A senior member of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle warned that multiple countries are mounting ‘titanic efforts’ to undermine the upcoming summit between the Russian leader and U.S. President Donald Trump.

The two leaders are scheduled to meet in Alaska on Aug. 15, though Trump’s announcement, made via a Truth Social post on Friday, offered few additional details about the summit. It is also unclear if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be invited to join the talks as the Kremlin’s unprovoked war stretches into its fourth year. 

‘Undoubtedly, a number of countries interested in continuing the conflict will make titanic efforts to disrupt the planned meeting between President Putin and President Trump,’ wrote Russia’s investment envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, in a Telegram post on Saturday, referencing the Kremlin’s ongoing war in Ukraine.

While Dmitriev did not name specific countries, he warned that critics of the upcoming talks could seek to sabotage the summit through diplomatic maneuvers or media-driven provocations. Several NATO countries in Europe have been openly skeptical of any deal that rewards Russian aggression in the three-year-old war.

Dmitriev, who met with Trump administration officials in Washington in April, has been dubbed Putin’s ‘shadow foreign minister’ for his behind-the-scenes role in shaping Russia’s global diplomacy.

 As head of the Kremlin’s sovereign wealth fund and a recently appointed special envoy, he has often acted as an informal bridge between Moscow and Washington.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin said in a statement on Saturday that Trump and Putin are expected to ‘focus on discussing options for achieving a long-term peaceful resolution to the Ukrainian crisis.’

‘This will evidently be a challenging process, but we will engage in it actively and energetically,’ the statement added.

Trump has previously said that Putin and Zelenskyy were close to a ceasefire deal but suggested that Kyiv would have to concede significant territory, an outcome that Ukrainians and many European allies oppose. 

Senate Republicans faced a choice recently: Remain in session and confirm more of President Trump’s nominees, or finally abandon Washington for the vaunted August recess.

Senators hung around – a little while – knocking out some of the President’s nominees for administration positions. But not all. That drew the ire of some conservatives, Trump loyalists and President Donald Trump himself.

Trump seethed at Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for requiring the Senate to run lengthy parliamentary traps and incinerate valuable floor time to confirm even non-controversial nominees. The President finally unloaded on the New York Democrat in a digital coup de grace, telling him to ‘GO TO HELL!’

It’s notable that Trump has not yet met with Schumer or House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., during his second term. But then again, this is a two-way street. And Democrats remember multiple tumultuous meetings with Mr. Trump during the last time he was in office. It culminated in verbal grappling between the President and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, and ended with Democrats abandoning the meeting after only a few moments.

So, it’s far from certain any such meeting would yield anything remotely productive.

But back to the ‘August recess.’

First, it’s important to establish that members of the House and Senate are not on ‘summer vacation.’ Sure, there are always some breaks to visit with family and friends. Lawmakers are people, too. But truly, this is not a ‘break.’ Lawmakers are always ‘on.’ Not everything they do is centered around Washington. Any congressman or senator worth their salt will tell you that spending time back in their home states or districts is just as important – if not more so – than what goes down on Capitol Hill. Meeting with constituents. Visiting businesses. Conducting town hall meetings. Stopping by local coffee bars. Breaking bread at diners. Chatting up the local press corps. 

Members also use this longer respite for political travel and fact-finding missions overseas. These ‘CODELS’ – short for ‘Congressional Delegation’ – are a critical function for lawmakers to build bridges with foreign leaders and make their marks on how the U.S. approaches the rest of the globe. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., have recently led groups on trips to Israel. At least one other major trip is booked for later this month.

So, the ‘August recess’ is not inherently a ‘bad’ thing. It’s an essential part of the job and probably one of the biggest misnomers in American politics. 

Still, many Americans simply dismiss August as a ‘vacation’ for House members and senators, and it is a challenging optic for Congress.

Which brings us back to the tension between staying in session to get ‘something’ done and returning home.

It’s clear the Senate could have stayed in session to plow through more of President Trump’s nominees. Schumer and other Democrats simply weren’t going to relent and allow Republicans to confirm a slate of nominees ‘en bloc.’ That’s where the Senate greenlights a large slate of nominees all at once and approves them either by unanimous consent or via voice vote. The Senate confirms the nominees all at once. The House certainly could have stayed in session to hammer out a few spending bills ahead of the deadline to fund the government by October 1.

But here’s a stark reality – especially for the Senate:

Lawmakers and staff desperately needed a break.

Period. Full stop.

Since May, the Senate in particular has conducted multiple overnight, round-the-clock and weekend sessions. Not just a few. The Senate voted deep into the night or overnight on the Big, Beautiful Bill. Then the Senate was back for late-night sessions confirming nominees. 

Yes. This is the people’s business. But the floor staff and support teams were exhausted. Senate leaders were mindful of that. And that’s to say nothing of the lawmakers themselves.

It’s anecdotal, but lawmakers probably needed a break from one another, too. That makes them happier – and probably more productive when they return to Washington. 

But this still doesn’t solve the political dilemma facing Republican senators with a substantial core of their party demanding they remain moored in Washington to grind out nominees.

And it may not satisfy President Trump, either.

There’s lots of Senate talk now about ‘changing the rules’ to accelerate the confirmation of nominees. 

One thing is for sure: the Senate won’t change the ‘rules’ to expedite the confirmation process. The Senate boasts 44 standing rules. It takes 67 votes to break a filibuster on an actual rules change. But what Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., could do is back the Senate into a special parliamentary posture where he can initiate a new ‘precedent’ to confirm different types of nominees. That’s a maneuver that late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., executed to confirm some of former President Obama’s nominees. The same with former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to confirm Supreme Court nominees.

‘New precedents’ in the Senate require some complicated parliamentary wrangling. But only a simple majority is necessary to make good on this gambit for nominees. So, it’s easier and much more plausible than ‘changing the rules.’

To the lay person, a new ‘precedent’ doesn’t sound important. But there’s a reason why the Senate only has 44 standing rules and a voluminous book of precedents. You can accomplish a lot in the Senate if you’re able to concoct a new precedent.

And note that it’s not just Republicans who want to change the way the Senate does things for some lower-tier, non-controversial nominees. Some Senate Democrats have expressed interest in changes, too.

There are only so many minutes and so many hours. Time is just as valuable to Democrats as it is to Republicans.

Everyone on Capitol Hill knows that more long nights and overnight sessions await lawmakers in September and the fall as the Senate attempts to confirm additional nominees.

That’s to say nothing of avoiding a government shutdown in October.

This is why Senate Republicans elected to stick around for a bit recently – and then call it a day. Or a month.

After all, there is only so much time available in August.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday thanked European leaders for backing his push to join this week’s U.S.–Russia summit, as Kyiv fears Washington and Moscow could strike a deal to end the war but in a way that undermines Ukraine’s sovereignty.

‘The end of the war must be fair, and I am grateful to everyone who stands with Ukraine and our people today for the sake of peace in Ukraine, which is defending the vital security interests of our European nations,’ Zelenskyy said.

The leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Finland and the European Commission said in a joint statement that any diplomatic solution brokered between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin must protect the security interests of Ukraine and Europe.

‘The U.S. has the power to force Russia to negotiate seriously,’ EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told Reuters on Sunday. ‘Any deal between the U.S. and Russia must have Ukraine and the EU included, for it is a matter of Ukraine’s and the whole of Europe’s security,’ she added.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said the upcoming summit ‘will be about testing Putin’ and will serve as a measure of how serious the Russian leader is about ‘bringing this terrible war to an end.’

Both the White House and the Kremlin have acknowledged Zelenskyy’s request to join the talks, though no formal invitation has been issued. Trump and Putin are scheduled to meet in Alaska on Aug. 15. If Zelenskyy were to take part, the meeting would mark the first between Putin and Zelenskyy since the start of Moscow’s war.

The meeting, which Trump announced in a Truth Social post on Friday, comes on the heels of Washington’s threats to impose steep tariffs on the Kremlin and its allies.

Trump has previously singled out countries like India and China—top buyers of discounted Russian crude — for undermining G7 price caps and weakening the impact of Western sanctions.

In response, bipartisan lawmakers introduced the Sanctioning Russia Act, which would impose a 500% tariff targeting the core of Russia’s economy — its oil and gas exports — if Moscow continues to resist peace efforts or escalates the conflict.

Meanwhile, a senior member of Putin’s inner circle warned that multiple countries are mounting ‘titanic efforts’ to undermine the upcoming summit between the Russian leader and Trump.

‘Undoubtedly, a number of countries interested in continuing the conflict will make titanic efforts to disrupt the planned meeting between President Putin and President Trump,’ wrote Russia’s investment envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, in a Telegram post on Saturday, referencing the Kremlin’s ongoing war in Ukraine.

While Dmitriev did not name specific countries, he warned that critics of the upcoming talks could seek to sabotage the summit through diplomatic maneuvers or disinformation through the media.

President Donald Trump will use the upcoming summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin to test how serious Putin is about ending the war with Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Sunday.

Rutte told ABC’s ‘This Week’ that the meeting comes as Trump continues to put pressure on Putin, noting the recent secondary sanctions on countries like India, which purchased Russian oil, and delivering lethal weapons to Ukraine.

‘Next Friday will be important because it will be about testing Putin, how serious he is on bringing this terrible war to an end,’ Rutte said.

Trump announced the first in-person meeting with Putin since Moscow launched its deadly invasion of Ukraine in 2022 in a Truth Social post on Saturday. The leaders are expected to meet in Alaska on Friday, Aug. 15.

In recent weeks, Trump has refused to mince words when asked about Putin. Trump said during a Cabinet meeting July 8 he was fed up with Putin and said he was eyeing potentially imposing new sanctions on Russia. 

The NATO chief called the upcoming meeting ‘an important step’ in the process of reaching full-scale peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, however, wasn’t expected to be at the summit with Trump and Putin as of Sunday. Despite Zelenskyy’s absence, Rutte said ‘we need Ukraine at the table.’

‘It will be about territory,’ Rutte said of the upcoming meeting. ‘It will, of course, be about security guarantees, but also about the absolute need to acknowledge that Ukraine decides on its own future, that Ukraine has to be a sovereign nation deciding on its geopolitical future, of course having no limitations to its own military troop levels, and for NATO to have no limitations on our presence on the eastern flank in countries like Latvia, Estonia and Finland.’

U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker told CNN on Sunday that no decision had been made at this point about whether Zelenskyy would be invited to the meeting.

‘If [Trump] thinks that that is the best scenario to invite Zelenskyy, then he’ll do that,’ Whitaker said, adding that ‘there’s time to make that decision.’

When asked about whether Putin can be trusted, Whitaker said that in any situation of competing national interests it will be actions, not words, that decide whether peace is achieved and preserved.

‘Words are cheap, but in this case, whether it’s the Russians or the Ukrainians, both sides are going to have to take the actions to have peace and to continue to honor that peace,’ he said.

Fox News Digital’s Diana Stancy contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump recently spoke to the South Carolina Republican Party’s Silver Elephant Gala through a phone that Sen. Lindsey Graham held up to a microphone.

Trump, who endorsed Graham for re-election earlier this year, continued expressing his support for the senator while speaking on the phone.

Trump said the senator has his ‘full endorsement,’ calling him a ‘great guy,’ saying that Graham has always been there for him when he needed him and he ‘won’t forget it.’

‘Thank you for your surprise call, Mr. President!’ Graham said in a post on X that also featured footage of Trump’s remarks about him. 

‘With your support, I’ll keep delivering the America First agenda to the great people of South Carolina. I’m glad to have been part of the most awesome six months in modern history led by President @realDonaldTrump.’

Graham, who has served in the Senate since 2003, is facing Republican primary challengers.

Paul Dans, the former director of the 2025 Presidential Transition Project at the Heritage Foundation and who is one of Graham’s challengers, attended the event where Trump spoke by phone.

‘Lindsey Graham’s terrified—his Senate seat’s at risk against me, his toughest challenger yet. After 32 years of broken term-limit promises, he’s done. Clinging to President Trump won’t save him from SC’s America First Patriots who see his grift. #LindseyPanic #PrezTrumpPlsHelpMe,’ Dans wrote in a post on X.

Graham will be up for re-election in 2026.

House GOP fiscal hawks have requested tens of millions of federal dollars for projects in their home districts for fiscal year 2026, an analysis by Fox News Digital has found.

It’s common practice for congressional lawmakers to request funding for specific community initiatives for the people they represent – measures called ‘earmarks.’ Critics of such funding have often referred to it as ‘pork,’ however.

This coming fiscal year, beginning on Oct. 1, is no different – both Republicans and Democrats have requests totaling over a billion dollars in earmarks so far. 

That includes conservatives in the House of Representatives who have been known to criticize what they describe as excessive or bloated government spending.

House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris, R-Md., for instance, has been approved for more than $55 million in federal funding for projects in his district. 

The figure includes $9 million for the Middle River Fire Company to make improvements and upgrades to its facilities, and $1 million for the development of a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. 

The majority of Harris’ requests are aimed at rural development in his district and the Army Corps of Engineers. Three earmarks were requested for clean water initiatives.

Harris told Fox News Digital when reached for comment on the funds, ‘These awards are certified to directly benefit taxpayers in the district—drawing from existing grant programs that are funded annually. It’s far better for elected members of Congress to designate where that money goes than to leave those decisions to unelected federal bureaucrats. There are no additional funds appropriated for Community Project Funding – they all fall within the agency’s appropriation.’

Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., a self-described deficit hawk, was approved for just over $10 million so far. That includes over $4 million for Flexible Neutron Source, a research tool at the University of Tennessee, and $2 million for veterans housing in Knox County.

House Freedom Caucus member Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., was approved for more than $18 million in earmarks – with the largest request being $4,200,000 for the Silicon Bayou Semiconductor Technology Center at the University of Louisiana, Lafayette.

Higgins’ total sum also includes funding for Army Corps of Engineers projects, as well as rural hospital, law enforcement and clean water initiatives.

He also submitted a joint request with House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., for $131,500,000 toward a levee and floodgate system, called the Morganza to the Gulf of Mexico Project, aimed at storm damage prevention.

Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., another member of the House Freedom Caucus, got nearly $15 million in community funding projects approved, chiefly aimed at clean water programs and highway infrastructure.

Boebert was vehemently against earmarks when she first came to Congress. Her opinion has changed since then, however, due to Republican-led changes to the process – which she explained in a 2023 op-ed in the Aspen Times.

She made a similar argument to Fox News Digital when reached for this story: ‘I fought for real reforms to the appropriations process in 2023 to make sure my constituents’ tax dollars go to necessary infrastructure projects, not the wasteful and corrupt spending schemes that took place under Nancy Pelosi.’

‘My district’s roads are crumbling, and our water keeps getting sent to California, where it’s wasted, because Colorado’s politicians won’t invest in water storage or infrastructure investments. My constituents pay federal taxes just like everyone else, and they should see their dollars benefit their communities instead of being sent to sanctuary cities like Denver,’ Boebert said.

Conservative libertarian Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., also got some community funding, though only totaling $5 million approved so far. Massie’s requests so far are all focused on construction and rehabilitation for Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

Massie told Fox News Digital of the funding, ‘I serve on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee because I believe the federal government has a legitimate role in transportation infrastructure, and the legislature has the constitutional authority to direct the funding of those projects.’

‘In fact, I have voted in the GOP conference more than once to restore congressionally directed spending in the context of transportation infrastructure,’ Massie said.

And Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., chair of the subcommittee for Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE), got nearly $10 million in earmarks approved for her rural-suburban Georgia district. 

Those funding requests are largely comprised of infrastructure initiatives, clean water programs, and law enforcement-related projects for Floyd County and other areas.

While known as a fiscal hawk, it’s worth noting that the majority of Greene’s criticism of government spending is directed at foreign aid.

Greene said she was glad to be able to provide for her district when reached for comment by Fox News Digital.

‘I’m proud to bring federal tax dollars back home to Northwest Georgia – where they belong. My constituents work hard, and for far too long, Washington has sent their money to fund foreign wars, foreign governments and globalist pet projects. When I first got to Congress, I opposed the earmark process because I believed it was a tool of the Swamp. But after seeing how it works today, I’ve realized that if we don’t fight to bring money back to our districts, the money goes elsewhere,’ Greene said.

‘I’ll never support billions for Ukraine or other endless wars, but I will absolutely fight to secure critical investments in Northwest Georgia, from water systems and sewer expansions to public safety equipment, roads and broadband.’

The aforementioned lawmakers’ spending requests are far from an exhaustive total list across the entire House, but fiscal conservatives’ earmark proposals show just how widespread the practice is within Congress – on both sides of the aisle.

Republicans have made some changes to the process as of FY2025, however, to narrow what’s allowed.

In an effort to block out funding requests for ‘woke’ or socially progressive policies, GOP appropriators have barred earmarks for most nonprofit organizations.

That move likely saved hundreds of millions of dollars in annual spending, but Democrats decried it as a block on federal funding for LGBT initiatives.

Fox News Digital reached out to spokespeople for Burchett and Higgins for comment but did not receive a response.

President Donald Trump’s week will culminate in a high-stakes summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, where the two leaders are expected to discuss the war in Ukraine and the broader state of U.S.–Russia relations on the global stage.

The summit, scheduled for Friday, has drawn international scrutiny amid concerns that Washington and Moscow could attempt to broker terms for ending the conflict without formally involving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, leaving him only a tacit role in negotiations.

Trump has previously said that Putin and Zelenskyy were close to a ceasefire deal but signaled that war-weary Kyiv would have to concede significant territory, an outcome that Ukrainians and many European allies oppose.

Russian forces currently occupy approximately one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory stretching from the Russian border to Crimea — including regions vital to the country’s economy, rich in minerals, industry, and home to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.

Both the White House and the Kremlin have acknowledged Zelenskyy’s request to join the talks, though no formal invitation has been extended to the Ukrainian leader. If granted a seat at the table, it would mark the first face-to-face meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022.

The summit comes as Russia’s war grinds into its third year and fifth month, with Moscow showing little sign of abandoning its efforts to erode Ukraine’s sovereignty and reassert the territorial influence of the former Soviet empire.

The Kremlin said in a statement on Saturday that Trump and Putin are expected to ‘focus on discussing options for achieving a long-term peaceful resolution’ in Ukraine. ‘This will evidently be a challenging process, but we will engage in it actively and energetically,’ the statement added.

‘The US has the power to force Russia to negotiate seriously’

Over the weekend, several European leaders voiced support for Zelenskyy’s push to attend this week’s summit, amid growing concerns that Kyiv’s long-term security could be negotiated without its direct involvement.

The leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Finland and the European Commission said in a joint statement that any diplomatic solution brokered between Trump and Putin must uphold the security interests of both Ukraine and Europe.

‘The U.S. has the power to force Russia to negotiate seriously,’ European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told Reuters on Sunday. ‘Any deal between the U.S. and Russia must have Ukraine and the EU included, for it is a matter of Ukraine’s and the whole of Europe’s security,’ she added.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte also voiced support for Zelenskyy’s attendance at the meeting and called the summit an opportunity to measure how serious Putin is about ‘bringing this terrible war to an end.’ 

Zelenskyy thanked European leaders for their support and said that ‘the end of the war must be fair.’

‘I am grateful to everyone who stands with Ukraine and our people today for the sake of peace in Ukraine, which is defending the vital security interests of our European nations,’ he said.