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All eyes on Russia-Ukraine as Trump kicks off fourth week back in the Oval Office

President Donald Trump and his administration are set to have another busy week as negotiations over ending the Russia-Ukraine war get underway.

Trump is sending a handful of U.S. officials to Saudi Arabia this week to begin negotiating a potential peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine. Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, told Fox News on Sunday morning that he and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz will travel to Saudi Arabia on Sunday evening, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio is also set to travel to Saudi Arabia after his attendance of the international Munich Security Conference last week and meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Sunday.

The meeting in Saudi Arabia comes after Trump announced last Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to “immediately” begin peace talks.

“Next week, there’s a meeting in Saudi Arabia,” Trump told the media during a press conference on Thursday. “Not with myself nor President Putin, but with top officials. And Ukraine will be a part of it, too. And we’re going to see if we can end that war. That was a horrible war. It’s a vicious, bloody war. We want to end it.”

Russia and Ukraine have been at war since February 2022, when Russia first invaded its neighboring nation. Trump had said while on the 2024 campaign trail that he would end the war if re-elected, while claiming it would never have begun if he had been in the Oval Office at the time.

TRUMP WILL DETERMINE IF PUTIN IS ‘SERIOUS ABOUT NEGOTIATIONS’ TO END UKRAINE WAR, RUBIO SAYS

Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump (Contributor | Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

Trump charged his team of U.S. officials to hold the peace meetings at his direction in Saudi Arabia, Witkoff said on Sunday to Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo.

HOW SAUDI ARABIA’S CROWN PRINCE BECAME A CENTRAL PLAYER IN US-BROKERED PEACE TALKS BETWEEN RUSSIA AND UKRAINE

“I am going tonight. I’ll be traveling there with the national security advisor, and we’ll be having meetings at the direction of the president. And hopefully we’ll make some really good progress with regard to Russia, Ukraine,” Witkoff said.

Waltz, Ratcliffe, Rubio and Witkoff (Getty Images)

RUSSIA CLAIMS TRUMP, PUTIN TALK BROUGHT WORLD FROM ‘BRINK OF APOCALYPSE,’ EU WARNS OF ‘DIRTY TRICKS’

Stateside, Trump spent his weekend in Mar-a-Lago in Florida before heading to the Daytona 500, where fans erupted into cheers when Air Force One flew over Daytona International Speedway. Trump is the first sitting president to attend two Daytona 500 races at Daytona International Speedway, previously attending the 2020 race.

President Donald Trump shakes hands with NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Richard Petty at the Daytona 500 on Feb. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Trump’s schedule this week could also include meeting with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who requested a visit with the president at the White House.

Trump told the media on Friday that he did speak with the U.K. prime minister and that he accepted a request to meet at the White House.

“We’re going to have a friendly meeting, very good. We have a lot of good things going on. But he asked to come and see me, and I just accepted his asking,” Trump said.

NASCAR FANS CHEER AS TRUMP ARRIVES FOR DAYTONA 500 IN AIR FORCE ONE

Trump said the meeting would be held “very soon,” suggesting it would happen either this coming week or the following week. No details have been revealed as to what the upcoming meeting will focus on, though it comes on the heels of Trump announcing a “reciprocal tariff” plan on Thursday that will impose “fair and reciprocal” tariffs on all major U.S. trading partners.

“On trade, I have decided for purposes of fairness that I will charge a reciprocal tariff, meaning whatever countries charge the United States of America, we will charge them, no more, no less. In other words, they charge us a tax or tariff, and we charge them the exact same tax or tariff, very simple,” Trump said at the White House of the tariff plan.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer (AP)

On the energy policy front, Trump created the National Energy Dominance Council on Friday, which is expected to “unleash” energy independence.

TOP TRUMP AGENCY RECOVERS EYE-POPPING SUM AFTER LAUNCHING DOGE TASK FORCE

“We have more energy than any other country, and now we are unleashing it,” Trump said Friday from the Oval Office when he signed an executive order establishing the energy council. “I call it liquid gold under our feet, and we’re going to utilize it.”

Kevin Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council under the second Trump administration, previewed that the council will quickly work to make the U.S. energy dominant, even with actions as early as this coming week.

“What I expect you to see, sir, is action as early as next week that is going to shock people about how good it is for Americans,” Hassett told Trump from the Oval Office on Friday.

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Trump’s fourth week in office follows him already signing 65 executive orders, including 26 on his first day in office alone.

February 16, 2025
Trump’s 2023 mugshot spotted hanging in ornate frame near Oval Office

A copy of a New York Post front page featuring President Donald Trump’s mugshot was spotted hanging in an ornate gold frame near the Oval Office in the White House during a news conference this week.

The photo was snapped at the Fulton County Jail in Georgia after Trump turned himself in Aug. 24, 2023, and appeared on the front page of newspapers across the globe the next day.

Trump told Fox News Digital at the time Georgia officials “insisted” his mugshot be taken during processing at the jail and that doing so was “not a comfortable feeling — especially when you’ve done nothing wrong.”

A framed copy of President Donald Trump’s 2023 mugshot from the New York Post is framed in an office just outside the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

TRUMP SAYS GEORGIA INDICTMENT COMES DURING ‘DARK PERIOD’ FOR US, VOWS TO FIX IT BY WINNING

A photo of the new artwork, shared by Margo Martin, Trump’s special assistant and communications advisor, went viral on social media.

Dan Scavino, White House deputy chief of staff, later posted a video to X providing context on the frame’s placement.

President Donald Trump’s framed mugshot hangs just outside the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

“HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY,” Scavino wrote in the accompanying post. “WELCOME TO THE BEAUTIFUL OVAL OFFICE @WHITEHOUSE.”

The mugshot closely resembles the President’s official White House portrait, which debuted in January.

A split of President Trump’s official White House portrait, left, and mugshot. (Trump-Vance Transition Team; Fulton County Sheriff’s Office via AP )

The unprecedented charges stem from accusations that Trump attempted to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results, a case that is still unresolved.

At the time of the indictment, the Trump campaign said the case was a “continued pathetic attempt by the Biden crime family and their weaponized Department of Justice.”

TRUMP SAYS TAKING MUGSHOT WAS ‘NOT A COMFORTABLE FEELING, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU’VE DONE NOTHING WRONG’

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis testifies during a hearing in the case of the State of Georgia v. Donald John Trump at the Fulton County Courthouse Feb. 15, 2024, in Atlanta. (Alyssa Pointer-Pool/Getty Images)

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who filed the charges, is appealing a Georgia Court’s ruling that disqualified her and her office from prosecuting the case.

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A new prosecutor has not yet been assigned to the case.

Four co-defendants have accepted plea deals in the case, including Scott Hall, Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro and Jenna Ellis.

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman and FOX 5 Atlanta contributed to this story.

Alexandra Koch is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital. Prior to joining Fox News, Alexandra covered breaking news, crime, religion, and the military in the southeast.

February 15, 2025
Trump holding Oval Office meeting with Texas Gov. Abbott over ‘securing the southern border’

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott meets at the White House on Wednesday with President Donald Trump to discuss their efforts to beef up security along America’s southern border with Mexico.

“Governor Abbott is meeting with President Trump to discuss their continued partnership in securing the southern border and keeping Americans safe,” Abbott press secretary Andrew Mahaleris told Fox News Digital when asked about the Oval Office get-together.

Ahead of his meeting with Trump, the three-term conservative Lone Star State governor met with Tom Homan, the president’s border czar.

TEXAS’ ABBOTT MAKES MAJOR MOVE IN BORDER SECURITY BATTLE

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and former President Donald Trump attend a briefing with state officials and law enforcement at the Weslaco Department of Public Safety, before touring the U.S.-Mexico border wall on June 30, 2021, in Weslaco, Texas. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via AP, Pool)

“Looking forward to meeting with President Trump today. Earlier this morning, I spoke with Tom Homan about immigration enforcement strategies. Today, and the coming days, should be great for Texas,” Abbott wrote in a social media post.

It would be hard to find another governor who has done more to support, and help implement and endorse, Trump’s hardline border security and immigration agenda.

Texas, under Abbott’s leadership, has spent billions of dollars on border security the past couple of years under Operation Lone Star. And now the GOP-dominated legislature is proposing allocating an additional $6.5 million to implement Trump’s border and immigration agenda.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott listens to former President Trump during a visit to an unfinished section of border wall, in Pharr, Texas, June 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

And this week, Abbott, in an unprecedented move, gave Texas National Guard soldiers the power to arrest undocumented immigrants in coordination with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Trump, speaking to an overflow crowd of supporters gathered at the U.S. Capitol for his inauguration last month, praised Abbott.

“He’s doing a great job. He’s doing a phenomenal job, but now you’re going to have a partner that’s going to work with you,” Trump said.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott at the U.S.-Mexico border. (Twitter/Greg Abbott)

And Abbott returned the compliment this past weekend, as he delivered his State of the State address.

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“We have a president who will partner with Texas to deny illegal entry,” Abbott said. “To support that mission, I have ordered Texas state agencies to assist the Trump administration with arresting, jailing and deporting illegal immigrants.”

February 5, 2025
Inside the Oval Office: What Biden décor did Trump ditch?

When a new president moves into the White House, they have free rein to redecorate as they see fit.

As President Donald Trump participated in inaugural ceremonies on Monday, dozens of staffers worked furiously at the White House to move former President Biden’s personal items out and Trump’s in.

Some of the decor seen in the Oval Office belongs to the president – such as the family photos both Biden and Trump displayed behind the Resolute Desk. But other items, like portraits of former presidents, the tables, chairs and curios belong to the White House Collection and are selected by the president to be featured during their term.

The look of the Oval Office, from the carpet to curtains and artwork on the walls, is entirely the president’s choice. Here’s a look at what Trump has kept and what he’s ditched from his predecessor:

‘TIP OF THE SPEAR’: TRUMP RAMPS UP UNSCRIPTED MEDIA BLITZ AFTER YEARS OF RECLUSIVE BIDEN DUCKING QUESTIONS

Kept: The Resolute Desk

Executive Orders regarding trade lay on the Resolute desk in the Oval Office of the White House on March 31, 2017, in Washington, D.C. (Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images)

All but three U.S. presidents since 1880 – LBJ, Nixon and Ford – have used the famous desk that was gifted to President Rutherford B. Hayes by Queen Victoria that year. Trump used it in his first term, as did Biden, and Trump was pictured signing a flurry of executive actions at the desk on his first day in office on Monday.

Removed: President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s portrait

President Joe Biden sits underneath a portrait of former President Franklin D. Roosevelt while meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office at the White House on Sept. 1, 2021, in Washington, D.C. This was the two leaders’ first face-to-face meeting and the first by a Ukrainian leader in more than four years. (Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images)

When Biden assumed office, he hung a large portrait of progressive hero FDR over the fireplace, which became the focus of the room. Biden’s intent was to honor Roosevelt, who guided the nation through the Great Depression and World War II, as the U.S. faced another crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic.

FOX EXCLUSIVE: TRUMP SHARES LETTER BIDEN LEFT FOR HIM

Trump has removed the portrait and replaced it with one of President George Washington, which hung in the Oval Office during Trump’s first term, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Kept: Bust of Martin Luther King Jr.

A sculpted bust of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., adorns a table for an early preview of the redesigned Oval Office awaiting President Joseph Biden at the White House in Washington, DC. (Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

A bust of civil rights hero Martin Luther King Jr. displayed by both Trump and Biden will remain in the Oval Office for Trump’s second term, according to the Journal.

Swapped: Family photos

President Donald Trump after signing executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Thurs., Jan. 23, 2025. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

A collection of Trump family photos now sits on a small table behind the Resolute desk. Among them is a picture of the president’s mother, Mary Anne MacLeod Trump, and a portrait of his father, Fred Trump. Also displayed are a photo of Trump’s eldest three children in formal evening wear; a photo of Trump with his daughter Ivanka when she was a girl; and a photo of Trump with first lady Melania Trump when their son Barron was a baby.

WHY TRUMP’S HOLDING WEEKEND RALLY IN LAS VEGAS LESS THAN A WEEK INTO NEW ADMIN

Biden family photos were previously arranged on this table, including one of his adult children, Beau, Hunter and Ashley Biden.

Kept: Benjamin Franklin portrait

Natalie Harp, an aide to U.S. President Donald Trump, and White House Communications Director Steven Cheung (R) listen as President Trump signs a series of executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House on Jan. 23, 2025, in Washington, D.C. A portrait of Benjamin Franklin hangs on the wall in the background. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

A portrait of Benjamin Franklin that Biden added to the Oval Office to signify his focus on science will remain there during Trump’s term, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Removed: Robert F. Kennedy bust

Robert F. Kennedy Bust behind President Joe Biden during a meeting with Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Petr Fiala in the Oval Office of the White House on Monday April 15, 2024 (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Trump has swapped out a bust of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that Biden placed near the fireplace in favor of a sculpture of President Andrew Jackson called, “The Bronco Buster,” by Frederic Remington. The Jackson sculpture also featured in the Oval Office during Trump’s first term, according to the Journal.

Returned: Winston Churchill bust

British Prime Minister Theresa May (L) and President Donald Trump meet beside a bust of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the Oval Office of the White House on Jan. 27, 2017 in Washington, D.C. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

A bust of Winston Churchill that Biden had removed is back at Trump’s direction. The bronze bust by British American artist Jacob Epstein has been the focus of past controversy. Then-London Mayor Boris Johnson had claimed that President Obama removed the bust upon taking office in 2009 – but the White House refuted that claim in 2012, observing that the bust had been placed just outside the Oval Office in the White House’s Treaty Room.

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Returned: Andrew Jackson portrait

President Donald Trump speaks to the media after signing executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C, on Jan. 23, 2025. (ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)

A new painting of President Andrew Jackson provided by the White House art collection features prominently in Trump’s Oval Office, according to WSJ. Trump has long admired the nation’s seventh president, a populist and disruptive figure whose election Trump once said “shook the establishment like an earthquake” – not unlike his own victories.

Returned: U.S. military flags

President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., US, on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. Flags representing different branches of the U.S. military are seen in the background. (Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Trump is one again prominently featuring flags representing each branch of the armed services in the Oval Office.

Chris Pandolfo is a breaking news reporter for Fox News Digital. Send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @ChrisCPandolfo.

January 26, 2025
House Speaker Johnson captures VP JD Vance’s first visit to the Oval Office on video

House Speaker Mike Johnson channeled his inner dad energy as he excitedly recorded Vice President JD Vance’s first time in the Oval Office. The speaker not only celebrated the moment, but he noted Vance’s background, saying his story is one that could happen “only in America.”

“As we gathered for our meeting at the White House yesterday, JD Vance mentioned to us that he had never before visited the Oval Office. I told him and President Trump that I HAD to capture the moment on video,” Johnson wrote in a post on X. “Only in America can a hardworking young man from Appalachia rise from his humble circumstances to enter the Oval for first time as VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. What a country!”

REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS MEET WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP, VP VANCE TO ADVANCE AGENDA

Vice President JD Vance, President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson speak during the 60th presidential inauguration in Emancipation Hall of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. (Alexander Drago/Pool via Reuters)

Vance’s background took center stage in the campaign as then-Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, D-Min., made a joke about no one from his small town going to Yale, where Vance got his law degree.

“Now, I grew up in Butte, Nebraska, a town of 400 people. I had 24 kids in my high school class, and none of them went to Yale,” Walz said during his remarks at the Democratic National Convention.

The Trump campaign was quick to call out Walz’s remarks on social media, calling it a “weird flex.”

Vice President JD Vance takes his oath as his wife Usha Vance watches during the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP)

WHO IS TRUMP’S RUNNING MATE JD VANCE?

Before he was chosen as President Donald Trump’s running mate, Vance served as a senator from Ohio after winning the seat in 2022. However, the current vice president entered the public eye in 2016 when he published his book, “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis.” In the book, he details his challenging upbringing in Middletown, Ohio.

Surrounded by poverty, and grappling with his mother’s drug addiction, Vance worked his way into a position to make change.

In 2020, years after the memoir was published, it was turned into a Netflix movie, which was directed by Ron Howard and starred Glenn Close and Amy Adams. “Hillbilly Elegy” faced fierce criticism, which both Close and Adams rejected. Recently, while on “The View,” Close praised the vice president’s “very generous family.”

Vice President JD Vance and President Donald Trump look on during a rally on Inauguration Day. (Reuters/Mike Segar)

GLENN CLOSE PRAISES ‘GENEROUS’ FAMILY OF JD VANCE DURING ‘HILLBILLY ELEGY’ FILMING, AS ‘VIEW’ HOSTS TAKE JABS

Vance’s mother, Beverly Aikins, has been sober for a decade. Aikins briefly addressed the crowd at the Ohio inaugural ball, which was held in Washington, D.C., on Sunday night. She informed the crowd that she officially hit 10 years of sobriety that day and that the next day was her birthday, in addition to it being her son’s inauguration, Cincinnati.com reported.

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Vance returned to his hometown for a rally held at Middletown High School, from which he graduated in 2003. He told the crowd that the town was “so good to me,” and that he was “proud” to be from Middletown.

Rachel Wolf is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and FOX Business.

January 23, 2025