Monday morning news: July 10, 2023

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Biden UK trip » President Biden is making a stop today on his way to the NATO summit in Lithuania. He’s in London to meet with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak about the war in Ukraine.

The prime minister told reporters:

SUNAK: We will continue to do our part to support Ukraine against Russia’s illegal and unprovoked invasion. We’ve done that by providing heavy battle tanks and recently long-range weapons.

The White House says that will give Biden and Sunak a chance to compare notes ahead of the summit.

The president also planned to meet with King Charles III at Windsor Castle about environmental issues.

NATO summit this week » Meanwhile, NATO is struggling to reach an agreement on admitting Sweden as its 32nd member.

President Biden spoke on the phone this weekend with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about allowing Sweden into NATO.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan:

SULLIVAN: They talked about a number of issues relative to the upcoming summit, including the war in Ukraine and Turkey’s really robust and stalwart support including quite concrete military support for Ukraine’s defensive needs. They also talked about Sweden’s membership.

All NATO countries must agree on a new member joining. Turkey has withheld approval from Sweden over concerns the Nordic nation is too lenient on a militant group that has targeted Turkey.

Zelenskyy-Ukraine » Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy marked the 500th day of the war over the weekend.

ZELENSKYY [via translator]: Ukraine has already got a place in the world for itself. I consider that as a fact. We are now a country that is respected, a country that is really fighting for human values, for human rights, for freedom, for democracy.

Zelenskyy speaking via translator with ABC’s This Week.

He also posted a video address recorded on Snake Island, the Black Sea outpost where Ukrainian soldiers famously defied a Russian order to surrender early in the war.

Yellen China trip » Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is back in Washington after trade talks with top Chinese officials. Speaking with CBS’ Face the Nation, she called her trip to Beijing “productive.”

YELLEN: It’s important to establish person to person relationships and to open ongoing channels of communication where concerns can be aired and discussed.

There were no major breakthroughs during the meetings, but Yellen said they were a step in the right direction.

But some Republicans accused the Biden administration of trying to appease the Chinese Communist Party.

Former ambassador and current presidential candidate Nikki Haley:

HALEY: Yellen talks about how we need to get closer to China and do more business with them. But we have to look at the fact that no one has dealt with China for the threat that they are.

And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis added:

DESANTIS: This idea of the happy talk that you hear from Yellen — oh, it’s just a healthy competition. No, they’re the number one geopolitical threat this country faces.

China sent warships and fighter jets near Taiwan as Yellen was meeting with officials in Beijing.

Presidential politics Trump » Haley is one of roughly a dozen declared GOP candidates, including former President Trump, who campaigned in Las Vegas over the weekend.

Trump again told supporters that elections in America are “rigged.”

TRUMP: Ultimately — we gotta win the election first — and if we win the election, we’re going to paper ballots. We’re going to, immediately, voter ID. And we’re going to same-day voting.

It was unclear if he was advocating shifting more control of elections from states to Washington.

Pence in Iowa » Meantime, former Vice President Mike Pence fielded a question at a town hall meeting in Iowa from a Trump supporter who questioned why he certified the 2020 election results.

He said constitutionally, the vice president’s job is simply to open and count the votes.

PENCE: The Constitution affords no authority for the vice president or anyone to reject votes or return votes to the states. Never been done before, should never be done in the future. I’m sorry ma’am, but that’s actually what the Constitution says.

He said Trump was wrong to assert that Pence had such authority.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: the Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case next term that could reign in federal agencies. Plus, the latest monthly jobs report looks promising, but there’s an asterisk. David Bahnsen explains.

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