The Daily Signal - More Troops to DC, Zelenskyy to Meet Trump, and No US Visas for Gaza Residents| Aug. 18, 2025

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Starting point is 00:00:25 We'd love to talk. Business. More National Guard troops are coming to Washington, D.C. Ukrainian President Zelensky will meet with President Trump today. And the State Department has suspended any visas for residents of Gaza. I'm Katrina Trinco, in for Tony Kinnett this Monday morning, August 18th. This is your top news in 10. Three governors are sending additional National Guard troops to Washington, D.C.

Starting point is 00:00:58 South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, a Republican, announced he was sending 200 troops to the Capitol. He said in a statement, South Carolina is proud to stand with President Trump as he works to restore law and order to our nation's capital and ensure safety for all who live, work, and visit there. West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrissey, also a Republican, said he would send 300 to 400 troops to D.C.

Starting point is 00:01:22 In a statement, he said, West Virginia is proud to stand with President Trump in his effort to restore pride and beauty to our nation's capital. Another Republican governor, Mike DeWine of Ohio, is sending 150 troops. While initially it was announced that the National Guard troops in D.C. wouldn't be armed. That might be changing. The Washington Post quotes an anonymous White House official who said the troops may be armed, consistent with their mission and training to protect federal assets,

Starting point is 00:01:50 provide a safe environment for law enforcement officers to make arrests, and deter violent crime with a visible law enforcement presence. President Donald Trump announced last week, Washington, D.C. will be liberated today. Crime, savagery, filth, and scum will disappear. Attorney General Pam Bondi tweeted Sunday, over 300 arrests in D.C. and counting. Just last night, our federal and D.C. law enforcement partners made 68 arrests and seized 15 illegal firearms. Homicide suspects, drug traffickers, and more are being charged. I'll continue to stand with you as we make D.C. safe again.

Starting point is 00:02:30 According to the White House, if Washington, D.C. were a state, it would have the highest homicide rate of any state in the U.S. Already in 2025, there have been almost 100 homicides in the nation's capital. Today, Ukrainian President Voldemir Zelensky will visit the White House and meet with President Trump. Zelensky will be accompanied by several European leaders to this meeting, which comes just days after Trump's meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska. Speaking to Fox News's Maria Bataromo, Secretary of State Marco Rubio outlined what would be focused on in today's talks. Well, I think tomorrow's conversations, a lot of it will be centered around what are the kinds of security guarantees that Ukraine is looking for? Because what Ukraine is looking for here is how to, okay, the war ends, how do we make sure this doesn't happen again?

Starting point is 00:03:16 How do we make sure that in two or three years, the Russians don't come back at us? So they want guarantees built up so that they can protect themselves or prevent such a war from occurring in the future. So the details of what that would look like is something that hopefully we'll spend a lot of time discussing tomorrow. We had a long conversation about it yesterday with the national security advisors of multiple European countries. Some work has already gone into it, but now we're at a stage where we need to build some details on it, and then ultimately, you know, obviously present that to the Russian side and get them to accept it. But first we have to have our ducks in order. In the same interview, Rubio also noted it wouldn't be easy to...

Starting point is 00:03:55 to achieve peace between Russia and Ukraine. You can't have a peace deal between two warring factions unless both sides agreed to give up something and both sides agree that the other side gets something, right? Otherwise, if one side gets everything they want, that's not a peace deal, it's called surrender. And I don't think this is a war that's gonna end anytime soon on the basis of surrender.

Starting point is 00:04:15 So this is tough stuff. I mean, it's difficult to bring these two sides together. We made some progress, we believe, and now we'll have to follow up on that progress and ultimately where this should lead, is to a meeting between the three leaders, between Zelensky, Putin, and President Trump, where we could finalize, but we've got to get this thing closer before we get to that point. Special envoy, Steve Whitkoff, told Fox News Sunday about Zelensky's response to the Alaska summit.

Starting point is 00:04:40 And we were on the phone with President Zelensky moments after the Alaska summit ended. And I can tell you that I spoke to him personally, gave him my view. The president obviously was making the presentation. And everybody recognized on that telephone call, and there were various European leaders, how much progress we had made in demonstrating that the Russian Federation was going to make significant accommodations well beyond what we thought before that summit started. So it was absolutely acknowledged as a win. Meanwhile, President Trump posted on True Social Sunday how he was frustrated with the media's

Starting point is 00:05:21 coverage of his meeting with Putin. Trump wrote, It's incredible how the fake news violently distorts the truth when it comes to me. There is nothing I can say or do that would lead them to write a report honestly about me. I had a great meeting in Alaska on Biden's stupid war, a war that should have never happened. He also said, if I got Russia to give up Moscow as part of the deal, the fake news and their partner, the radical left Democrats, would say I made a terrible mistake and a very bad deal. That's why they are the fake news. Also, they should talk about the six wars, etc.

Starting point is 00:05:57 I just stopped. The State Department announced Saturday it was ceasing any visas for residents of Gaza. On X, the social media platform, the State Department posted, all visitor visas for individuals from Gaza are being stopped while we conduct a full and thorough review of the process and procedures used to issue a small number of temporary medical humanitarian visas in recent days. Rubio addressed the issue on Face the Nation. Before I let you go quickly, why did the State Department just announce that they're halting visitor visas for all Gossans coming here for medical aid?

Starting point is 00:06:32 Why would some of these kids, for example, who are coming to hospitals for treatment be a threat? Well, first of all, it's not just kids. It's a bunch of adults that are accompanying them. Second, we had outreach from multiple congressional offices asking questions about it. And so we're going to reevaluate how those visas are being granted, not just to the children, but how those visas are being granted. to the people who are accompanying them. And by the way, to some of the organizations that are facilitating it. There is evidence been presented to us by numerous congressional offices

Starting point is 00:06:59 that some of the organizations bragging about and involved in acquiring these visas have strong links to terrorist groups like Hamas. And so we are not going to be in partnership with groups that are friendly with Hamas. So we're going to pause those visas. There was just a small number of them issued to children, but they come with adults accompanying them, obviously. And we are going to pause this point. program and reevaluate how those visas are being vetted and what relationship of any has there

Starting point is 00:07:27 been by these organizations to the process of acquiring those visas. We're not going to be in partnership with groups that have links or sympathies towards Hamas. The State Department's decision came after activist Laura Lumer discussed the issue on X. With that, we're going to leave it there for today. Don't forget to hit that subscribe button. And have a great Monday. Tony Kinnett will be back tomorrow.

The Daily Signal - More Troops to DC, Zelenskyy to Meet Trump, and No US Visas for Gaza Residents| Aug. 18, 2025

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