Hegseth expected to skip key meeting with allies on Ukraine support
CNN
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is not expected to attend next week’s meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels, marking the first time since the group’s founding three years ago that a senior Pentagon official will not be there to represent the US, officials familiar with the matter told CNN.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is not expected to attend next week’s meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels, marking the first time since the group’s founding three years ago that a senior Pentagon official will not be there to represent the US, officials familiar with the matter told CNN. The US has for months been steadily pulling back from the group, which was founded by former Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in 2022 after Russia’s invasion as a way for dozens of countries to streamline the delivery of military equipment to Ukraine to quell Russian military advances. Whereas Austin or a senior Pentagon official always chaired the group’s monthly meetings, Hegseth has ceded that role to the UK in recent months—even as a senior US general told lawmakers on Thursday that “continuing to assist Ukraine on the battlefield daily” is “very important” when it comes to maintaining leverage over the Russians. Hegseth attended a meeting of the UDCG in February at NATO headquarters in Brussels, where he told allies that the US would no longer be a guarantor of European security and that it was highly “unlikely” that Ukraine would ever join NATO—a comment that, at the time, marked a dramatic shift from the longtime US position that Ukraine would one day join the alliance. Defense News was first to report Hegseth is likely to skip the meeting next week. The Trump administration has turned on and off its military and intelligence support to Ukraine in recent months as a way to push Kyiv to the negotiating table. The US hasn’t imposed any penalties on Russia, even as Moscow has refused to agree to a White House proposal for a 30-day ceasefire and continues to place conditions on even a partial ceasefire in the Black Sea.
CNN is tracking delays and cancellations for flights traveling to, from or within the US using data from FlightAware. Data updates every 15 minutes.
Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik announced Friday she was ending her short-lived bid for governor of New York and would not run for another term in Congress.
In his latest effort to lower drug costs, President Donald Trump unveiled Friday “Most Favored Nation” pricing deals with nine more pharmaceutical companies.
At least seven Colombian soldiers were killed and 30 wounded Thursday when a guerrilla group attacked an Army base with drones and explosives, the military said.
The Supreme Court on Friday sided against the Trump administration, keeping alive a federal lawsuit from immigration judges who are attempting to challenge a policy that limits their ability to speak publicly.
The Department of Homeland Security announced its intention to pause a visa program intended to admit certain individuals to the United States, though it’s unclear whether it’s been suspended entirely.
New signage is being installed at Washington, DC’s performing arts center on Friday to include President Donald Trump’s name.
A simmering battle over the future of President Donald Trump’s political movement exploded on one of the right’s biggest stages Thursday, as prominent conservative influencers used Turning Point USA’s annual youth conference to attack each other and their competing visions.
A recently enacted US House map would again make Troost Avenue a dividing line in the community, part of a plan to have Democratic-leaning Kansas City represented by three separate Republican lawmakers.
How should a military commander respond if they determine they have received an unlawful order?
The White House is heading into a critical midterm year beset by economic challenges, as it tries to manage stubbornly high prices, a frustrated electorate and a commander-in-chief who struggles to show sympathy toward voters’ pain.
Congressional Republicans have sent lawmakers home for the holidays without voting to address the Obamacare subsidies cliff that will hit millions of Americans on New Year’s Day — infuriating some of their own rank and file.
A jury found a Wisconsin judge – accused of helping an undocumented immigrant dodge federal authorities – guilty of obstruction Thursday, marking a victory for President Donald Trump as he continues his sweeping immigration crackdown across the country.