of this year.

Senate Democrats tanked the GOP’s bill 13 times since Sept. 19.

Senate Republicans are mulling a handful of bills to meet funding shortfalls as the shutdown drags on, but one that would prevent funding for federal benefits from lapsing may not get a shot on the floor.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., is pushing a bill that would extend funding for food stamps, known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), until the government reopens and regular government funding continues.

His legislation comes after the Trump administration announced over the weekend the funding for the program would run dry on Saturday, and that they would reshuffle funding from an emergency contingency fund to keep the program afloat.

It’s one of a handful of bills pushed by Republicans to try and ease the pain of the ongoing shutdown. Others include efforts to pay certain federal workers, the military, and air traffic controllers, who missed their first full paycheck on Tuesday.

Hawley stressed that he would like a vote on the bill, but that it is so far being blocked from reaching the floor. He believed the legislation, which has 10 Republican co-sponsors and one Democratic co-sponsor, would pass if it hit the floor.

‘My strong encouragement is we don’t need to allow 42 million people to go hungry,’ he said.

But Senate Republican leadership and the White House want to exert pressure on Senate Democrats to reopen the government, and using the piecemeal ‘rifle shot’ strategy could get in the way of that.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., took a firm position against the rifle-shot approach after a closed-door lunch with the Senate GOP and Vice President JD Vance.

‘This piecemeal approach, where you do one-off here, one-off there, to make it seem, you know, more politically palatable to somebody or less painful. That’s just a wrong way to do this,’ Thune said. ‘There’s just a simple way to do it is to pick up the bill on the desk of the Senate and give us five more Democrat votes to pass it.’

Vance said that ‘we’re trying to keep as much open as possible’ and exploring all options with limited funds for SNAP and other issues, and he noted that the White House had found a way to pay the troops.

‘You know what would make this really easy? If the Democrats just opened up the government. Then we wouldn’t have to play this game where we’re trying to find, trying to fit a square peg in a round hole with this budget,’ Vance said.

Other Republicans echoed leadership and the White House’s sentiment.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., similarly has a one-off funding bill that would pay working federal employees and the military, which he’s trying to reconfigure into a compromise proposal with Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.

However, he didn’t appear keen on supporting Hawley’s bill.

‘The way you provide SNAP benefits is you vote for the House CR. It’s that simple,’ he told Fox News Digital.

But co-sponsors of the bill were still hopeful that it could get a shot before the Saturday funding cliff.

Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., is the lone Democratic co-sponsor on the bill. He noted that while Senate Democrats’ primary focus during the shutdown was on extending the expiring Obamacare premium subsidies, it was ‘not to take food from people who need it.’

‘I’m really concerned about people not getting fed,’ he said.

Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, is another co-sponsor on the bill and told Fox News Digital that it depended on ‘how much longer this [shutdown] goes’ on whether the SNAP legislation hits the floor.

‘I hope so, because we can’t let people who need food to starve to death because of Democrats’ vanity and lack of humanity,’ he said.