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President Donald Trump on Friday commuted the sentence of disgraced former Republican lawmaker George Santos, who was convicted of committing wire fraud and identity theft to splurge on lavish vacations and Botox injections with funds stolen from campaign donors.”George has been in solitary confinement for long stretches of time and, by all accounts, has been horribly mistreated,” Trump wrote in a lengthy post to his Truth Social site Friday.”And at least Santos had the Courage, Conviction and Intelligence to ALWAYS VOTE REPUBLICAN,” he added.”Therefore, I just signed a Commutation, releasing George Santos from prison, IMMEDIATELY.”A presidential commutation is different to a pardon in that the original conviction stands — but the sentence passed is reduced.The 37-year-old ex-representative from New York state reported to prison in July, after being sentenced to seven years and three months in April for stealing campaign donors’ identities and using their credit cards, among other charges.A congressional ethics committee investigation revealed his use of stolen funds for Botox treatments and the OnlyFans porn website, as well as luxury Italian goods and vacations to the Hamptons and Las Vegas.Santos’s bizarre biographical fabrications included claiming to have worked for Goldman Sachs, being Jewish and having been a college volleyball star.He was expelled from the House in 2023, one year after he was elected to office, becoming only the third person to be ejected as a US lawmaker since the Civil War, a rebuke previously reserved for traitors and convicted criminals.

John Bolton has spent decades navigating the halls of power in Washington, earning a reputation as a leading foreign policy hawk.The veteran diplomat with the trademark bushy white mustache unrepentantly pushed the Iraq invasion and campaigned to bomb Iran and North Korea.Bolton was semi-retired and working as a talking head on Fox News when he was tapped by the television-loving Donald Trump in 2018 to become his national security advisor.But what appeared to be his dream job ended with Bolton becoming one of the Republican president’s fiercest critics and has now seen him indicted for allegedly mishandling classified information.The 76-year-old Bolton pleaded not guilty in a federal court in Maryland on Friday to 18 counts of transmitting or retaining top secret national defense information collected during his short-lived tenure at the White House.His indictment comes after two other prominent Trump foes — New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI director James Comey — were also slapped with criminal charges.While other former Trump advisors have kept respectful silences or narrowly tailored their critiques, Bolton wrote a blistering memoir after leaving the White House challenging Trump’s intelligence, ethics and basic competence.- Odd couple -Trump had already cycled through two national security advisors during his first term when he named Bolton to the post.The match appeared odd from the start.Trump was born into wealth and privilege while Bolton, the son of a working-class Baltimore firefighter, earned high school scholarships and eventually a place at elite Yale University, where he obtained a law degree.Trump took office railing against the so-called “Deep State,” while Bolton is a master of Washington’s bureaucracy, having served in top government positions since Ronald Reagan was president.And Trump is wary of involvement in foreign conflicts, whereas Bolton has long advocated taking a hard line with countries such as Cuba, North Korea, Venezuela and Iran, a stance which has reportedly earned him death threats from Tehran.Where Trump and Bolton found common cause was in a passion for fighting global institutions such as UN agencies and the International Criminal Court.In one of Bolton’s most memorable remarks, he dismissed the United Nations in a 1994 speech, quipping that if the 38-floor secretariat in New York “lost 10 stories, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.”That did not stop George W. Bush from making him US ambassador to the United Nations, although the president controversially bypassed the Senate where opposition to Bolton ran deep.- ‘Unfit to be president’ -Foreign policy disagreements — particularly over Iran and Trump’s engagement with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un — led to Bolton’s departure as Trump’s national security advisor in September 2019.The president claimed he was fired, but Bolton insisted that he had resigned.Bolton earned Trump’s lasting ire soon afterwards with the publication of his highly critical book, “The Room Where It Happened.”He has since become a highly visible and pugnacious detractor of Trump on television news programs and in print, condemning the man he has called “unfit to be president.”Trump, asked about Bolton’s indictment by reporters at the White House on Thursday, said his former national security advisor is a “bad guy.””That’s the way it goes,” Trump said.

An international vote to approve cutting maritime emissions was delayed by a year Friday in a victory for the United States, which opposes the carbon-cutting plan.The London-based International Maritime Organization (IMO), a United Nations body that governs shipping, voted in April for a global pricing system to help curb greenhouse gases.But a vote Friday on whether to formally approve the deal was delayed until next year after US President Donald Trump threatened sanctions against countries backing the plan.Increased divisions, notably between oil-producing nations and non-oil producers, emerged this week at meetings leading up to Friday’s vote.Delegates instead voted on a hastily arranged resolution to postpone proceedings, which passed by 57 votes to 49.Trump had said Thursday that the proposed global carbon tax on shipping was a “scam”, after the United States withdrew from IMO negotiations in April.A Russian delegate described the proceedings as “chaos” as he addressed the plenary Friday after talks had lasted into the early hours.Russia had joined major oil producers Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in voting against the carbon-reduction measure in April, saying it would harm the economy and food security.IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez, representing 176 member states, said Friday that he hoped there would be no repeat of how the week’s discussions had gone.”It doesn’t help your organisation, it doesn’t help yourself,” he told delegates. A European Union source told AFP that “many countries have changed their minds under pressure from the United States.A spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres called it “a missed opportunity for member states to place the shipping sector on a clear, credible path towards net zero emissions”.The International Chamber of Shipping, representing more than 80 percent of the world’s fleet, also expressed disappointment.”Industry needs clarity to be able to make the investments needed to decarbonise the maritime sector,” its Secretary General Thomas Kazakos said in a statement.- Trump ‘outraged’ -Since returning to power in January, Trump has reversed Washington’s course on climate change and encouraged fossil fuel use by deregulation.”I am outraged that the International Maritime Organization is voting in London this week to pass a global Carbon Tax,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform Thursday. “The United States will NOT stand for this Global Green New Scam Tax on Shipping,” he added, telling countries to vote against it.Washington threatened to impose sanctions, visa restrictions and port levies on those supporting the Net Zero Framework (NZF), the first global carbon-pricing system.Major oil-producer Saudi Arabia also called for Friday’s vote to be postponed.”We agree with the United States that it’s important that these conversations are brought to light,” a Saudi representative said.Ahead of this week’s London gathering, a majority 63 IMO members that in April voted for the plan had been expected to maintain their support and to be joined by others to formally approve the NZF.Argentina, which in April abstained from the vote, now opposes the deal. Leading up to Friday’s decision, China, the EU, Brazil, Britain and several other members of the IMO reaffirmed their support.The NZF requires ships to progressively reduce carbon emissions from 2028 or face financial penalties.Shipping accounts for nearly three percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the IMO.The plan would charge ships for emissions exceeding a certain threshold, with proceeds used to reward low-emission vessels and support countries vulnerable to climate change.If the global emissions pricing system were adopted, it would become difficult to evade, even for the United States.IMO conventions allow signatories to inspect foreign ships during stopovers and even detain non-compliant vessels.burs-pml/js/rlp

US President Donald Trump suggested Friday it would be premature to give Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, saying as he hosted Volodymyr Zelensky that the war with Russia could probably be ended without them.Zelensky, who came to the White House to push for the long-range US-made weapons, said however that he would be ready to swap “thousands” of Ukrainian drones in exchange for Tomahawks.The US president’s reluctant stance came a day after he and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed in a call to hold a new summit in the Hungarian capital Budapest.”Hopefully we’ll be able to get the war over with without thinking about Tomahawks,” Trump told journalists including an AFP reporter as the two leaders met at the White House.Supplying Ukraine with the powerful missiles despite Putin’s warnings against doing so “could mean big escalation. It could mean a lot of bad things can happen.”Trump added that he believed Putin, whom he met in Alaska in August in a summit that failed to produce a breakthrough, “wants to end the war.”- Drones for Tomahawks? -Zelensky congratulated Trump on his recent Middle East peace deal in Gaza and said he hoped he would do the same for Ukraine. “I hope that President Trump can manage it,” he said.Ukraine has been lobbying Washington for Tomahawks for weeks, arguing that the missiles could help put pressure on Russia to end its brutal three-and-a-half year invasion.Zelensky, meeting Trump in Washington for the third time since the US president’s return to power, suggested that “the United States has Tomahawks and other missiles, very strong missiles, but they can have our 1,000s of drones.”Kyiv has made extensive use of drones since Russia invaded in February 2022.On the eve of Zelensky’s visit, Putin warned Trump in their call against delivering the weapons, saying it could escalate the war and jeopardize peace talks.Trump said the United States had to be careful to not “deplete” its own supplies of Tomahawks, which have a range of over 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles).Diplomatic talks on ending Russia’s invasion have stalled since the Alaska summit.The Kremlin said Friday that “many questions” needed resolving before Putin and Trump could meet, including who would be on each negotiating team.But it brushed off suggestions Putin would have difficulty flying over European airspace.Hungary said it would ensure Putin could enter and “hold successful talks” with the US despite an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against him for alleged war crimes.- Trump frustrations -Since the start of his second term, Trump’s position on the Ukraine war has shifted dramatically back and forth.Initially Trump and Putin reached out to each other as the US leader derided Zelensky as a “dictator without elections.”Tensions came to a head in February, when Trump accused his Ukrainian counterpart of “not having the cards” in a rancorous televised meeting at the Oval Office.Relations between the two have since warmed as Trump has expressed growing frustration with Putin.But Trump has kept a channel of dialogue open with Putin, saying that they “get along.”The US leader has repeatedly changed his position on sanctions and other steps against Russia following calls with the Russian president.Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, describing it as a “special military operation” to demilitarize the country and prevent the expansion of NATO.Kyiv and its European allies say the war is an illegal land grab that has resulted in tens of thousands of civilian and military casualties and widespread destruction.Russia now occupies around a fifth of Ukrainian territory — much of it ravaged by fighting. On Friday the Russian defense ministry announced it had captured three villages in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv regions.

A senior member of the US Federal Reserve on Friday indicated he could back another interest rate cut later this month, while urging a meeting-by-meeting approach going forward. “I could support a path with an additional reduction in the policy rate,” St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem said during a conference in Washington, which was streamed online. Musalem, who is one of 12 voting members of the Fed’s interest rate-setting committee this year, said his vote would ultimately depend on whether “further risks” to the labor market emerge, and provided that risks to inflation and inflation expectations remain under control.The Fed has a dual mandate to act independently to tackle both unemployment and inflation. Many Fed policymakers have indicated in recent months that they see the Fed’s dual mandate coming into better balance, meaning they are paying more attention to concerns in the labor market.However, their vantage point on the health of the world economy has been clouded since the start of the month by the lack of available official data due to the ongoing US government shutdown. Musalem took a somewhat tougher tone on Friday than many of his colleagues, some of whom have already said they would support an additional rate cut in December this year.  “I do think we need to not be on a preset course,” he said, on the last day before the Fed enters its regular pre-rate decision communications blackout. “I perceive limited space for easing before monetary policy could become overly accommodative,” he added, indicating his ongoing concern about inflation. Futures traders currently see a 100 percent chance that the Fed will cut interest rates by a total of at least 50 basis points over its two remaining meetings this year, according to data from CME Group.A further 50 basis points of cuts would lower the Fed’s benchmark lending rate to between 3.50 and 3.75 from its current rate of between 4.00 and 4.25 percent. “It’s important that while we’re providing support to the labor market, that we continue to lean against any potential persistence in inflation, whether that persistence comes from tariffs, from lower supply of labor or lower labor supply growth from sticky services or for whatever reason,” he said. “I think we’re in a particularly uncertain moment,” he added. “So I think it’s premature to say what I’ll be thinking into the meeting after the next.”

John Bolton, who served as Donald Trump’s national security advisor before becoming an outspoken critic of the US president, pleaded not guilty on Friday to charges of mishandling classified information.The 76-year-old veteran diplomat entered the not guilty plea to 18 counts of transmitting and retaining top secret national defense information at a court hearing in Greenbelt, Maryland.Bolton was released on his own recognizance by Magistrate Judge Timothy Sullivan, who set the next hearing date for November 21.Bolton, the third Trump foe to be hit with criminal charges in recent weeks, was indicted on Thursday and accused of sharing classified files by email with two “unauthorized individuals” who are not identified but are believed to be his wife and daughter.The Justice Department said the documents “revealed intelligence about future attacks, foreign adversaries, and foreign policy relations.”Each of the counts carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.Bolton did not speak to reporters at the Greenbelt courthouse on Friday but he rejected the charges in a statement on Thursday, saying he had “become the latest target in weaponizing the Justice Department.”Bolton’s indictment follows the filing of criminal charges by the Trump Justice Department against two other prominent critics of the Republican president — New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI director James Comey.James, 66, was indicted in Virginia on October 9 on charges of bank fraud and making false statements related to a property she purchased in 2020 in Norfolk, Virginia.James, who successfully prosecuted Trump for financial fraud, has rejected the charges as “baseless” and “political retribution.”Comey, 64, pleaded not guilty on October 8 to charges of making false statements to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding.His lawyer has said he will seek to have the case thrown out on the grounds it is a vindictive and selective prosecution.- ‘Unfit to be president’ -Trump recently publicly urged Attorney General Pam Bondi in a social media post to take action against James, Comey and others he sees as enemies, in an escalation of his campaign against political opponents.Trump did not specifically mention Bolton in the Truth Social post, but he has lashed out at his former aide in the past and withdrew his security detail shortly after returning to the White House in January.Trump called Bolton a “bad guy” on Thursday.Bolton served as Trump’s national security advisor in his first term and later angered the administration with the publication of a highly critical book, “The Room Where It Happened.”He frequently appears on television news shows and in print to condemn the man he has called “unfit to be president.”Since January, Trump has taken a number of punitive measures against perceived enemies, purging government officials he deemed to be disloyal, targeting law firms involved in past cases against him and pulling federal funding from universities.The cases against James and Comey were filed by Trump’s handpicked US attorney, Lindsey Halligan, after the previous federal prosecutor resigned, saying there was not enough evidence to charge them.Appointed to head the Federal Bureau of Investigation by then-president Barack Obama in 2013, Comey was fired by Trump in 2017 amid the probe into whether any members of the Trump presidential campaign had colluded with Moscow to sway the 2016 election.

The US agency in charge of nuclear weapons is putting most of its workforce on unpaid leave, a top Republican lawmaker warned Friday, as a prolonged government shutdown bit further into already crippled public services. With the standoff in Congress over federal spending in its 17th day and no breakthrough in sight, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers told reporters the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) was about to run out of money.”They will have to lay off 80 percent of their employees. These are not employees that you want to go home,” he told reporters. “They’re managing and handling a very important strategic asset for us. They need to be at work and being paid.”Rogers’s committee later clarified that the employees would be furloughed — or placed on forced unpaid leave — rather than fired permanently.The United States has a stockpile of 5,177 nuclear warheads, with about 1,770 deployed, according to the global security nonprofit Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. The NNSA is responsible for designing, manufacturing, servicing and securing the weapons. It has fewer than 2,000 federal employees who oversee some 60,000 contractors.Energy Secretary Chris Wright told USA Today in an interview Thursday touching on the effects of the shutdown on the NNSA that “starting next week, we’re going to have to let go tens of thousands…of workers that are critical to our national security.” The newspaper reported that staff at the agency had been told that furloughs could begin as soon as Friday.- Massive cuts -Senators headed to their home states Thursday after a 10th failed vote to end the shutdown that started on October 1 when the federal government ran out of Congress-approved funding. If the standoff remains unresolved by the end of Tuesday next week it will have lasted 22 days — making it the second-longest in history.The record of 35 days came during a fight over border wall funding in President Donald Trump’s first term in the White House. Democrats have been urging Trump to get more involved in the current gridlock, asserting that only the president will be able to move Republicans in Congress from their policy of refusing to negotiate until the government has reopened.Republicans leaders have been privately discouraging Trump’s involvement, fearful that he will strike an unpalatable deal on expiring health care subsidies that is at the heart of Democratic demands. The president is seeking to push through massive cuts to the federal bureaucracy during the shutdown.White House budget chief Russ Vought said in an interview he wants to see “north of 10,000″ jobs cut — although a federal judge temporarily blocked shutdown-related layoffs, ruling that they were politically motivated and unlawful.With 1.4 million federal workers either sent home without pay or working for nothing, Trump intervened to ensure military personnel received their checks on Wednesday, although doubts remain over future disbursements.Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune told MSNBC in an interview that aired Thursday he would guarantee Democrats a vote on extending health care subsidies in exchange for reopening the government.”I’ve said, if you need a vote, we can guarantee you get a vote by a date certain,” he said. “At some point Democrats have to take yes for an answer.” 

An international vote to formally approve cutting maritime emissions was delayed by a year Friday, in a victory for the United States which opposes the carbon-cutting plan.The London-based International Maritime Organization (IMO), which is the shipping body of the United Nations, voted in April for a global pricing system to help curb greenhouse gases.But a vote on whether to formally approve the deal was cancelled on Friday until next year after US President Donald Trump threatened sanctions against countries backing the plan.Increased divisions, notably between oil producing nations and non-oil producers, emerged this week at meetings leading up to Friday’s planned follow-up vote to approve the scheme.Delegates instead voted on a hastily-arranged resolution to postpone proceedings, which passed by 57 votes to 49.Trump on Thursday said the proposed global carbon tax on shipping was a “scam” after the United States withdrew from IMO negotiations in April.A Russian delegate described proceedings as “chaos” as he addressed the plenary Friday after talks had lasted until the early hours.Russia joined major oil producers Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in voting against the carbon-reduction measure in April, arguing it would harm the economy and food security.IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez, representing 176 member states, pleaded Friday that he hoped there would be no repeat of how the week’s discussions had gone.”It doesn’t help your organisation, it doesn’t help yourself,” he told delegates. – Trump ‘outraged’ -Since returning to power in January, Trump has reversed Washington’s course on climate change and encouraged fossil fuel use by deregulation.”I am outraged that the International Maritime Organization is voting in London this week to pass a global Carbon Tax,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform Thursday. “The United States will NOT stand for this Global Green New Scam Tax on Shipping,” he added, urging countries to vote against it.Washington threatened to impose sanctions, visa restrictions and port levies on those supporting the Net Zero Framework (NZF), the first global carbon-pricing system.Liberia and Saudi Arabia called for Friday’s vote to be postponed.”We agree with the United States that it’s important that these conversations are brought to light,” a Saudi representative said.Ahead of this week’s London gathering, a majority 63 IMO members that in April voted for the plan had been expected to maintain their support and to be joined by others to formally approve the NZF.Argentina, which in April abstained from the vote, now opposes the deal. Leading up to Friday’s decision — China, the European Union, Brazil, Britain and several other members of the IMO — reaffirmed their support.The NZF requires ships to progressively reduce carbon emissions from 2028, or face financial penalties.Shipping accounts for nearly three percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the IMO, while the CO2 pricing plan should encourage the sector to use less polluting fuels.The Philippines, which provides the most seafarers of any country, and Caribbean islands focused on the cruise industry, would be particularly impacted by visa restrictions and sanctions.The plan would charge ships for emissions exceeding a certain threshold, with proceeds used to reward low-emission vessels and support countries vulnerable to climate change.Pacific Island states, which abstained in the initial vote over concerns the proposal was not ambitious enough, had been expected to support it this time around.If the global emissions pricing system was adopted, it would become difficult to evade, even for the United States.IMO conventions allow signatories to inspect foreign ships during stopovers and even detain non-compliant vessels.burs-pml/bcp/ode/jkb/giv

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meets Donald Trump at the White House Friday to push the US leader for long-range Tomahawk missiles that can strike deep inside Russia.The meeting comes a day after Trump threw Zelensky a curveball by announcing a fresh summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.Trump also cast doubt on whether he would grant Ukraine’s wish for the powerful Tomahawk cruise missiles, saying Washington could not “deplete” its own supplies.Ukraine has been lobbying Washington for Tomahawks for weeks, arguing that they could help put pressure on Russia to end its brutal three-and-a-half year invasion.But on the eve of Zelensky’s visit, Putin warned Trump in a call against delivering the weapons, saying it could escalate the war and jeopardize peace talks.Trump and Putin agreed to a new summit in the Hungarian capital Budapest, which would be their first since an August meeting in Alaska that failed to produce any kind of peace deal.- ‘Many questions’ -Diplomatic talks on ending Russia’s invasion have stalled since the Alaska summit.Ukraine had hoped Zelensky’s trip would add more pressure on Putin, especially by getting Tomahawks, which have a range of over 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles).But Trump, who once said he could end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours, appears set on pursuing a new diplomatic breakthrough to follow the Gaza ceasefire deal that he brokered last week.The Kremlin said Friday that “many questions” needed resolving before Putin and Trump could meet, including who would be on each negotiating team. “It could indeed take place within two weeks or a little later. There’s an understanding that nothing should be put off,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.But the Kremlin appeared to brush off suggestions Putin would have difficulty flying over European airspace.Hungary said Friday it would ensure Putin could enter and “hold successful talks” with the US despite an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against him for alleged war crimes.”Budapest is the only suitable place in Europe for a USA–Russia peace summit,” Hungarian President Viktor Orban said on X on Friday.- Trump frustration -Zelensky’s visit to Washington, Ukraine’s main military backer, will be his third since Trump returned to office.During this time, Trump’s position on the Ukraine war has shifted dramatically back and forth.At the start of his term, Trump and Putin reached out to each other as the US leader derided Zelensky as a “dictator without elections”.Tensions came to a head in February, when Trump accused his Ukrainian counterpart of “not having the cards” in a bombshell televised meeting at the Oval Office.Relations between the two have since warmed as Trump has expressed growing frustration with Putin.But Trump has kept a channel of dialogue open with Putin, saying that they “get along.” The US leader has repeatedly changed his position on sanctions and other steps against Russia following calls with the Russian president.Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, describing it as a “special military operation” to demilitarize the country and prevent the expansion of NATO.Kyiv and its European allies say the war is an illegal land grab that has resulted in tens of thousands of civilian and military casualties and widespread destruction.Russia now occupies around a fifth of Ukrainian territory — much of it ravaged by fighting. On Friday the Russian defense ministry announced it had captured three villages in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv regions.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meets Donald Trump at the White House on Friday, seeking US-made Tomahawk missiles even as the US president readies for a fresh summit with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.Zelensky will be making his third trip to Washington since Trump returned to office, following a disastrous televised shouting match in February and a make-up meeting in August, as the US leader’s stance on the war blows hot and cold.Trump’s latest pivot came on the eve of Zelensky’s visit. He announced that he would be meeting Putin in Budapest, in a fresh bid to reach a peace deal and end Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine launched in 2022.Ukraine had hoped Zelensky’s trip would be more about adding to the pressure on Putin, especially by getting American-made long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles that can strike deep into Russia.But Trump, who once said he could end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours, appears set on pursuing a new diplomatic breakthrough to follow the Gaza ceasefire deal that he brokered last week.Trump said on Thursday he had a “very productive” call with Putin and that they would meet in the Hungarian capital within the next two weeks. He added that he hoped to have “separate but equal” meetings with both Putin and Zelensky but did not elaborate.Zelensky said as he arrived in Washington on Thursday that he hoped Trump’s success with the Gaza deal would bring results to end the war that has left swaths of his own country in ruins.”We expect that the momentum of curbing terror and war that succeeded in the Middle East will help to end Russia’s war against Ukraine,” Zelensky said on social media platform X.Zelensky insisted that the threat of Tomahawks had forced Moscow to negotiate.”We can already see that Moscow is rushing to resume dialogue as soon as it hears about Tomahawks,” he said.The Ukrainian leader said on Friday he had met officials from US defense firm Raytheon, which produces the Tomahawk missiles and Patriot systems, to discuss cooperation and “the prospects for Ukrainian-American joint production.”Zelensky said he also held talks with Lockheed Martin, which makes F-16 fighter jets.- ‘Didn’t like it’ -However, Trump cast doubt on whether Ukraine would ever get the coveted weapons, which have a 1,000-mile (1,600-kilometer) range.Trump told reporters on Thursday that the United States could not “deplete” its own supply. “We need them too, so I don’t know what we can do about that,” he said.The US president said the Russian leader “didn’t like it” when he raised the possibility of giving Tomahawks to Ukraine during their call.The Kremlin said on Thursday it was making immediate preparations for a Budapest summit after what it called the “extremely frank and trustful” Putin-Trump call.But Putin told Trump that giving Ukraine Tomahawks would “not change the situation on the battlefield” and would harm “prospects for peaceful resolution,” the Russian president’s top aide Yuri Ushakov told journalists.Trump’s relations with Putin — a leader for whom he has repeatedly expressed admiration over the years — and Zelensky have swung wildly since he returned to the White House in January.After an initial rapprochement, Trump has shown increasing frustration with Putin, particularly since he came away from meeting the Russian president in Alaska with no end to the war in sight.Zelensky, meanwhile, has gone the opposite way, winning back Trump’s support after the disastrous Oval Office encounter when the US president and Vice President JD Vance berated him in front of the cameras.The Ukrainian returned in August — wearing a suit after he was mocked for not wearing one in the first meeting — and accompanied by a host of Western leaders in solidarity.