President Donald Trump is set to hold meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa on Wednesday during the NATO summit taking place in Turkey, according to the White House. Ukraine is working to draw Trump’s focus back to its ongoing conflict with Russia, while Trump has openly speculated about Syria’s place in the broader Middle East landscape.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly confirmed the planned meetings during a call with reporters ahead of the summit in Ankara. Trump is also expected to sit down with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday. Before heading back to the United States on Wednesday, the president is scheduled to hold a press conference, Kelly said.
The meeting with Zelenskyy comes as Russia’s war against Ukraine stretches into its fifth year. Both Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with Trump by phone on Saturday, offering congratulations on the July Fourth celebration marking 250 years of American independence.
Trump departs Monday evening for the summit. In the days leading up to the trip, he has repeatedly voiced frustration over the gap between what the U.S. spends on defense versus other alliance members. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte attempted to smooth things over with Trump during an Oval Office visit last month. The rapid push by most NATO countries to commit to spending 5% of their annual gross domestic product on defense over the next decade reflects just how much Trump has reshaped the alliance’s priorities.
On a separate front, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Sunday that the Trump administration has no plans to seek new contractor bids for repairs to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Burgum, like Trump, stated he is completely certain that vandals were responsible for the damage to the historic pool on the National Mall. Trump has described a 350-foot gash cut into the pool’s liner during recent renovation work, while Burgum characterized it as several cuts totaling that length. Burgum added that the pool will need to be at least partially drained in the coming week to complete the work.
“We’ll use the same company, because they did a fantastic job,” Burgum told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “Thankfully, the vandalism was small. It was bad. I mean, it could cost tens of thousands of dollars to repair, so then it could fall into a felony … just like damaging any other government property could. But the job that was done to fix the Reflecting Pool was done extremely well.”
Meanwhile, controversy erupted after Trump stepped in on behalf of U.S. men’s national team forward Folarin Balogun, who had been handed an automatic one-game suspension following a red card in a World Cup round of 32 victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina. Balogun, who leads the American squad with three goals in the tournament, received the card after stepping awkwardly on the right ankle of Tarik Muharemović during the 2-0 win on Wednesday.
FIFA announced Sunday that the suspension was lifted, clearing Balogun to play in Monday’s round of 16 match against Belgium. The decision appeared to be the first time since 1962 that a red card issued during a World Cup did not lead to a suspension. Trump praised the outcome, while Belgium’s team expressed outrage. According to a person familiar with the matter who spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly, Trump called FIFA president Gianni Infantino after the game to request a review of the red card. Norway’s coach summed up the reaction from many in Europe, calling the decision “bad, bad, bad, bad, bad.”
Also drawing attention, Trump on Sunday shared a doctored image on social media depicting former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama waving as they boarded an Air Force One plane covered in spray-painted graffiti. The image included the phrase “Yes We Can,” the word “Obama,” “BLM” standing for Black Lives Matter, and Arabic text reading “alhamdulillah,” meaning “praise be to God.” The post follows a previous racist image Trump shared showing the couple as primates, which was removed after significant bipartisan backlash. Trump has a long history of personal attacks against the Obamas, including promoting the false claim that Barack Obama was not born in the United States.
Separately, Trump may be moving to install new leadership at the Smithsonian Institution after a White House report labeled current leadership — particularly at the National Museum of American History — as radical activists who could not be trusted. Trump had already signed an executive order targeting Smithsonian funding for programs he described as promoting “divisive narratives” and “improper ideology.” Current Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch, the first African American to lead the institution, addressed the broader topic of history in an unrelated interview that aired Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” saying, “America’s greatest strength, it’s not running away from its history, but it’s understanding how that history shaped us and continues to shape us.”
