Pamela Sampson

4 days ago | apnews.com | Bridget Brown |Pamela Sampson

The only thing on Trump’s schedule today, according to the White House, is lunch with Vice President JD Vance at 1 p.m. The Trump administration is sending three Cabinet members to Alaska this week as it pursues oil drilling in the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and reinvigorating a natural gas project that’s languished for years. The visit comes after Trump signed an executive order earlier this year aimed at boosting oil and gas drilling, mining and logging in Alaska.

2 weeks ago | apnews.com | Bridget Brown |Pamela Sampson |Bernard McGhee |Curtis Yee

U.S. Vice President JD Vance extended an invitation to Pope Leo XIV to visit the United States during a meeting at the Vatican on Monday ahead of a flurry of U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to make progress on a ceasefire in Russia’s war in Ukraine. A federal judge on Monday blocked the Trump administration from moving forward with its dismantling of the U.S. Institute of Peace, an organization taken over in March by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

3 weeks ago | apnews.com | Bridget Brown |Pamela Sampson

The president said he’s optimistic about Thursday’s expected talks between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Istanbul on finding an endgame to Russia’s war on Ukraine. Trump, who is expected to be in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, suggested that he could make a detour to Turkey, if he thinks his presence might be helpful. “I was thinking about flying over. I don’t know where I am going be on Thursday,” Trump said.