CIA Director John Ratcliffe proposed a trilateral meeting between President Trump, Russian President Putin and Ukrainian President Zelensky during his covert trip to Moscow earlier this week in an effort to end the war, two sources briefed on the matter told Axios.
Why it matters: This was the first time Ratcliffe got personally involved in the diplomatic push to broker a breakthrough between Russia and Ukraine.
Ratcliffe's visit was partly aimed at determining whether Russia'sheads of intelligence services could help convince Putin to move toward resuming U.S.-mediated negotiations with Ukraine, the sources said.
On Friday, U.S. officials briefed Zelensky on Ratcliffe's talks in Moscow and the proposal for a trilateral summit.
The Trump administration has raised the idea in the past. Zelensky has been on board, but Putin has rejected it.
Driving the news: Ratcliffe made a covert trip to Moscow on Tuesday and met with his Russian counterparts: SVR foreign intelligence chief Sergey Naryshkin and FSB director Alexander Bortnikov.
Trump told Axios that Ratcliffe's visit was "standard business" and not intended to warn Russia against attacking NATO territory.
Behind the scenes: U.S. officials told Zelensky that Ratcliffe also floated in Moscow the possibility of reigniting peace talks, the sources said.
The New York Times reported that Ratcliffe gave Bortnikov "a bleak assessment" of the state of the war and urged Russia to cut a deal before its situation worsens.
The sources told Axios that Ratcliffe concluded that Bortnikov is a constructive player who could help restart diplomatic efforts.
The CIA declined to comment.
Yes, but: Ukrainian officials are highly skeptical about Putin's intentions and say they have intelligence that suggests Putin is planning a major escalation of the war.
Zelensky's deputy chief of staff, Pavlo Palisa, told reporters on Friday that Putin has ordered his military to prepare several operational scenarios for an offensive in northern Ukraine, with Kyiv and Chernihiv identified as key areas.
State of play: Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine mediated by the Trump administration were paused in mid-February after the war with Iran started.
White House envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have held separate talks over the past few months with Russian and Ukrainian negotiators. But little progress has been made.
Zelensky's chief of staff, Kyrylo Budanov, told local media on Thursday that U.S.-mediated talks with Russia could resume in September.
What they're saying: Zelensky on Friday thanked the U.S. for "the necessary tone of the conversation with Russia" and said the Trump administration "is advancing a realistic vision of what needs to be done and what must be achieved."
With markets wobbling and the world watching, Federal Reserve chairman Kevin Warsh went back to basics yesterday morning: He affirmed that the Fed is determined to get inflation down and may have to raise interest rates to accomplish it, Axios' Neil Irwin writes from Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Why it matters: If the Warsh Fed follows through with rate hikes, it would increase borrowing costs for Americans and potentially put him in the crosshairs of the rate-cut loving president who appointed him.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is shaking up her team with several departures and new aides, sources tell Axios.
Why it matters: The personnel changes come months before the progressive leader will decide whether to launch a presidential campaign. She's also weighing a run for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's seat, which is also up in 2028.
President Trump pledged Friday to allow farmers and ranchers to process their own meat in a salvo aimed at the industry's four dominant meatpackers, calling them a "nasty Monopoly."
Why it matters: The president is under pressure to help a constituency his own policies have squeezed — increasing farmers' costs while raising prices for consumers on products like beef.
Roughly 200 accounts from a suspected Chinese bot farm have quietly tried to influence Americans to oppose AI data centers on social media, X said Thursday night.
Why it matters: The U.S. and China are racing to build the world's most advanced AI systems — and it appears Chinese propaganda has infiltrated American circles with the hope of slowing the U.S. down.
A federal judge again declined to erase President Trump's hush money conviction on Friday, noting that the president's arguments were "neither new nor legally sufficient."
Why it matters: The loss is another blow to the president, who has sought to get the conviction of 34 felony counts for falsifying business records thrown out after the Supreme Court ruled presidents have immunity for "official acts."
Federal Reserve chairman Kevin Warsh said Friday that the central bank's leaders have "work to do" if they are not confident that inflation is moving to 2% "clearly and at sufficient speed," implying that interest rate hikes are ahead in the absence of improvement in price pressures.
The big picture: In a much-anticipated speech in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Warsh made clear that he is committed to the Fed's longstanding policy playbook of using interest rate adjustments to try to manage inflation — even as he sees this as a "hinge point in history" with the advent of AI.
It raises the strong possibility that the Fed's next move will be an interest rate increase, which could put him crosswise with President Trump, who has long sought rate cuts.
Republicans will have some stiff competition for eyeballs when they hold their first-ever midterm convention next month in Dallas — the NFL, American television's undisputed champion of ratings.
Driving the news: The GOP's Sept. 9-10 convention in Dallas will go head-to-head with the two opening games of the NFL season, which are expected to draw huge audiences each night.
The Strait of Hormuz has been Iran's most powerful card since the start of the war in late February. But over the past two months, U.S. officials say the American military has steadily eroded Iran's leverage over the crucial waterway.
Why it matters: What began six months ago with the goal of degrading Iran's missile capabilities and destroying what remained of its nuclear program has evolved into an open-ended fight over the world's most important energy chokepoint.
The Iran war hits its six-month mark Friday, with President Trump's path to ending it increasingly unclear.
Why it matters:Trump entered the war projecting a four- to five-week military campaign. Six months later, his proposed exits have ranged from military victory to a negotiated peace deal tied to reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
A federal judge on Thursday struck down the Pentagon's blacklisting of Anthropic as a supply-chain risk, ruling that the government's actions violated Anthropic's constitutional rights.
Why it matters: The ruling marks a major legal victory for Anthropic in its months-long fight with the Trump administration over how the military can use its AI models.
Unhoused people. Criminal justice-impacted individuals. Substance use disorder. Birthing people.
Several Democrats eyeing 2028 runs for president say the party has a vocabulary problem as much as a messaging one. The left's embrace of "woke" buzzwords alienated working-class voters and drove many of them to Donald Trump, they say.
Why it matters: To get them back, they want more Democrats to start speaking more like ordinary people — and less like progressive politicos or liberal arts professors.
Three Stars and Stripes leaders sued the Pentagon on Thursday, alleging Defense Department officials are threatening to fire them in retaliation for exercising their First Amendment rights.
Why it matters: The lawsuit escalates a fight over the editorial independence of a military newspaper partially funded through congressional appropriations.
National Democrats and Republicans are pressuring local TV stations to respond in opposite ways to a new federal court ruling on political ad rates, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: How they respond will have a major impact on the fight for control of Congress by deciding which party's ad money goes further in the final stretch of the 2026 midterms.
