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Year: 2025

Mamdani appeals to non-Democrats with general election push, vows government can meet voters’ ‘material needs’

Mamdani appeals to non-Democrats with general election push, vows government can meet voters’ ‘material needs’

Democratic socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani made an appeal to non-Democrats during brief remarks in Brooklyn on Sunday, kicking off his general election campaign.  Mamdani, who defeated former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo by 13 percentage points in the June primary, recently concluded his five-day, anti-Donald Trump tour of each of New York City’s boroughs last week.  Without referencing Trump this time around, Mamdani addressed supporters in Brooklyn on Sunday with a message on affordability and local government being able to take care of voters’ “material needs.”  “Are there more New Yorkers who want to join this movement for a city that they can actually afford?” Mamdani, who’s campaigned on socialist and communist ideas, such as government-run grocery stores and rent freezes, said.  MAMDANI DEFENDS CITY-RUN GROCERY PLAN, SAYS STORE OWNERS CAN BE ‘PARTNERS’ Mamdani recalled a conversation he said he had on primary election day with a volunteer of an organization who endorsed his campaign. He said the volunteer had “gotten a phone call from a coworker about aunties and uncles who were breaking down at the poll sites after they’d been informed they weren’t registered as Democrats and able to vote at that time.” Only registered Democrats were eligible to vote in the June primary.  Mamdani also told the story of an 18-year-old man pulling up next to him on a motorbike on primary election night to ask for a selfie. Mamdani said he asked the young man if he had voted and that they used his license to check his registration. According to Mamdani, the man was a registered Republican, who was ineligible to vote in the primary but who could support the Democratic socialist candidate in the November general election.  “I tell you the story of that 18-year-old young man, of those aunties and uncles who had to be pulled away from those poll sites to remind us of how many more New Yorkers there are for us to speak,” Mamdani said. “And I thank you for being here, because so often, any victories in politics are described as if they are that of just the candidate. But you know the truth. This is your victory. It is your work that took us from 1% in the polls to beating a former governor by 13 points.”  Mamdani credited his campaign canvassers, who went door to door in six-floor walk-ups, rain or shine, for taking “a campaign that was considered, at best, an interesting idea to one that has won the most votes of any in New York City primary history.” Mamdani received more than 573,00 votes in the June primary, though voter turnout was less than 30% of registered Democrats.  NEW REPORT REVEALS MAMDANI LAPPING RIVALS IN BATTLE FOR CAMPAIGN DONATIONS FROM THIS KEY INDUSTRY “I thank you for being here today, because what you show is that this movement is just getting started. Yeah, we are just getting started because we know there are so many more neighborhoods for us to reach, so many New Yorkers for us to speak to and so many more people who we can finally show that there is the possibility that local government could actually meet their material needs,” Mamdani added on Sunday. “And I thank you for doing this, because you are the ones who are changing history in this city and in this country, and it’s an honor to be one part of this movement with each and every one of you.” Mamdani – who has recently walked back his long-vocal stance on defunding police – concluded his remarks without taking questions from the press, but earlier Sunday took to social media to address a mass shooting in Brooklyn.  He said the Crown Heights incident had “stolen the lives of three New Yorkers and injured eight more,” adding that he was “grateful for the first responders who rushed towards the danger and worked to save lives.” “We cannot accept gun violence in our city,” Mamdani wrote.  Cuomo, who is running as an independent in the November election, has recently increased attacks on Mamdani for living in a rent-stabilized apartment despite his wealthy upbringing.  Mamdani, the son of an acclaimed Indian filmmaker and a Columbia University professor, recently returned from an extravagant wedding celebration in Uganda. He has also recently walked back his prior support for the phrase “globalize the intifada” after widespread criticism and concern from the New York Jewish community.  Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams is also running as an independent in November. The Republican mayoral hopeful is Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa.

‘Our position is clear:’ Zelenskyy and EU dismiss ceding Ukrainian land to Russia

‘Our position is clear:’ Zelenskyy and EU dismiss ceding Ukrainian land to Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reiterated on Sunday that Kyiv will not surrender any territory to Moscow, pushing back against mounting international speculation about potential land-for-peace negotiations.  “The constitution of Ukraine makes it impossible to give up territory or trade land,” Zelenskyy said during a press conference at the European Commission on Sunday.  EUROPEAN LEADERS WILL JOIN TRUMP-ZELENSKYY MEETING, SIGNALING SOLIDARITY WITH UKRAINE He added that Russia has repeatedly tried and failed to seize the entirety of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine for a period of 12 years. The Donbas, which includes Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, is an industrial hub, with coal mining and steel production central to Ukraine’s economy. “Since the territorial issue is so important, it should be discussed only by the leaders of Ukraine and Russia at the trilateral [talks with] Ukraine, United States, Russia,” Zelenskyy said. The Ukrainian leader, who spoke alongside EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, said that so far the Kremlin has “given no sign that the trilateral will happen.”  PUTIN DEMANDS CONTROL OF KEY UKRAINIAN TERRITORY IN EXCHANGE FOR PEACE: EUROPEAN DIPLOMAT “With regards to any territorial questions in Ukraine, our position is clear: international borders cannot be changed by force. These are decisions to be made by Ukraine and Ukraine alone, and these decisions cannot be taken without Ukraine at the table,” von der Leyen said. Their remarks came after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Alaska on Friday, during which the Russian leader outlined conditions for ending the war, including demands for control over parts of eastern Ukraine. Following the meeting with the Russian leader, Trump signaled that Zelenskyy should take Putin’s deal to end the war because “Russia is a very big power” and Ukraine is not. Still, SSecretary of State Marco Rubio dismissed claims that Trump would pressure Zelenskyy to give up large swaths of its sovereign land to Russia. “The president has said that in terms of territories, these are things that Zelenskyy is going to have to decide on,” Rubio told Maria Bartiromo on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” “All the president is trying to do here is narrow down the open issues,” Rubio said, adding that Trump is focused on ending the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine. “You can’t have a peace deal between two warring factions unless both sides agree to give up something. And both sides agree that the other side gets something. 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 going to end anytime soon. On the basis of surrender,” Rubio said. Zelenskyy said he hopes the upcoming meeting with European allies and Trump “will be productive,” contrasting it with the heated Oval Office exchange during his February visit.

European leaders will join Trump-Zelenskyy meeting, signaling solidarity with Ukraine

European leaders will join Trump-Zelenskyy meeting, signaling solidarity with Ukraine

European leaders will join Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy when he travels to Washington, D.C., on Monday for a high-stakes meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.  On Sunday, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Finnish President Alexander Stubb all confirmed their attendance. Their joint presence underscores Europe’s determination to present a united front in support of Ukraine as Russia’s war drags on. PUTIN DEMANDS CONTROL OF KEY UKRAINIAN TERRITORY IN EXCHANGE FOR PEACE: EUROPEAN DIPLOMAT Ahead of his meeting with Trump, Zelenskyy met with von der Leyen at the European Commission in Brussels to set priorities for the White House talks, focusing on long-term military aid, Ukraine’s ambitions to join the EU, and bolstering transatlantic solidarity in the face of Russian aggression. At a joint press conference, von der Leyen said she was glad to be joining Zelenskyy and other European leaders in Washington on Monday. “We will continue to support you for as long as it takes,” she said, adding that the EU backs a trilateral meeting between Ukraine, Russia and the United States. She warned that the EU will move forward next month with its 19th sanctions package against Russia if the Kremlin refuses to halt its war in Ukraine. TRUMP: WE’RE GOING STRAIGHT TO RUSSIA-UKRAINE PEACE DEAL, ‘NOT A MERE CEASEFIRE’ Zelenskyy said he hopes the upcoming meeting with Trump “will be productive” and not a repeat of the shouting match that took place in the Oval Office during his February visit. Zelenskyy’s meeting at the White House comes on the heels of Trump’s summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Anchorage on Friday, where Trump dropped his demand for a ceasefire and urged a final peace deal. After meeting with Putin, Trump said the Russian leader was willing to end the war in exchange for key Ukrainian territory concessions. Trump said Kyiv should take the deal with Moscow because “Russia is a very big power, and they’re not.” Zelenskyy, alongside European leaders, consistently rejects proposals to surrender any Ukrainian land to Russia. “Since the territorial issue is so important, it should be discussed only by the leaders of Ukraine and Russia at the trilateral Ukraine, United States, Russia,” Zelenskyy told reporters at the European Commission on Sunday. “So far, Russia has given no sign that the trilateral will happen,” he added.

Pence says Trump needs to bring the ‘hammer’ down on Putin with immediate new sanctions

Pence says Trump needs to bring the ‘hammer’ down on Putin with immediate new sanctions

Former Vice President Mike Pence said Sunday that President Donald Trump needs to bring the “hammer” down on Russian President Vladimir Putin with additional secondary sanctions.  After meeting with Putin at a high-stakes summit in Alaska, Trump shifted from advocating for an immediate ceasefire deal to a broader “peace agreement” between Ukraine and Russia.  In an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, Pence described Trump’s style in dealing with dictators as the “velvet glove” approach but said he thinks “the hammer needs to come, and it needs to come immediately.”  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to meet with Trump in the Oval Office on Monday, joined by United Kingdom and European leaders. Pence said Trump, at the same time, needs to “pick up the phone and ask” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., “to immediately pass the secondary sanctions bill that is supported virtually by everybody in the United States Senate.”  PUTIN APPEARS TO BE VISIBLY ANNOYED AS REPORTERS BARRAGE HIM AND TRUMP WITH QUESTIONS “The combination of engagement, but also making it clear to Putin that we are prepared to take actions that would literally break his economy even while we redouble our commitment to the security of Ukraine,” Pence said.  “The last thing we want to see is for Putin to use this latest delay as a reason to continue this war all the way until the winter hits and the fighting season essentially passes in that part of the world,” he added later on. “We can’t allow Vladimir to run out the clock on the war in this year and this season. We literally have to do both things, and that is: the sanctions ought to be on the president’s desk, available for his signature while negotiations begin. That’s the most important way that we will ensure that there’s real progress toward the peace agreement.”  Pence, who served as Trump’s vice president during his first term, reiterated how Putin attacked Georgia under President George W. Bush, attacked Crimea under President Barack Obama, and invaded Ukraine after “that disastrous withdrawal” from Afghanistan under President Joe Biden. “Putin’s made it no secret to the fact that he wants to reassert the old Soviet sphere of influence, what we used to call the evil empire in Eastern Europe,” Pence told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “I think Putin only understands strength, so while the president and his diplomatic team engage in this re-approach with Putin, and there seems to be interest, in my judgment, Putin is not going to stop until he’s stopped.” Pence said Trump “should be commended for pursuing peace in Ukraine,” noting that the president has already secured peace agreements in Africa, Armenia and Azerbaijan.  “I think he deserves credit as leader of the free world for not giving up on Ukraine,” Pence said, claiming “there are many voices in and around the administration that would have cut Ukraine loose months ago.”  DEMOCRATS DOUBT TRUMP WILL SECURE UKRAINE CEASE-FIRE IN ALASKA SUMMIT WITH PUTIN Pence said he wanted to commend the president for “trying to make progress,” but said he would have liked to have seen a ceasefire deal. Still, he said that “no deal is better than a bad deal.”  Based on U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff’s description of the talks, Pence said it appeared there “was at least an ascent in Putin and Trump’s meeting to the United States providing security guarantees, and clearly, the president didn’t forfeit anything having to do with America’s national security or with the security of our allies in Eastern Europe in the midst of this war.”  Witkoff told CNN that the Trump administration is “intent on trying to hammer out a peace deal that ends the fighting permanently – very, very quickly, quicker than a ceasefire.” He also said that Trump could not agree to “any sort of land swap” on behalf of the Ukrainians. At the summit, Putin pushed for the Ukrainians to withdraw from Donetsk and Luhansk in exchange for Russian forces freezing the fronts in other areas.  “At the end of the day, it’s important to remember the bad guy here is Putin. Putin launched an unprovoked brutal invasion more than three years ago,” Pence said. “Now more than ever, America and our allies need to stand strongly with Ukraine and create the conditions for a just and lasting peace.” Minutes before Pence spoke to CNN on Sunday morning, Trump posted to TRUTH Social, teasing: “BIG PROGRESS ON RUSSIA. STAY TUNED!”  Trump also criticized the media’s reporting about his meeting with Putin.  “It’s incredible how the Fake News violently distorts the TRUTH when it comes to me,” Trump wrote on social media earlier Sunday. “There is NOTHING I can say or do that would lead them to write or report honestly about me. I had a great meeting in Alaska on Biden’s stupid War, a war that should have never happened!!!” “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,” Trump added. “That’s why they are the FAKE NEWS! Also, they should talk about the 6 WARS, etc., I JUST STOPPED!!! MAGA.” 

Trump envoy says Putin made ‘robust’ concessions during Alaska meeting talks on Ukraine

Trump envoy says Putin made ‘robust’ concessions during Alaska meeting talks on Ukraine

U.S. Special Envoy for Peace Missions Steve Witkoff claims Russian President Vladimir Putin made “robust” steps toward peace during his meeting with President Donald Trump last week. Witkoff made the statement during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday” with host Shannon Bream. The official was in the room for the Alaska meeting and has met previously with Putin several times. “We agreed on much more robust security guarantees,” Witkoff said. “The Russians agreed on enshrining legislatively language that they would attest to not attempting to take any more land from Ukraine after a peace deal, where they would attest to not violating any European borders.” Witkoff also said Trump spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders directly after the meeting. He said the meeting was “absolutely acknowledged as a win.” ZELENSKYY TO MEET WITH TRUMP IN WASHINGTON, DC FOLLOWING US-RUSSIA TALKS Bream pressed Witkoff to explain why Trump did not push Putin for a ceasefire agreement during the meeting as well. Trump had previously said a ceasefire was a top priority and claimed Putin would face consequences if he didn’t agree to one. ZELENSKYY OUTLINES PEACE DEMANDS BEFORE HIGH-STAKES WHITE HOUSE MEETING WITH TRUMP “The president has always talked about a ceasefire, until he made a lot of different wins in this meeting and began to realize that we could be talking about a peace deal. The ultimate deal here is a peace deal, and we were talking about much more robust security guarantees than anyone ever imagined,” he said. In a statement after the call with Trump, major European leaders did not address whether they preferred a peace deal over a ceasefire. TRUMP: WE’RE GOING STRAIGHT TO RUSSIA-UKRAINE PEACE DEAL, ‘NOT A MERE CEASEFIRE’ The leaders said they “welcomed President Trump’s efforts to stop the killing in Ukraine, end Russia’s war of aggression, and achieve just and lasting peace.” Putin described his talks with Trump in Alaska as “very frank.” “We, of course, respect the position of the American administration, which sees the need for a speedy end to military actions,” Putin said at the follow-up meeting at the Kremlin, adding that “we would like to move to resolving all issues by peaceful means.” Fox News’ Landon Mion and the Associated Press contributed to this report.