Trump admin updates: Trump teases 'big day' at White House

President Donald Trump also said Zelenskyy can end the war "almost immediately."

ByKevin Shalvey, Alexandra Hutzler, Sarah Beth Hensley, and Meredith Deliso
Last Updated: August 18, 2025, 12:09 AM EDT

President Donald Trump returned from Alaska after his high-stakes meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the president's crime-reduction push in Washington, D.C. continues.

National Guard are in Washington as part of Trump's plan to reduce violent crime in the city.

On Friday, an order by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi designating the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration Terry Cole as the District's "Emergency Police Commissioner" was retooled after a legal challenge by local officials.

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Aug 11, 2025, 12:02 PM EDT

Trump says DC takeover will be a 'model' for other cities

Wrapping up a press conference in the White House briefing room, President Donald Trump declared, "We're going to be taking back our capital."

"It's going to be a model. And then we'll look at other cities also, but other cities are studying what we're doing. And you have some capable people in other cities, they can do it too. But we have a great group of professionals, we're going to have a safe, beautiful capital and it's going to happen very quickly," Trump added.

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Aug. 11, 2025, in Washington.
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

Aug 11, 2025, 12:01 PM EDT

Trump talk US-Russia trade as Putin meeting approaches

President Donald Trump said he believed the United States and Russia could engage in trade talks as a result of the upcoming meeting of the president and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Asked if he believed "normal trade" could happen between the U.S. and Russia should the meeting go well, Trump said "I do."

"Russia has a very valuable piece of land. If Vladimir Putin would go toward business instead of toward war, you know, it's a warring nation. That's what they do," Trump said.

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Aug. 11, 2025, in Washington.
Alex Brandon/AP

Aug 11, 2025, 11:46 AM EDT

Trump says Alaska summit is a 'feel out meeting' with Putin

President Donald Trump was asked on Monday about his upcoming sit-down with Russia's Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.

"This is really a feel-out meeting, a little bit," Trump said.

"President Putin invited me to get involved. He wants us to get involved. I think, I believe, he wants to get it over," he said.

Trump said he would call European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy immediately after he and Putin meet.

President Donald Trump with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and US Attorney General Pam Bondi addresses the media in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Washington, August 11, 2025.
Will Oliver/EPA/Shutterstock

"The next meeting will be with Zelenskyy and Putin, or Zelenskyy and Putin and me. I'll be there if they need, but I want to have a meeting set up between the two leaders," the president said.

Aug 11, 2025, 11:35 AM EDT

Trump says other major cities should 'self clean up'

Asked if similar actions will be taken in other major cities around the United States, President Donald Trump said he will "see what happens" and said he hopes some of them "self clean up."

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Aug. 11, 2025, in Washington, as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth listens.
Alex Brandon/AP

He singled out Chicago and Los Angeles as cities that need improvement.

"If we need to, we're going to do the same thing in Chicago, which is a disaster," Trump said, slamming the city's mayor and Illinois' governor.

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