Morning Report — Trump is starting Ukraine peace talks — without Ukraine

In today’s issue:  

• U.S. prepares for Russia talks without Ukraine
• Congress upheaval over DOGE
• Trump czar denies mayor got a DOJ deal
• Gaza ceasefire shaky but in place

The Trump administration will meet this week with Russian officials to discuss an end to Russia’s three-year invasion of Ukraine — but no delegation from Ukraine is scheduled to take part.

The meetings, hosted in Saudi Arabia, will feature a cadre of high-ranking U.S. officials — including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, national security adviser Mike Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff — working to fulfill President Trump’s long standing campaign pledge to end the war in Ukraine. Rubio landed in Saudi Arabia today, and Kremlin officials confirmed they will be arriving today for talks beginning tomorrow, focusing on restoring ties, Ukraine and preparing a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump.

The trip follows a recent phone call between Trump and Putin,in which Trump said the two leaders “agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately.” The call upended years of U.S. policy, ending Moscow’s isolation over its February 2022 invasion. Trump spoke separately with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Notably absent from the meeting roster: U.S. special envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg, as well as Ukrainian officials. A Ukrainian official said a delegation from Kyiv is in Saudi Arabia to pave the way for a possible visit by Zelensky. Trump on Sunday told reporters Zelensky “will be involved” but did not elaborate on the role he’d play in the talks. The Ukrainian president on Sunday traveled to Abu Dhabi, where his agenda was not immediately clear.

Rubio told CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday “we have a long ways to go” before commencing any potential peace talks with Russia aimed at ending the war, adding that “nothing has been finalized” regarding upcoming meetings.

“We stand ready to follow the president’s lead on this and begin to explore ways, if those opportunities present itself, to begin a process toward peace,” Rubio said.

▪ The Wall Street Journal: Russia’s advance in Ukraine is slowing. Here’s what’s happening and why.

▪ Reuters: The U.S. has asked its European allies what they would need from Washington to participate in Ukraine security arrangements.

During a Saturday speech at the Munich Security Conference, Zelensky said Ukraine must be involved with any negotiations to end the war.

“Ukraine will never accept deals made behind our backs,” he said. “No decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine, no decisions about Europe without Europe.”

Senior administration officials, including Vice President Vance, Rubio and Kellogg had huddled in Munich last week, where the Russia-Ukraine war was a critical topic of discussion. On Wednesday, Zelensky rejected an offer by the Trump administration to relinquish half of the country’s mineral resources in exchange for U.S. support. Zelensky said he rejected the deal because it did not tie resource access to U.S. security guarantees.

As Ukraine remains iced out of the Trump administration’s peace talks, Europe is scrambling to respond. French President Emmanuel Macron will host European leaders today for an emergency summit on the Ukraine war after U.S. officials suggested Europe would have no role in any talks on ending the conflict.

Macron’s office said the “consultation talks” would address the tumultuous change in the U.S. approach to Ukraine and the attendant risks to the security of the European continent.

In a Sunday interview on Fox News, Waltz said U.S. negotiators “will bring everyone together when appropriate,” while specifying that the Europeans will be expected to “provide long-term military guarantees.”

▪ CNN: An isolated Europe worries the U.S. will negotiate on Ukraine badly without it.

▪ NPR: European leaders scramble ahead of Trump's Ukraine summit with Putin.

▪ The Guardian: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer — who raised the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine — will discuss the views of European leaders when he visits Trump at the White House at the end of this month. 

▪ The Hill: The foreign minister of Poland, Radosław Sikorski, said that a united European army “will not happen.” 

New targets: On NBC’s “Meet The Press,” Zelensky said his country has intelligence that Putin plans to target Russia-friendly Belarus and warned against the weakening of NATO.

“And at that moment,” Zelensky continued, “knowing that he did not succeed in occupying us, we do not know where he will go. There are risks that this can be Poland and Lithuania because we believe — we believe that Putin will wage war against NATO.”

SMART TAKE with NewsNation’s BLAKE BURMAN

Blake Burman, who hosts “The Hill” weeknights, 6p/5c on NewsNation, is off for President’s Day and returns Tuesday.

3 THINGS TO KNOW TODAY

▪ The 14th Amendment of the Constitution is for former slaves, not migrants, Trump said Sunday. It’s a birthright citizenship interpretation many constitutional scholars dispute. 

▪ Jan. 6 rioters have argued in court that Trump’s pardons should absolve them of other crimes, including child pornography, illegal gun possession and a murder plot against FBI agents. Dozens of defendants joined forces on X to compile and publicize the names and some photos of at least 124 people who had a hand in their convictions — mainly prosecutors, but also a few judges and FBI agents. 

▪ Here are three subtle signs you need to take time off from work, according to a psychologist.

LEADING THE DAY

© The Associated Press | Patrick Semansky

FIRINGS AND FURY: As Trump’s presidency passes the one-month point this week, efforts led by Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency to reshape the federal workforce will continue to grab headlines and create controversy.

Federal departments and agencies are removing probationary workers, a category of employees who are easier to dismiss under federal rules and can include highly skilled workers. Federal employees have described specialized and experienced employees cast aside as Musk and Trump seek to quickly shrink the workforce. The administration is now trying to rehire hundreds of fired federal employees who were tasked with working on the nation’s nuclear weapons programs.

The DOGE endeavor is a major continuing story this week in Washington and around the country. Things to watch include whether any Republican lawmakers publicly object to Musk’s methods and whether Trump shows any signs of impatience with the attention his billionaire ally attracts. 

Thousands of probationary employees who lack civil service protections at the Internal Revenue Service are being purged from the agency ahead of the tax filing season, reports The Associated Press. Musk’s team has accessed IRS data that includes detailed financial information about every taxpayer, business and nonprofit in the country. The move set off alarms inside the agency, The Washington Post and NBC News reported Sunday.

The Hill: The Trump administration filed its first appeal to the Supreme Court in its contested firing of a top federal whistleblower protection official. 

Across the aisle, House and Senate Democrats have no set strategy to battle Musk’s efficiency team. The minority party in the Capitol has been described as powerless since Jan. 20. Democrats’ hopes: Court intervention might at least slow Trump’s downsizing campaign. 

Some Republican senators are uneasy as they encounter repercussions and angst in their home states. Polls indicate Musk is deeply unpopular among centrists and moderates in addition to Democrats, reports The Hill’s Alexander Bolton. Musk’s capacity to fund primary challenges through a super PAC is the influencer’s superpower to watch.

▪ The Hill: Here are five pressing questions faced by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

▪ The New York Times: How Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) arrived at “yes” from “hard no” on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth nomination to join Trump’s team. It’s a tale of political calculation and more broadly, Republican acquiescence to Trump’s demands. 

▪ The Hill: Senate Democrats split over how to push back against Trump’s assault on the U.S. Agency for International Development. 

▪ The Washington Post: Here’s how Musk’s efficiency team did its targeting and who is up next, according to documents.

Meanwhile on Capitol Hill, the House GOP budget resolution that squeaked through committee last week as a broad and ambitious outline is in jeopardy amid concerns from moderate Republicans. Across the Rotunda, Senate Republicans who are eyeing a potential shutdown battle ahead of a March 14 deadline to keep the government funded would like to jam through defense and border funding, adding to the budget uncertainties ahead for the party in power. 

Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) says he told Trump, and believes the president “buys into” his view, that “it’d be really helpful if we had $150 billion of new money [for the border] before March 14.”

The Hill: Democrats' headaches have multiplied in the past few week amid the party’s battle for future control of the Senate.  

WHERE AND WHEN