Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, a newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.
In today’s edition, we have the latest on President Donald Trump’s meeting with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Republicans’ redistricting plans in Texas now that a group of Democratic lawmakers have returned home.
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— Adam Wollner
Trump and Zelenskyy signal progress as they meet with European leaders on Ukraine war
By Peter Nicholas, Megan Lebowitz and Kristen Welker
President Donald Trump met for about an hour at the White House today with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an accelerating effort to end the grinding war with Russia on terms acceptable to both sides.
Trump greeted the Ukrainian leader in the early afternoon with a smile and warm handshake — a stark difference from the tense televised meeting the two men held in February in the Oval Office.
Fresh off a summit in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump summoned Zelenskyy to see if they can resolve sticking points centered on Ukraine’s future security and the status of territory that the Russian military has seized in eastern and southern Ukraine.
A number of European leaders joined Zelenskyy and Trump at the White House to work toward a breakthrough in the nearly three-and-a-half-year conflict that Trump himself has cautioned could erupt in a third world war if allowed to persist.
Asked if U.S. troops would help secure a peace deal, Trump did not rule out the possibility.
As a condition of ending the war, Putin has insisted that Russia retain about 20% of Ukrainian territory that it now controls. For his part, Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine’s constitution forbids him to cede any land.
Zelenskyy sat to Trump’s right in a dark, formal outfit complete with a collar — a departure from his normal wartime garb, which Trump remarked upon favorably. (At Zelenskyy’s last meeting at the White House, a reporter asked him why he wasn’t wearing a suit.)
When his meeting with Trump ended, Zelenskyy said: “We had a very good conversation — maybe the best one.”
What happens next is far from clear. Trump said he will call Putin when he’s done with the negotiations for the day. Depending on the progress made, he said he would try to convene a meeting that hasn’t happened since the war began — a trilateral summit with himself, Putin and Zelenskyy.
Texas Democrats return to the state, ending two-week standoff over redistricting
By Natasha Korecki and Ben Kamisar
Texas Democratic lawmakers returned to the state today after a two-week absence that temporarily blocked Republican leaders from enacting a plan aimed at padding their party’s majority in the U.S. House, a move that sparked a national political firestorm over redistricting.
The legislators decided to end their standoff after they prevented Texas Republicans from passing a redrawn congressional map during a special legislative session and after California Democrats countered with their own redistricting proposal. But Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called for a second special session, and with enough Democratic lawmakers now present in Texas, the GOP-controlled Legislature will be able to advance its new map.
“We killed the corrupt special session, withstood unprecedented surveillance and intimidation, and rallied Democrats nationwide to join this existential fight for fair representation — reshaping the entire 2026 landscape,” Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu said in a statement. “We’re returning to Texas more dangerous to Republicans’ plans than when we left. Our return allows us to build the legal record necessary to defeat this racist map in court, take our message to communities across the state and country, and inspire how to fight these undemocratic redistricting schemes in their own statehouses.”
Texas Democrats, without any real legislative power, won praise nationwide from members of their party for delaying the Republicans’ pursuit of a rare, mid-decade redistricting effort and raising awareness of the issue. The two-week quorum break has been costly, with the Democratic lawmakers facing a $500 fine for each day they were absent. And many faced security threats while away from their families.
Democrats began setting the stage for their eventual return last week, declaring victory over Republicans’ decision to end their first special legislative session without a vote. They said their second condition to return was for California Democrats to release a plan that would seek to offset any changes Texas Republicans made to their map, which they did on Friday.
Texas GOP leaders in the state House said they would take up their redistricting plan on Wednesday.
“The House has been through a tumultuous two weeks, but this institution long predates us and will long outlast each of us. … This body has endured wars, economic depressions and quorum breaks dating back to the very first session. It will withstand this, too,” state House Speaker Dustin Burrows said. “We are done waiting. We have a quorum. Now is the time for action. We will move quickly, and the schedule will be demanding until our work is complete.”
🗞️ Today’s other top stories
- 🪖 D.C. takeover: Some Republicans governors announced over the weekend that they are sending their states’ National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., to supplement Trump’s effort to combat crime in the nation’s capital. And some troops will begin to carry firearms. Read more →
- ✉️ You’ve got mail: Trump said in a Truth Social post that he would sign an executive order to try to get rid of mail-in ballots and voting machines. Read more →
- 💲 Election settlement: Newsmax will pay $67 million as part of a settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, which had brought a defamation lawsuit against the conservative cable news channel over its baseless claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent. Read more →
- 🏃🏼 He’s running: Former Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, officially launched his 2026 Senate campaign, telling Henry Gomez that he had “no intention” of running again but changed his mind after receiving encouragement from “more and more people” and seeing the Trump administration’s early actions. Read more →
- 🏃🏼♀️ She’s running: Pennsylvania state Treasurer Stacy Garrity announced that she is running for governor, becoming the first major Republican candidate to jump into the race against Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro. Read more →
- 🌽 Field of Democrats: The field of Democratic candidates running for Senate in Iowa shrunk, with state Rep. J.D. Scholten dropping out and endorsing fellow state Rep. Josh Turek, the Des Moines Register reports. Read more →
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That’s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner and Bridget Bowman.
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