The Latest: Trump floats the idea of Turkey detour for Ukraine-Russia talks

President Donald Trump begins a weeklong trip to the Middle East on Monday Trump will visit Saudi Arabia Qatar and the United Arab Emirates though his preponderance pressing regional challenges concern two other countries Israel and Iran Meanwhile U S stocks are leaping in early trading after China and the United States broadcasted a -day truce in their deal war Also Monday Trump signed a sweeping executive order setting a -day deadline for drugmakers to lower the cost of prescription drugs in the U S or face new limits over what the regime will pay Here s the Latest Trump en trail to the Middle East on the first major foreign trip of nd term Air Force One took off from a military base outside of Washington at a m ET It will refuel at a military base in the United Kingdom before arriving in Riyadh Saudi Arabia on Tuesday morning local time Trump is also stopping in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates before landing back in the United States at the end of the week The president made a quick trip to Rome at the end of April to attend the funeral for Pope Francis but the Middle East swing was inevitably meant to be the first major foreign trip of his return to office Trump signs sweeping executive order for lower Rx drug costs Trump has signed a sweeping executive order setting a -day deadline for drugmakers to lower the cost of prescription drugs in the U S or face new limits over what the governing body will pay The order the Republican president signed Monday calls on the physical condition department to broker new price tags for drugs If a deal is not reached a new rule will kick in tying the price of what the U S pays for medications to lower prices paid by other countries Masses wellbeing agency leaders will start meeting with drug companies to offer new prices over the next month Drugmakers argue threats to their profits could impact research to develop new drugs Trump floats the idea of Turkey detour for Ukraine-Russia talks during Mideast trip The president declared he s optimistic about Thursday s expected talks between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Istanbul on finding an endgame to Russia s war on Ukraine Trump who is expected to be in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on Thursday suggested that he could make a detour to Turkey if he thinks his presence might be helpful I was thinking about flying over I don t know where I am going be on Thursday Trump stated I ve got so multiple meetings There s a possibility there I guess if I think things can happen Trump added there is the feasible for a good meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy Don t underestimate Thursday in Turkey President Erdogan is the great host Trump noted Trump says he s weighing the removal of sanctions from Syria We may want to take them off of Syria because we want to give them a fresh start disclosed Trump adding that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged him to do so The comments were striking change in tone from the president on Syria sanctions and the ruling body of Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa Al-Sharaa took power after his Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham HTS led an offensive that toppled former President Bashar Assad in December The Trump administration has yet to formally recognize the new Syrian administration led by Ahmed al-Sharaa and HTS remains a U S -designated terrorist organization Sanctions imposed on Damascus under Assad also remain in place Hawks in the White House and the Republican Party have been skeptical of al-Sharaa s transformation and insist Syria remains a counterterrorism issue Trump defends Qatar s gift of a plane as a gesture of good faith Trump says the leadership of Qatar knew that Boeing has encountered delays building the next generation of the Air Force One aircraft and yearned to help by giving a plane to the U S authorities He noted I could be a stupid person and say we don t want a free plane but that the gift from Qatar helps us out because the models he currently flies on are decades old This was just a gesture of good faith Trump mentioned News of the million gift prompted criticism from certain Democrats and Trump allies Trump declared the plane would ultimately be decommissioned and go to his future presidential library He explained he would not fly on it after he leaves office Trump says he s allowing white South Africans to come to US to avoid genocide Trump commented that he s allowing white farmers from South Africa to come to the United States as refugees because of the genocide that s taking place Trump explained that in a post-apartheid South Africa that white farmers are being killed and he plans to address the issue with South African leadership next week Trump mentioned he doesn t care whether the South African farmers are white or Black or about their height their weight But at a time when the administration has sought to halt refugee admissions from a multitude of other countries undergoing political upheaval Trump announced the U S has essentially extended citizenship to South African farmers to escape from the violence Drug price negotiations to begin Oz says Mehmet Oz the administrator for the Centers for Medicare Medicaid Services says he and other top wellness bureaucrats will begin talks with drugmakers to discuss lowering prices over the next days They re patriotic Americans Oz declared They want what s right The executive order being signed by Trump on Monday gives the administration days to negotiate lower drug prices with the pharmaceutical industry If there is no deal the U S will tie domestic drug prices to the lower rates paid abroad which is the so-called the majority favored nation strategy Senate Democrats denounce Trump accepting luxury Qatari plane Democratic Sens Cory Booker Chris Coons Chris Murphy and Brian Schatz issued a joint message contending that President Donald Trump would engage in a clear conflict of interest if he accepted a million luxury plane from Qatar Multiple news outlets on Sunday communicated that Trump was set to be gifted the plane which would be used as Air Force One during his term and then transferred to a personal foundation The senators called on their colleagues to reassert that lawmakers cannot take gifts from foreign governments without congressional approval Air Force One is more than just a plane it s a symbol of the presidency and of the United States itself the lawmakers wrote Any president who accepts this kind of gift valued at million from a foreign regime creates a clear conflict of interest raises serious national precaution questions invites foreign influence and undermines constituents trust in our administration No one not even the president is above the law Trump promotes executive order meant to reduce drug costs Trump says he s directing his administration functionaries to investigate foreign countries that extort drug companies The order according to a White House official also sets a -day deadline for the U S Healthcare Department to broker new price tags for drugs If a deal is not reached a new rule will kick in that will tie the price of what the U S pays for medications to the lowest price paid by other countries As he signed the order he called it one of the most of consequential executive orders in our country s history Starting in the current era the United States will no longer subsidize the wellbeing care of foreign countries which is what we were doing Trump explained We were subsidizing others soundness care By Seung Min Kim Homeland Defense says it s targeting California over benefits to immigrants The Department of Homeland Protection says it is opening an analysis into a California effort that pays money to various immigrants The Department revealed Monday that it had issued a subpoena to California s Cash Assistance Operation for Immigrants to obtain records about the effort That California operation was created when Congress in took away federal Supplemental Protection Income assistance for legal immigrants in a welfare reorganization law According to the scheme s website it pays money to elderly blind and disabled people in California who are not citizens The website says the operation is entirely paid for by California The Trump administration has targeted states and communities that it considers to be lax when it comes to immigration enforcement Trump says EU nastier on exchange than China Fresh off a -day tariff rollback to hold talks with China President Donald Trump explained that on commerce issues the European Union is in plenty of avenues nastier than China Trump disclosed while speaking on Monday at the White House that the EU would come down a lot on contract restrictions regarding the U S tearing into the longstanding ally The U S president insisted that America has all the cards in agreement talks with Europe because of the vehicles it buys from the continent s automakers Trump disclosed his executive order on pharmaceutical drug prices would mean that Europeans will have to pay more for healthcare care and we re going to have to pay less The U S has a separate negotiating period on pact in which goods from the EU are being charged import taxes Trump cheers special envoy for hostage Edan Alexander s expected release from Gaza Trump noted that the U S -Israeli citizen was expected to be circulated by Hamas in the next two hours or sometime in the modern day He s coming home to his parents which is really great news Trump recounted reporters at the White House shortly before he was scheduled to depart for a whirlwind visit to Saudi Arabia Qatar and United Arab Emirates Trump credited his special envoy Steve Witkoff in helping win the release of Alexander The president explained that Witkoff a New York real estate developer turned diplomat knew very little about the subject matter but learned expeditiously He has a special way about him Trump explained of Witkoff Trump plans to speak with Xi after agreeing to tariff reduction for days President Donald Trump says he will likely speak with China s leader Xi Jinping maybe at the end of the week That s after negotiators from the U S and China meeting in Switzerland this weekend agreed to reduce tariffs for days of talks The import taxes on China imposed by the U S would still remain higher than when Trump took office at Trump recounted reporters on Monday that the reduced tariff rates didn t include tariffs on autos steel and aluminum as well as the potentially upcoming import taxes on pharmaceutical drugs Trump declared he also spoke with Apple CEO Tim Cook on Monday and he expected the tech company to make additional commitments to invest in domestic production Trump mentioned the talks would be great for unification and peace Trump suggests promise of business with US was factor in India-Pakistan ceasefire Trump says the countries ended hostilities for a lot of reasons but business is a big one Speaking at the White House on Monday the president mentioned the U S is already negotiating a arrangement deal with India and will soon start negotiating with Pakistan India and Pakistan reached an understanding to stop all military actions on land in the air and at the sea Saturday in a U S -brokered ceasefire to stop the escalating hostilities between the two nuclear-armed rivals that threatened regional peace Bessent expects next U S -China meeting in a scant weeks Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent praised the progress made in in deal talks with Chinese representatives over the weekend and reported he expects another meeting in a inadequate weeks U S and China broadcasted a -day pause on tariffs after the weekend talks in Geneva We had a plan we had a process and now what we have with the Chinese is a mechanism to avoid an upward tariff pressure like we did last time Bessent disclosed on CNBC Trump administration looking to expand legal power on deportation White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller says the Trump administration is looking for options to expand its legal power to deport foreigners who are in the United States illegally To achieve that he says the administration is actively looking at suspending habeas corpus the constitutional right for people to legally challenge their detention by the cabinet Such a move would be aimed at displaced persons as part of the Republican president s broader crackdown at the U S -Mexico limit The Constitution is clear and that of program is the supreme law of the land that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended in a time of invasion Miller informed reporters outside the White House on Friday So I would say that s an option we re actively looking at Miller noted Look a lot of it depends on whether the courts do the right thing or not Trump s plan to change pricing model for certain medications faces opposition Trump s plan to change the pricing model for particular medications is already facing fierce criticism from the pharmaceutical industry before he s even signed the executive order set for Monday that if implemented could lower the cost of specific drugs Trump has promised that his plan which is likely to tie the price of medications covered by Medicare and administered in a specialist s office to the lowest price paid by other countries will significantly lower drug costs But the nation s leading pharmaceutical lobby on Sunday pushed back calling it a bad deal for American patients Drugmakers have long argued that any threats to their profits could impact the research they do to develop new drugs White House releases Trump schedule for Monday The White House has distributed President Donald Trump s schedule for Monday Trump is scheduled to hold a press conference with Wellbeing Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr at the White House at a m Trump says he ll sign an executive order that if implemented could bring down the costs of a few medications reviving a failed effort from his first term on an issue he s talked up since even before becoming president Shortly after Trump will begin his weeklong trip to the Middle East Trump will visit Saudi Arabia Qatar and the United Arab Emirates though his greater part pressing regional challenges concern two other countries Israel and Iran Trump ready to accept gift of luxury jet from Qatar President Donald Trump is ready to accept a luxury Boeing - jumbo jet as a gift from the ruling family of Qatar during his trip to the Middle East this coming week and U S bureaucrats say it could be converted into a feasible presidential aircraft The Qatari regime mentioned a final decision hadn t been made Still Trump defended the idea what would amount to a president accepting an astonishingly valuable gift from a foreign authorities as a fiscally smart move for the country Source