Trump hosts Netanyahu for crunch Gaza peace talks amid fears meeting could go off rails: Live updates – UK Times

Trump spoke briefly with Netanyahu as the pair shook hands outside the White House Monday for the Israeli leader’s fourth visit to Washington, D.C. since the president took office in January.

Asked by a reporter whether he is confident that they can reach a peace deal in Gaza, Trump nodded and appeared to say he is “very confident.”

The men then walked inside.

Trump is imminently set to meet with Netanyahu in what is expected to be a tense meeting that could be a step toward ceasefire efforts or “go off the rails,” according to a senior administration official.

Since taking office in January, Trump has largely thrown American support behind Netanyahu while the international community and United Nations determine Israel is carrying out a genocide in Gaza.

But the relationship between Trump and Netanyahu has hit several bumps recently, including after an unsuccessful Israeli strike against Hamas officials who were in Qatar for peace talks.

That strike reportedly went against the advice of high-ranking Israeli officials, upset Qataris, and deeply angered Trump.

Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon is “wholly pretextual” and designed to stir up unrest to justify surging the military and federal law enforcement into the city, according to a federal lawsuit from Oregon officials.

The lawsuit follows the president’s Truth Social directive calling on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “provide all necessary Troops” to the “War ravaged” city while claiming Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities are “under siege from attack by Antifa and other domestic terrorists.”

Trump also said he is authorizing “Full Force, if necessary,” raising alarms that the president was preparing for U.S. military personnel to fire on civilians.

Today’s meeting between the American and Israeli leaders could go either way, according to one senior administration official, who said they expect it to be tense.

While it could take us a step closer to a ceasefire in Gaza, it could equally “go off the rails,” they added.

Ariana Baio has the very latest.

The president’s first posts of the working week attack the progressive Democratic candidate for New York City mayor (a day after Eric Adams announced he is dropping out of the race, suggesting Trump now fears Mamdani will win) and announce new tariffs on movies and furniture made overseas.

He first threatened to go to war with challenging world cinema in May, apparently having still not gotten over Parasite’s 2020 Oscars haul.

Here’s Kevin EG Perry’s report from the time.

The QAnon Shaman, who I’m sure you remember, is suing Trump for $40 trillion in a rambling lawsuit that also targets Elon Musk, T-Mobile and Warner Bros.

Jacob Chansley, infamous for wearing a horned warrior outfit while storming the U.S. Capitol on January 6, has claimed, extraordinarily, that he is the rightful commander-in-chief.

In his 26-page complaint, he claims that an elite group has launched a conspiracy to violate the Constitution.

The entire filing, which is more akin to a manifesto than a formal legal document, is presented in a single paragraph.

Chansley names Trump, the Federal Reserve, the National Security Agency, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the State of Israel, Elon Musk’s X-Corp, T-Mobile and Warner Bros Studios in his suit.

Marjorie Taylor Greene has come out swinging over the Trump administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case.

The rift between the MAGA firebrand and White House deepened after a Trump official apparently told her that her support of bipartisan legislation ordering the release of the so-called Epstein files would be viewed as a “very hostile act.”

Greene is one of four Republicans, alongside Reps. Thomas Massie, Nancy Mace and Lauren Boebert, to have signed on to a discharge petition to force the release of files related to Epstein.

If a discharge petition receives the signature of a majority of members, they can force a vote without the consent of leadership.

“I told them, ‘You didn’t get me elected. I do not work for you; I work for my district,’” the Georgia Republican said.

Here’s more from Isabel Keane.

The host of HBO’s Last Week Tonight used his entire opening monologue to criticize the Israeli PM on Sunday evening, calling Netanyahu “a man so singularly focused on remaining in power, he’s allied with the most extreme voices in his country” and, more generally, an “a**hole son of a bitch.”

Oliver went on to say: “Let me be clear, to attribute the atrocities in Gaza to just one man would be naive. It’d also ignore that while many Israelis vehemently disagree with choices that Netanyahu has made, there’s also a fair amount of consensus there when it comes to deeper issues like the inevitability of ongoing Israeli occupation in general and the acceptability of denying self-determination to Palestinians.”

He added: “Those are conversations and issues that are gonna take much longer and be much harder to resolve. But in the short term, Israelis removing this f***ing guy from power might, at the very least, bring a stop to the horrific suffering in Gaza and bring the hostages home.”