Friday morning news: October 17, 2025

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Trump meeting with Zelenskyy, to meet with Putin again » Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to meet with President Trump at the White House today.

They’ll talk about more air defenses for Ukraine and the possibility of the United States selling long-range tomahawk missiles to Kyiv.

The meeting comes one day after Trump again talked with Russia’s Vladimir Putin by phone and discussed another face-to-face meeting.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt:

LEAVITT:  I think the president is always willing to take a chance at, uh, diplomacy. Uh, and this war he has always said is going to have to end at the negotiating table.

The two leaders last met in Alaska in August. Trump has since expressed growing frustration with Putin’s lack of interest in ending the war.

The meeting is set to take place in Budapest, Hungary, though it’s not clear exactly when. Trump told reporters that the secretary of state was working out the details.

TRUMP:  Marco Rubio is going to be meeting with his counterpart, as you know, Lavrov, and they'll be meeting pretty soon. They're gonna set up a, a time and a place very shortly. Maybe it's already set up.

Trump shared on social media Thursday that he believes the phone call with Putin made significant progress.

President Zelenskyy while in Washington is also meeting with lawmakers and leaders of U.S. energy companies. That comes amid Russia’s bombardment of Ukraine’s power grid.

Thune offers Senate vote on Obamacare tax credits » The Senate has voted for a tenth time on a clean stopgap funding bill to reopen the government, and …

AUDIO: The motion is not agreed to.

GOP Senate Majority Leader John Thune says he’s extended an olive branch promising a floor vote on Obamacare tax credits if Democrats will approve temporary funding.

But Democrats do not appear to be impressed by that offer. Odds are the vote would not be successful.

And Democratic leaders say they’ll continue to block funding until Republicans agree to extend those tax credits.

And Republicans still say they’re willing to negotiate, but only after Democrats agree to reopen the government.

Israel deceased hostage update » Israel has identified the remains of more deceased Israeli hostages. WORLD’s Benjamin Eicher has more.

BENJAMIN EICHER: Israel’s National Institute of Forensic Medicine Thursday identified the remains of two additional hostages returned from Gaza.

That comes as Israeli leaders warned Hamas to hand over the bodies of those still held amid a fragile truce that halted the two-year war.

Since Monday’s exchange, Hamas has returned 10 bodies, nine of which Israel’s military has identified as hostages. Israel said there were 28 total deceased hostages in Gaza before the swap.

In exchange for the release of the hostages, Israel freed around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

For WORLD, I’m Benjamin Eicher.

Bolton charged following classified documents probe » Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton has been charged with keeping top-secret records at home and sharing classified notes with relatives.

The 18-count indictment also says Iranian-linked hackers breached his email in 2021, exposing sensitive material he had shared.

President Trump reacted to the news, telling reporters …

TRUMP:  I didn't know that you tell me for the first time, but I think he's, you know, a bad person. Uh, I think he's a, uh, bad guy. Yeah, he's a bad guy. It's too bad, but the way it goes.

Bolton served for more than a year in the first Trump administration … before being fired in 2019 and emerging as an outspoken critic of the president.

DHS on cartel bounties » The Department of Homeland Security issuing a new warning about Mexican drug cartels offering bounties against federal agents.

DHS says cartels are offering as much as $50,000 for hits against ICE and Border Patrol agents.

Border Czar Tom Homan says he's never seen anything like this.

HOMAN:  I have not lived with my wife since late March because of death threats against me, and, and, and now there's, there are reporters out there trying to find the location of my family. There are reporters trying to identify who my sons are. I mean, it, this has gone beyond the pale.

This comes after a federal grand jury indicted an alleged Chicago gang leader for soliciting the murder of a high-ranking U.S. Border Patrol commander.

Homan is also facing questions amid reports that he was recorded accepting a 50-thousand dollar bribe from undercover federal agents. During a town hall this week, Homan for the first time gave an outright denial of that accusation.

Alaska rescues » It's being called one of the most significant airlifts in Alaska history, evacuating hundreds of people from coastal villages that were inundated by remnants of Typhoon Halong.

Rick Thoman at the University of Alaska Fairbanks

THOMAN:  The recovery is, is just complicated because these are remote communities because there is no road connections where, and many of the airstrips, you know, are not big enough.

Record storm surge swept away homes, some with people still inside leaving 1500 residents in makeshift shelters.

THOMAN: Even in the best of circumstances, this would be a logistical, um, nightmare. We're now, um, you know, into mid-October. Freeze up is coming.

Roughly 40% of those living in some 10 affected communities are being forced to evacuate.

Three people were reported missing or dead.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Culture Friday with John Stonestreet. Plus, Word Play with George Grant.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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