Wednesday morning news: August 20, 2025

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Ukraine: Push for trilateral meeting » The Trump administration is pressing for a sit-down meeting with both Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to move peace talks forward.

At the White House on Tuesday, reporters asked Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt about Putin’s willingness to meet with Zelenskyy:

REPORTER:  I understand that the White House is working and allies are working to make this meeting happen, but did Putin promise to do a meeting with Zelenskyy, a direct meeting, in the coming weeks?

LEAVITT: He has, and I just answered that question for you.

The Kremlin, meantime, says it has agreed “in concept” and is open to such a meeting but has not signaled any firm intent to a trilateral meeting.

President Trump met with Putin on Friday and then separately with Zelenskyy and European leaders on Monday.

Ukraine: Push for trilateral meeting » The White House also stated Tuesday that Trump understands Ukraine’s need for security guarantees in any new peace deal.

LEAVITT:  The President has definitively stated, uh, US boots will not be on the ground in Ukraine, but we can certainly help in the coordination and perhaps provide other means of security guarantees to our European allies.

Trump said those guarantees may have to come without future membership in NATO. He says Ukraine would likely have to give up its ambitions of joining the alliance as part of any agreement with Moscow.

Kyiv says its need for security guarantees was underscored once more on Tuesday by another major Russian airstrike.

Ukraine’s Air Force says Russia launched nearly 300 drones and 10 missiles striking key energy facilities in central Ukraine.

Israel/Gaza cease-fire latest » Meantime, in the Middle East, negotiators in Qatar trying to broker a ceasefire in Gaza say they’re awaiting word from Israel on the latest proposal. WORLD’s Benjamin Eicher has more.

BENJAMIN EICHER: Negotiators say the Hamas terror group has agreed to that proposal. The deal on the table is said to be almost identical to the one put forward by the US earlier this year.

Reportedly a 60 day pause in fighting with Hamas releasing roughly half of the 20 or so surviving Israeli hostages.

Israel hasn't issued an official response.

Fox News reports that an Israeli official, speaking anonymously, says the country's position hasn't changed from recent public declarations that it is now demanding the return of every living hostage.

For WORLD, I’m Benjamin Eicher.

D.C. federal takeover / crime data » The Justice Department has opened an investigation into whether police officials in Washington, D.C., have falsified crime data. That’s according to the Associated Press, citing two officials not authorized to speak publicly.

That follows reports that a D.C. police commander was placed on leave in May … amid allegations of altering crime statistics in his district.

D.C. police union chief Gregg Pemberton asserted Tuesday that there is evidence that police leadership has interfered with officers’ reporting of crimes.

PEMBERTON:  There'll be a shooting or a stabbing. And if the victim is uncooperative with the police, which is not uncommon in some areas of the city, uh, they'll be directed to take an injured person to the hospital report, which is not even a crime at all. It's an incident report. Uh, sometimes you'll have a robbery, it’ll be reported as a theft.

The District of Columbia has claimed that violent crime is down 26% from last year.

Mayor Muriel Bowser's office declined to comment on the investigation.

News of the probe comes a week after President Trump announced that the federal government would assume authority over D.C.’s Metro Police Department.

Sanctuary cities - Boston » Boston Mayor Michelle Wu says her city will continue to oppose the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration.

That comes despite warnings from Attorney General Pam Bondi that sanctuary cities must cooperate with federal immigration enforcement or pay the price.

But the Democratic major said Tuesday:

WU:  Cities are doing everything we can to protect our residents and keep moving forward.  The Trump administration seeks to divide, isolate, and intimidate cities … and make Americans fearful of one another.

But Department of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin fired back:

MCLAUGHLIN:  Politicians have to take action and stop playing these political games. 70% of the arrests that are made under this administration have been of illegal immigrants with prior criminal convictions or pending criminal charges. So these are criminals that we're going after.

The Justice Department has warned Boston and at least 30 other sanctuary jurisdictions that they face the loss of millions in federal grants. And some officials could even face criminal charges for taking actions to impede federal immigration enforcement.

Hurricane Erin » Hurricane Erin is causing dangerous swimming conditions along the East Coast.

The storm was still expected to be packing Category-2 winds of 100-plus miles per hour this morning, fortunately, more than 200 miles off the U.S. coastline.

But officials in North Carolina’s Outer Banks ordered evacuations after issuing a storm surge warning. Michael Brennan with the National Hurricane Center:

BRENNAN:  This means there's the danger of life-threatening inundation, uh, of two to four feet of inundation above ground level. And that is, again, life-threatening inundation.

Dangerous currents and storm surge are the main threats on the U.S. East Coast.

Heavy rainfall is possible for parts of the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: our weekly conversation with Hunter Baker on Washington Wednesday. Plus, setting faith priorities during baseball playoffs.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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