
Donald trump speech: president says he’s received letter from ukraine’s volodymyr zelensky saying he’s ready to negotiate peace deal with russia – update
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UPDATE: Five days after their blowup in the Oval Office, Donald Trump said Tuesday during his speech to a joint session of Congress that he had received a letter from Ukraine’s president
Volodymyr Zelensky saying he is “ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible.” “I appreciate that he has sent this letter,” Trump said during his record 100-minute speech,
while adding that he has received “strong signals from Russia that it is ready for peace.” Trump also said Zelensky was ready to sign a minerals deal. That agreement was put on hold after
Trump ordered Zelensky and his entourage to leave the White House after their Oval Office confrontation Friday. WATCH ON DEADLINE While it is unclear when Trump received the letter in
question from Zelensky, the language Trump quoted exactly matches a posting the Ukrainian leader put up on social media early Tuesday morning. PREVIOUSLY: Donald Trump during his speech
vowed to take back the Panama Canal, claiming that a 1970s agreement to hand over the canal to Panama had been violated. “The Panama Canal was built by Americans for Americans,” he said.
Trump also talked of another expansionist desire: Greenland. He acknowledged that it would be up to residents of Greenland to determine their destiny, but “one way or the other we are going
to get it.” As the speech has gone on, Democrats have been leaving, with a couple of rows nearly empty. PREVIOUSLY: Donald Trump’s reality TV moment Tuesday came when he called out DJ
Daniel, a 13-year-old boy who has suffered from brain cancer and who has had dreams of becoming a police officer. Trump had his Secret Service director Sean Curran name Daniel an honorary
agent. The moment drew a rare round of applause throughout the chamber. Earlier, when Trump called for the mandatory death penalty for anyone who murders a police officer, Democrats started
to shout, “January 6th.” That was a reference to Trump’s pardon of rioters who injured police officers in the siege of the U.S. Capitol. PREVIOUSLY: Donald Trump told Congress that “we are
achieving the great liberation of America” as he touted his border policy. “Since taking office, my administration has launched the most sweeping border and immigration crackdown in American
history, and we quickly achieved the lowest numbers of illegal border crossings ever recorded,” Trump said. “The media and our friends in the Democrat party kept saying we needed new
legislation to secure the border, but it turned out that all we really needed was a new president.” Some Democrats clapped during moments of his section on immigration, including when he
paid tribute to the mother and sister of Laken Riley. But some Democratic lawmakers also booed when Trump referred to “migrant occupation and corruption.” PREVIOUSLY: Donald Trump once again
embraced tariffs, even as the markets have been rattled by the implementation of 25% on goods from Canada and Mexico. “Whatever they tariff us, we tariff them,” Trump said. “Whatever they
tax us, we tax them. If they do non-monetary tariffs to keep us out of their market, then we do non-monetary barriers to keep them out of our market. We will take in trillions of dollars and
create jobs like we have never seen before.” Earlier in the day, Trump’s commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, suggested a deal could be in the offing to reduce the Mexico and Canada tariffs.
But no deal was announced. PREVIOUSLY: As Donald Trump touted his moves to reduce the size of the federal workforce, Democrats seized on one of his remarks. “The days of unelected
bureaucrats are over,” Trump said. A number of Democratic lawmakers then pointed at Elon Musk, sitting in the chamber. Musk, working as a special adviser to Trump, was not elected but has
enormous influence over the government. Trump said he was in charge of the Department of Government Efficiency, which has slashed federal jobs, including workers at popular federal agencies
like the National Park Service and those in jobs ranging from health research to food safety. Musk appeared with Trump on the campaign trail and reportedly poured hundreds of millions into
his presidential bid. PREVIOUSLY: Donald Trump opened his speech by predicting that his presidency will lead to “the greatest and most successful era in the history of our country.” “The
American Dream is surging — bigger and better than ever before,” Trump said. “The American Dream is unstoppable, and our country is on the verge of a comeback the likes of which the world
has never witnessed, and perhaps will never witness again.” Trump said, “We have accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplish in four years or eight years — and we are
just getting started.” He even said it was a better start of his presidency than George Washington, while he called Joe Biden the “worst president.” “The people elected me to do the job and
I am doing it,” Trump said, as Republicans stood and cheered while Democrats staged their own kind of protest. They held up signs that read “Musk steals” and “Protect veterans” and “False”
as the president spoke. As Trump boasted of having an electoral mandate, Rep. Al Green (D-TX) rose from his seat and shouted, “You have no mandate.” He interrupted the speech, and kept
shouting until Speaker Mike Johnson ordered the sergeant at arms to escort him out. Trump also declared that he has restored free speech, but that remark also elicited a Democratic protest,
as lawmakers held up signs of “False.” Trump has attacked the media, banning the Associated Pressfrom White House events because the news organization did not change the name of the Gulf of
Mexico to the Gulf of America. Trump signed an executive order doing so, but the AP noted that other countries have not recognized the name change for an international body of water.