WASHINGTON—The Treasury Department is sanctioning entities that support Iran&#8217;s military drone program, The Daily Wire can first report.
The department sanctioned one individual and five entities based in Iran, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China for buying technology from Iran&#8217;s Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company, a state-owned subsidiary of Iran&#8217;s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics.
The Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics manufactures Iran&#8217;s military aircraft and drones used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The move builds on President Donald Trump&#8217;s memorandum on national security directing that Iran can be denied asymmetric and conventional weapons capabilities and that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps can be disrupted and degraded.
“Iran continues to pursue the development of asymmetric weapons capabilities, including unmanned aerial vehicles, to carry out attacks on the United States, our service members and our partners and allies in the region,” Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K. Hurley said in a statement on Thursday.
“We will continue to put America first by disrupting Tehran’s ability to further its destabilizing agenda that undermines the stability of the region and threatens the safety of the American people,&#8221; Hurley added.
All property and interests in property that belong to the sanctioned individuals and are locate din the U.S. are now blocked and must be reported to the Office of Foreign Assets Control, and any entities owned by the blocked individuals are also blocked.
&#8220;Unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC, or exempt, OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all transactions by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of blocked persons,&#8221; Treasury explained in a release.
This is a developing story; please refresh this page for updates.

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EXCLUSIVE: Treasury Department Sanctions Groups For Supporting Iranian Drone Program

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ATLANTA — When Second Lady Usha Vance asked Georgia school children to share with her how often they get distracted by cell phones or tablets, almost every child in the school gym eagerly raised their hand in the air.
It&#8217;s hard for everyone, she told them. And it’s one of the reasons she wants them to be reading as much as they can.
&#8220;You see in your own life, I see it in mine, where my attention is fragmented, I get distracted and pulled away all the time when I have a phone around me,&#8221; she shared in a brief interview with The Daily Wire at Cherokee Classical Charter School in Atlanta, Georgia. 
&#8220;I know from experience and I know from hearing from other people that this is a real issue,&#8221; Vance explained. She had just finished listening in on several classes at the school and handing out bookmarks to the eager children, who carefully recited their lessons, led by their teachers, in the presence of the smiling second lady. 
Vance was in Atlanta to speak with students at the charter school about her &#8220;Summer Reading Challenge,&#8221; which encourages kids to read 12 books between June and September, and to fill out a form and send in their accomplishment to the Second Lady&#8217;s office for a personalized certificate and small prize. Some lucky winners will be selected to travel to Washington, D.C.
<div id="attachment_964117" style="width: 1210px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-964117" class="wp-image-964117 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Usha-Vance-final.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="1600" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Usha-Vance-final.jpg 1200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Usha-Vance-final-225x300.jpg 225w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Usha-Vance-final-432x576.jpg 432w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Usha-Vance-final-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Usha-Vance-final-1152x1536.jpg 1152w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" />Second Lady Usha Vance tours the school rooms of Cherokee Classical Academy in Georgia.</div>
On Thursday, Vance explained her challenge to around 200 school children and read them &#8220;The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere,&#8221; the classic poetic tale of the Revolutionary War hero and his historic ride through Massachusetts. She also took a few questions from the students, who asked her what it is like to be the Second Lady and what her favorite books are. Vance shared that she loved Laura Ingalls Wilder&#8217;s &#8220;Little House&#8221; series, detailing the life of Laura Ingalls and her family as they travel across the United States.
Across town, her husband was speaking at a Republican National Committee event before heading to an industrial refrigeration manufacturing facility in Peachtree City, Georgia, where he spoke about the importance of the &#8220;working families tax cuts&#8221; in the &#8220;One Big Beautiful Bill.&#8221; JD Vance and Usha Vance had flown down to Georgia together on Thursday morning, kissed one another goodbye before the motorcade, and then sped off to their respective events.
Thursday was one of six &#8220;Summer Reading Challenge&#8221; events that Usha Vance has spoken at, and perhaps her last one of the summer, since the 2025-2026 school year is beginning for many students. She was poised and polite, gracious to the children and the school officials who welcomed her. She chuckled at the eager antics of the students in their classrooms, as they strove to best one another in answering questions while she watched.
Speaking with The Daily Wire after she toured the school itself and visited several classrooms, Usha Vance shared how she seeks to block technological distractions for children.
&#8220;For my children, and I think for all children, my goal is that we do things that try to counteract that,&#8221; Vance explained. &#8220;Whether that&#8217;s spending time outside, whether that is engaging in the kinds of activities where you just can&#8217;t be distracted, you really have to commit to build strength or skill or whatever it might be.&#8221;
&#8220;Or reading,” she added. “Reading, I think, is maybe the most important of all these because when you can read and focus on something for hundreds of pages, then you can really do anything at that point.&#8221;
Asked what her own three children are reading this summer, the second lady responded with a big smile, describing her eight-year-old as a voracious reader.
<div id="attachment_964119" style="width: 1210px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-964119" class="wp-image-964119 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Usha-2-final.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="900" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Usha-2-final.jpg 1200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Usha-2-final-300x225.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Usha-2-final-768x576.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" />Second Lady Usha Vance reads to students at Cherokee Classical Academy in Georgia.</div>
&#8220;So Mira, our youngest, is not a reader yet,&#8221; she explained. &#8220;Our oldest child is a total bookworm. He&#8217;s eight, so he&#8217;s read dozens of books this summer. Right now, I think he has been reading, actually, copies of the Mahabharata, which is an Indian epic, and he also just finished re-reading all the Percy Jackson books.&#8221;
&#8220;I think he read The Hobbit recently,&#8221; she noted, referring to J.R.R. Tolkien&#8217;s precursor to The Lord of the Rings trilogy. &#8220;Those kinds of things are really exciting.&#8221;
&#8220;And our middle guy has been immersed in dinosaur encyclopedias,&#8221; Vance concluded with a laugh. &#8220;That&#8217;s his thing right now.&#8221; 
The young Vance son’s interest in The Hobbit likely stems from his father’s partiality for The Lord of the Rings: Vice President Vance himself<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/07/19/lord-of-the-rings-jd-vance-00169372"> is known to be a fan</a> of the &#8220;The Lord of the Rings&#8221; series and has even said that it greatly influenced his view of the world.
“I’m a big Lord of the Rings guy,&#8221; Vance said in a 2021 interview, &#8220;and I think, not realizing it at the time, but a lot of my conservative worldview was influenced by Tolkien growing up,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Big fan of C.S. Lewis — really sort of like that era of English writers. I think they were really interesting. They were grappling, in part because of World War II, with just very big problems.”
Vance&#8217;s wife speaks much less politically (she gently said she &#8220;high hopes&#8221; that people will come back to Washington, when asked by The Daily Wire whether she now feels safer in D.C. due to the White House&#8217;s enforcement efforts). But, like her husband, she also recognizes the massive impact that literature can have on an individual. In a statement on Thursday, she encouraged American children that reading will build strong foundations &#8220;that will serve them for a lifetime.&#8221;
&#8220;We want every child to know that reading opens doors,&#8221; said Usha Vance, &#8220;not only to education, but to imagination, opportunity, and achievement.&#8221;

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EXCLUSIVE: In A World Of Distraction, Second Lady Usha Vance Wants Children To Slow Down

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump&#8217;s Federal Trade Commission is firing a warning shot at top tech companies, The Daily Wire can exclusively report, reminding major companies in a series of letters of their obligation to protect American privacy even under pressure from foreign governments.
&#8220;President Trump has put a swift end to the weaponization of the federal government against Americans and their freedoms, but foreign governments present emerging and ongoing threats to the free exchange of ideas,&#8221; FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson wrote on Monday in letters first obtained by The Daily Wire.
&#8220;Companies might be censoring Americans in response to the laws, demands, or expected demands of foreign powers,&#8221; Ferguson states. &#8220;And the anti-encryption policies of foreign governments might be causing companies to weaken data security measures and other technological means for Americans to vindicate their right to anonymous and private speech. Specifically, there have been numerous recent attempts by foreign governments to pressure your company to censor content or degrade security for users of your services.&#8221;
Letters were sent individually to tech giants, including Meta, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Apple, as well as eight other companies in the messaging, social media, and cloud storage or web hosting spaces.
The FTC chairman reminded the companies that they have &#8220;independent obligations to American consumers&#8221; under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, prohibiting &#8220;unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce.&#8221; A foreign government&#8217;s laws will not be taken as a valid excuse to break that obligation, the letter makes clear.
&#8220;As the nation’s consumer protection agency, the FTC has taken action for over two decades against companies that fail to keep their data security or privacy promises to consumers,&#8221; he says. &#8220;The Commission has steadfastly maintained that companies that collect, use, share, or transmit consumers’ personal data must employ reasonable security measures, including encryption of sensitive information, to protect such information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure.&#8221;
Ferguson points to several recent examples: the European Union&#8217;s Digital Services Act, the United Kingdom&#8217;s Online Safety Act, and, most notably, the United Kingdom’s decision to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jd-vance-worked-behind-scenes-to-push-brits-to-drop-data-demands-of-apple?author=Mary+Margaret+Olohan&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=JD+Vance+Worked+Behind+Scenes+To+Push+Brits+To+Drop+Data+Demands+Of+Apple">drop demands</a> that Apple allow “back door” access to customer data.
The European Union&#8217;s Digital Services Act incentivizes &#8220;tech companies to censor speech, including speech outside of Europe,&#8221; Ferguson says, while the United Kingdom&#8217;s Online Safety Act pushes online platforms to remove content they deem &#8220;illegal&#8221; in order to &#8220;protect&#8221; users. The United Kingdom had pushed for companies to weaken their encryption measures under its Investigatory Powers Act in order to enable its law enforcement to access data that was stored by users.
&#8220;I am concerned that these actions by foreign powers to impose censorship and weaken end-to-end encryption will erode Americans’ freedoms and subject them to myriad harms, such as surveillance by foreign governments and an increased risk of identity theft and fraud,&#8221; Ferguson wrote.
&#8220;I am also concerned that companies such as your own might attempt to simplify compliance with the laws, demands, or expected demands of foreign governments by censoring Americans or subjecting them to increased foreign surveillance even when the foreign government’s requests do not technically require that,&#8221; he added. &#8220;Indeed, foreign governments seeking to limit free expression or weaken data security in the United States might count on the fact that companies have an incentive to simplify their operations and legal compliance measures by applying uniform policies across jurisdictions.&#8221;
Companies that are promising users that their service is secure or encrypted but are not using appropriate end-to-end encryption may be deceiving consumers who &#8220;reasonably expect that level of confidentiality,&#8221; Ferguson wrote. And certain circumstances might require &#8220;reasonable security measures&#8221; — and failure to use these security measures might constitute unfair practice.
Ferguson says that companies that weaken encryption or other security measures at the direction of a foreign government may be in violation of Section 5.
&#8220;If a company promises consumers that it encrypts or otherwise keeps secure online communications but adopts weaker security due to the actions of a foreign government, such conduct may deceive consumers who rightfully expect effective security, not the increased susceptibility to breach or intercept desired by a foreign power,&#8221; he added. &#8220;Consumers may be further deceived if companies fail to prominently disclose that weaker security measures were adopted due to the actions of a foreign government, information that might be material to a consumer’s decision to use a service.&#8221;
He also suggested it could be &#8220;an unfair practice to weaken the security of Americans’ communications to placate foreign powers&#8221; that do not have the best interests of Americans at heart and may be trying to surveil Americans.
Other companies that received a letter on Thursday morning were Snap, Signal, X, Discord, Slack, Cloudflare, GoDaddy, and Akamai.

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EXCLUSIVE: Trump’s FTC Fires Warning Shot At Big Tech: Honor American Privacy, Or Else

WASHINGTON—Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard will announce Wednesday afternoon that she is refocusing her agency to aggressively execute its national security mission, shrinking the Office of the Director of National Intelligence nearly 50% and saving hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars.
Gabbard described the changes as &#8220;ODNI 2.0,&#8221; in a statement on Wednesday, calling the shift &#8220;the start of a new era focused on serving our country, fulfilling our core national security mission with excellence, always grounded in the U.S. Constitution, and ensuring the safety, security, and freedom of the American people.&#8221;
ODNI will be reduced by almost 50% by the end of the fiscal year 2025, ultimately saving taxpayers over $700 million per year, senior DNI officials shared with The Daily Wire. This will be done by combining agency centers and reducing personnel.
The ODNI workforce will receive an email on Wednesday afternoon informing them of the changes. Employees will also be notified if their position has been eliminated, alerting them that they will be separated from the ODNI by September 30.
A message to the ODNI workforce viewed by The Daily Wire states that the changes will reduce personnel by 30-40%.
<div id="attachment_963057" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tulsi-gabbard-revamps-dni-reducing-agency-by-almost-50-saving-taxpayers-over-700-million/president-trump-holds-cabinet-meeting-at-white-house-4" rel="attachment wp-att-963057"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-963057" class="wp-image-963057 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2212190116-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2212190116-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2212190116-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2212190116-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2212190116.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>(Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)</div>
The announcement comes after a months-long review of ODNI to ascertain, in accordance with President Donald Trump&#8217;s executive order, how ODNI could best fulfill its mission to integrate intelligence from and provide oversight over all intelligence community elements to make sure that it provides timely, accurate, and apolitical intelligence to Trump and lawmakers.
Senior ODNI officials who assisted in the months-long mission review briefed members of the press on Wednesday at ODNI&#8217;s headquarters in McLean, Virginia, a few hours before Gabbard made the official announcement.
These officials stressed that the review was &#8220;incredibly thoughtful&#8221; and thorough, specifically taking into account the feedback from staff whom Gabbard encouraged, during her first days in her role, to come to her with ideas on how to improve ODNI.
&#8220;Tulsi has had a lot of direct contact from people around the building who are super excited,&#8221; explained one senior ODNI official.
Gabbard briefed Trump on ODNI&#8217;s findings about two weeks ago, the officials shared. They declined to comment specifically on what Gabbard and Trump said in that private meeting, but stressed that all of the president&#8217;s priorities are reflected in ODNI 2.0 and that it was created in accordance with the president&#8217;s executive orders and green-lit by him.
These officials dwelt on how &#8220;ODNI 2.0&#8221; seeks to institute culture changes in the agency by building and maintaining an elite workforce that is focused on fulfilling the agency&#8217;s national security mission — &#8220;grounded in the U.S. Constitution, and accountable to the President of the United States and to the American people.&#8221;
&#8220;Every position should add value, and every individual should feel like they are making a difference,&#8221; stressed another senior ODNI official.
&#8220;Action without intelligence is foolish, intelligence without action is useless,&#8221; another senior DNI official noted. &#8220;Every piece of intelligence should inform a policy decision or a military, covert, or diplomatic action. Or it is not worth the paper it is written on.&#8221;
As a result of the review, several intelligence centers will be refocused or folded into themselves, including the Foreign Malign Influence Center, the National Counterproliferation and Biosecurity Center, and the Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center.
Additionally, ODNI will shut down the National Intelligence University and transfer its intelligence-related programs to the National Defense University, where the Defense Department and ODNI will work to transition current students to other institutions to allow them to complete their programs appropriately.
&#8220;The decision has been made to transfer the National Intelligence University from ODNI to the Department of Defense&#8217;s National Defense University to the greatest extent possible,&#8221; reads a letter, signed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gabbard, sent to the National Intelligence University&#8217;s faculty and staff on Wednesday.
The letter explains that &#8220;this effort aligns with President Trump&#8217;s focus on increasing efficiencies across the government and will enhance the quality of our education programs.&#8221;
&#8220;Our people come first, and as faculty, staff, and students, your welfare and well-being are of our highest concern during this transition period,&#8221; the letter notes. &#8220;You will be in good hands under the Defense Department&#8217;s National Defense University leadership.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_963055" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tulsi-gabbard-revamps-dni-reducing-agency-by-almost-50-saving-taxpayers-over-700-million/intelligence-directors-testify-at-senate-hearing-on-worldwide-threats-5" rel="attachment wp-att-963055"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-963055" class="wp-image-963055 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2206328604-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2206328604-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2206328604-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2206328604-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2206328604.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>WASHINGTON, DC &#8211; MARCH 25: Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe (R), accompanied by FBI Director Kash Patel (L), and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard (C), speaks during a Senate Committee on Intelligence Hearing on March 25, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)</div>
Gabbard and ODNI are also leading coordination across the 18 intelligence community groups to &#8220;eliminate wasteful contracts and duplicative staff,&#8221; a declassified DNI fact sheet notes, and the proposed reductions amount to approximately $1.3 billion in annual recurring costs. Those reductions will be &#8220;fully realized by the end of FY 2025,&#8221; according to ODNI.
The agency was created after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks revealed &#8220;systemic failures&#8221; throughout the Intelligence Community, Gabbard&#8217;s office said in a release. It was intended to integrate intelligence and provide the president and United States lawmakers with &#8220;timely, accurate, and apolitical&#8221; information — but Gabbard and her team believe it has failed to fulfill that mandate.
&#8220;Over the last 20 years, ODNI has become bloated and inefficient, and the intelligence community is rife with abuse of power, unauthorized leaks of classified intelligence, and politicized weaponization of intelligence,&#8221; Gabbard explained in a Wednesday statement. &#8220;ODNI and the IC must make serious changes to fulfill its responsibility to the American people and the US Constitution by focusing on our core mission: find the truth and provide objective, unbiased, timely intelligence to the President and policy makers.&#8221;
Gabbard argues that ending the weaponization of intelligence and holding bad actors accountable are &#8220;essential&#8221; to earning back the trust of the American people.
&#8220;Under President Trump&#8217;s leadership, ODNI 2.0 is the start of a new era focused on serving our country, fulfilling our core national security mission with excellence, always grounded in the U.S. Constitution, and ensuring the safety, security, and freedom of the American people.&#8221;

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Tulsi Gabbard Revamps ODNI, Reducing Agency By Almost 50%, Saving Taxpayers Over $700 Million

WASHINGTON — White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt tore into the White House press corps on Tuesday afternoon, accusing the media of &#8220;negative and downright false coverage&#8221; of President Donald Trump and his efforts to bring peace between Russia and Ukraine.
Leavitt spoke from the James S. Brady Briefing Room podium, where she argued that &#8220;much of the left-wing media has been actively rooting against the president of the United States in the pursuit of peace&#8221; from the very beginning of Trump&#8217;s peace-making efforts.
&#8220;Initially, the media ridiculously claimed that President Trump was somehow beholden to Russia for even agreeing to have a face-to-face discussion with President Putin inside of the United States,&#8221; Leavitt argued. &#8220;The media said President Trump was making a grave mistake by, quote, &#8216;legitimizing&#8217; Putin.  They were aghast that President Trump would treat another world leader like a world leader.&#8221;
The White House press secretary accused the press of &#8220;relentlessly&#8221; attacking the president and claiming that he suffered a &#8220;major defeat&#8221; for not leaving that initial meeting with Vladimir Putin with a final agreement — &#8220;even though he said, heading into that meeting, this was a meeting to listen and to understand how to move the ball forward,&#8221; Leavitt argued.
<div id="attachment_962629" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/karoline-leavitt-blasts-white-house-press-for-actively-rooting-against-trumps-peace-efforts/us-politics-briefing-leavitt-6" rel="attachment wp-att-962629"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-962629" class="wp-image-962629 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2230300432-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2230300432-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2230300432-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2230300432-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2230300432.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during the daily briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on August 19, 2025. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)</div>
Leavitt pointed to the pundits, hosts, reporters, and &#8220;so-called experts in the foreign policy establishment&#8221; who suggested over the weekend that the U.S.-Russia bilateral talks had been a failure, though President Trump &#8220;has solved seven global conflicts in seven months&#8221; and &#8220;brokered the Abraham Accords in his first term, on top of more than half a dozen other peace deals this year alone.&#8221;
And she reminded the press that the president of Ukraine and all the major leaders of Europe flew across the Atlantic to meet with Trump at the White House because of the progress that was made in that meeting with Putin.
&#8220;It was highly productive,&#8221; Leavitt said of the Trump and Putin meeting, &#8220;and it was successful.&#8221;
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&#8220;This is why Americans&#8217; trust in the mass media is at a lowest point in more than five decades,&#8221; she said from the podium. &#8220;Diplomacy is a delicate process, and instead of reporting the facts about what is happening here at this White House and what is happening between this president and other leaders around the world, many outlets in this room continue to try to actively undermine the president and sabotage the efforts toward peace.  That is why I felt the need to set the record straight.&#8221;
Leavitt&#8217;s remarks caused a stir not only in the briefing room, but among other members of the president&#8217;s administration. Vice President JD Vance was watching Leavitt&#8217;s briefing and posted approvingly on X in real time: &#8220;Karoline Leavitt lighting the American media up for lying about our negotiations with Russia and Ukraine.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Karoline Leavitt lighting the American media up for lying about our negotiations with Russia and Ukraine.
— JD Vance (@JDVance) <a href="https://twitter.com/JDVance/status/1957855752447496341?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 19, 2025</a></blockquote>
The White House press secretary was following up on a promise she had made during her very first briefing in January: to hold the press accountable.
&#8220;While I vow to provide the truth from this podium, we ask that all of you in this room hold yourselves to that same standard,&#8221; she told the assembled press in late January. &#8220;We know for a fact there have been lies that have been pushed by many legacy media outlets in this country about this president, about his family, and we will not accept that.&#8221;
&#8220;We will call you out when we feel that your reporting is wrong or there is misinformation about this White House,&#8221; she warned. &#8220;So, yes, I will hold myself to the truth, and I expect everyone in this room to do the same.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_962635" style="width: 876px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/karoline-leavitt-blasts-white-house-press-for-actively-rooting-against-trumps-peace-efforts/white-house-press-briefing-10" rel="attachment wp-att-962635"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-962635" class="wp-image-962635 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2195915513-866x576.jpg" alt="" width="866" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2195915513-866x576.jpg 866w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2195915513-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2195915513-768x511.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2195915513.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 866px) 100vw, 866px" /></a>Press secretary Karoline Leavitt holds her first official news briefing at the White House on Tuesday, January 28, 2025. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)</div>
Leavitt has certainly held true to her promise, singling out reporters when she considers their questions unfair or duplicitous. On Tuesday, for example, a New York Times reporter questioned Leavitt: &#8220;If the point is to get everybody on the same page, why wouldn&#8217;t Trump just take the call from Putin while the other leaders were in the room. He said it would be disrespectful to do that, but why is that disrespectful?&#8221;
The reporter was referring to Trump&#8217;s move to leave the room to take a private call from President Putin on Monday amid negotiations with European leaders.
&#8220;With all due respect,&#8221; responded Leavitt with a smile, &#8220;only a reporter from the New York Times would ask a question like that.&#8221;
A White House official reminded The Daily Wire that the president himself repeatedly called out the media and similar naysayers on Truth Social only a few days ago, reminding his critics: &#8220;Despite all of my lightweight and very jealous critics, I’ll get it done — I always do!!!&#8221;
&#8220;The president set the tone in his Truth Social posts over the past few days — we are not going to allow the left-wing legacy media to derail the progress made in this historic peace process,&#8221; the White House official told The Daily Wire. &#8220;President Trump has broken a three and a half year deadlock and the media wants you to believe that’s somehow actually a failure. Karoline, following the president’s lead, is cutting through their dishonest narrative and taking the truth directly to the American people.&#8221;
And Leavitt chimed in further at the end of the day on Tuesday.
&#8220;From the beginning of this process, much of the left-wing media has been actively rooting against the President of the United States in his pursuit of peace,&#8221; she argued. &#8220;President Trump finally broke the deadlock between Russia and Ukraine and created a real opportunity for a lasting peace for the first time in 3.5 years of brutal war.&#8221;
&#8220;But instead of accurately reporting the facts, dishonest outlets are actively trying to sabotage these peace efforts,&#8221; she concluded, reiterating her statement during the briefing: &#8220;This is why Americans’ trust in the mass media is at its lowest point in more than five decades.&#8221;

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Karoline Leavitt Blasts White House Press For ‘Actively Rooting’ Against Trump’s Peace Efforts

WASHINGTON—The United Kingdom&#8217;s decision to drop demands that Apple allow &#8220;back door&#8221; access to American customer data was brought about, in large part, through Vice President JD Vance, The Daily Wire has learned.
The vice president led the United States&#8217;s efforts to negotiate a deal with the British government as the United States pushes the United Kingdom to drop their backdoor access to Apple user data, an American official shared with The Daily Wire. Vance was personally involved in negotiating the deal and had direct conversations with the British government.
That deal is a mutually beneficial understanding that the British government will withdraw its current backdoor order to Apple, the official shared, and the agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom maintains each country&#8217;s sovereignty while also ensuring close cooperation on data sharing.
&#8220;The VP took a strong interest in this issue because of his background in technology, his concern for privacy, and his since commitment to maintain a strong U.S.-U.K. relationship,&#8221; the official shared.
The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-tulsi-gabbard-to-probe-national-security-implications-of-uks-demands-to-apple">broke the news</a> in February that the American intelligence community was investigating the potential implications of Apple sharing users’ iCloud data to “facilitate U.K. government access to any Apple iCloud users’ uploaded data anywhere in the world,” Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said at the time.
<div id="attachment_962293" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jd-vance-worked-behind-scenes-to-push-brits-to-drop-data-demands-of-apple/us-allies-set-to-plead-with-trump-to-stand-behind-ukraine" rel="attachment wp-att-962293"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-962293" class="wp-image-962293 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2230156757-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2230156757-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2230156757-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2230156757-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2230156757.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images</div>
“I share your grave concern about the serious implications of the United Kingdom, or any foreign country, requiring Apple or any company to create a ‘backdoor’ that would allow access to Americans’ personal encrypted data,” Gabbard wrote to Senator Ron Wyden(D-WA) and Congressman Andy Biggs(R-AZ) at the time. “This would be a clear and egregious violation of Americans’ privacy and civil liberties, and open up a serious vulnerability for cyber exploitation by adversarial actors.”
While Gabbard said that American intelligence relationships with foreign partners are of “vital importance to our national security,” she also emphasized that her obligations as Director of National Intelligence “include protecting both the security of our country and the God-given rights of the American people enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.”
“I look forward to working with my foreign counterparts to achieve both,” she said. “I remain committed to keeping Congress currently and fully informed of developments on this and other intelligence-related matters.”
On Monday, Gabbard shared that the United Kingdom had agreed to drop its mandate for Apple to provide the back door.
&#8220;Over the past few months, I’ve been working closely with our partners in the UK, alongside <a class="css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1loqt21" dir="ltr" role="link" href="https://x.com/POTUS">@POTUS</a> and <a class="css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-1loqt21" dir="ltr" role="link" href="https://x.com/VP">@VP</a>, to ensure Americans&#8217; private data remains private and our Constitutional rights and civil liberties are protected,&#8221; Gabbard <a href="https://x.com/DNIGabbard/status/1957623737232007638">said in a post on social media</a>. &#8220;As a result, the UK has agreed to drop its mandate for Apple to provide a &#8216;back door&#8217; that would have enabled access to the protected encrypted data of American citizens and encroached on our civil liberties.&#8221; 
Apple did not respond to a request for comment from The Daily Wire.

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JD Vance Worked Behind Scenes To Push Brits To Drop Data Demands Of Apple

WASHINGTON — Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky was all smiles at the White House on Monday.
The Ukrainian president arrived at the White House around 1:00 p.m. and participated in peace talks with President Donald Trump and other world leaders for the next three hours. His visit comes immediately after Trump&#8217;s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, where the Russian and American leaders made &#8220;great progress,&#8221; according to Trump.
By Monday evening, Trump announced what many in the media had considered impossible: Zelensky and Putin would now meet, and, following their meeting, they would participate in a trilateral meeting that Trump would attend.
&#8220;This was a very good, early step for a War that has been going on for almost four years,&#8221; Trump said in a Truth Social post on Monday evening, noting that the afternoon&#8217;s meetings included discussions of security guarantees for Ukraine, what role European countries would play, and how the United States would coordinate.
Today&#8217;s visit stands in contrast to Zelensky&#8217;s last Oval Office meeting in February, when Trump and Vice President JD Vance tore into the Ukrainian president for his demands and his lack of gratitude to the United States. Zelensky arrived at the White House for that meeting dressed in his casual black wartime outfit, prepared to make demands upon the United States that he had levied upon former President Joe Biden.
He was criticized — including by reporter Brian Glenn, who publicly asked Zelensky why he would disrespect the White House with his attire — told he was &#8220;gambling with World War III,&#8221; and sent home panicking.
This time, the Ukrainian president disembarked from his motorcade <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/zelenskyy-to-wear-military-style-suit-to-trump-summit-designer-says/">dressed in an all-black</a>, &#8220;military-style&#8221; outfit that was still not a traditional suit, but a far cry from his typical garb. Trump greeted Zelensky warmly at the doors to the White House and quickly set the tone for the visit.
&#8220;I love it,&#8221; Trump said of the Ukrainian president&#8217;s attire, to which Zelensky replied with a smile, &#8220;It&#8217;s the best I have.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_962065" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/with-historic-zelensky-visit-donald-trump-moves-the-world-one-step-closer-to-peace/european-leaders-join-ukrainian-president-zelensky-for-white-house-meeting-with-trump-2" rel="attachment wp-att-962065"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-962065" class="wp-image-962065 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2230824732-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2230824732-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2230824732-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2230824732-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2230824732.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>President Donald Trump greets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)</div>
As his meeting with Trump began, Zelensky immediately told the American president that his wife was very touched by First Lady Melania Trump&#8217;s &#8220;peace letter&#8221; to Putin, which <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/melania-trump-sent-peace-letter-to-putin-ahead-of-alaska-summit">she sent</a> before the Alaska meetings began, begging the Russian leader to be first in taking steps toward lasting peace with Ukraine, and reminding him that children, no matter where they are born, do not deserve the pain and suffering that accompanies war.
Zelensky gave Trump a letter for the First Lady of the United States from his own wife.
With that, the two leaders plunged into discussions of how to bring about peace between Russia and Ukraine. When media entered the Oval Office, Zelensky told them that his conversation with Trump was both “constructive” and “specific,&#8221; suggesting that it was “the best one” that he and Trump had ever had with one another.
“I think that we had a very good conversation with President Trump&#8230;it was really good,&#8221; Zelensky told European leaders during a multilateral meeting later on Monday afternoon. &#8220;We spoke about very sensitive points.”
<div id="attachment_962067" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/with-historic-zelensky-visit-donald-trump-moves-the-world-one-step-closer-to-peace/european-leaders-join-ukrainian-president-zelensky-for-white-house-meeting-with-trump-3" rel="attachment wp-att-962067"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-962067" class="wp-image-962067 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2230827879-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2230827879-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2230827879-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2230827879-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2230827879.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>WASHINGTON, DC &#8211; AUGUST 18: U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on August 18, 2025 in Washington, DC  (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)</div>
That multilateral was attended by Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
It was a historic gathering of world leaders. The White House was teeming with press, both national and foreign, desperate for coverage of the day&#8217;s events.
&#8220;I covered the White House for more than a decade, and never witnessed a meeting like this,&#8221; said Fox News&#8217;s John Roberts.
Several European leaders who participated in the multilateral stressed that there must be a ceasefire before a trilateral meeting would take place between Zelensky, Putin, and Trump.
“I can’t imagine the next meeting would take place without a ceasefire,” Merz said. “Let’s try to put pressure on Russia&#8230;because the credibility of these efforts depends on a ceasefire.”
<div id="attachment_962069" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/with-historic-zelensky-visit-donald-trump-moves-the-world-one-step-closer-to-peace/european-leaders-join-ukrainian-president-zelensky-for-white-house-meeting-with-trump-4" rel="attachment wp-att-962069"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-962069" class="wp-image-962069 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2230851425-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2230851425-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2230851425-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2230851425-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2230851425.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>Zelensky at the White House Monday  (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)</div>
&#8220;All of us would obviously prefer an immediate ceasefire while we work on a lasting peace,&#8221; Trump told the leaders. &#8220;Maybe something like that could happen. As of this moment it&#8217;s not happening, but President Zelensky and President Putin can talk a little bit more about that.&#8221;
&#8220;In the six or so wars that we&#8217;ve stopped, we haven&#8217;t had a ceasefire,&#8221; he added. &#8220;So I don&#8217;t know that it&#8217;s necessary, you can do it through the war. But I like the ceasefire from another standpoint &#8211; you immediately stop the killing. But I believe a peace agreement at the end of all of this is something that&#8217;s very attainable. And it can be done in the near future.&#8221;
The leaders all expressed gratitude to President Trump for his attempts at bringing peace between the two countries.
“I think in the past two weeks, we’ve probably had more progress in ending this war than we have in the past three and a half years,&#8221; Finland&#8217;s Stubb said.
Meloni told Trump that she was heartened to see, after three years of war, that &#8220;something has changed, thanks to you.&#8221;
And Starmer argued that Monday will be seen as &#8220;a very important day in recent years in relation to a conflict which has gone on for 3.5 years, and so far, nobody has been able to bring it to this point.&#8221; 
&#8220;I thank you for that,&#8221; he said.
Multiple outlets <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/08/18/ukraine-russia-war-trump-zelensky-meeting-latest-news/">have reported that Trump ducked out</a> of the multilateral meeting at one point to speak with Putin on the phone. The Daily Wire has not yet confirmed this report, but the Russian Foreign Ministry said Monday that it was rejecting the idea that NATO forces would be peacekeepers in Ukraine, an idea that Zelensky had suggested as one of his provisions in the peace talks.
&#8220;We confirm the position that has been voiced more than once about our categorical rejection of any scenarios involving the appearance of Ukraine military contingent with the participation of NATO countries (which is fraught with an uncontrolled escalation of the conflict with unpredictable consequences),&#8221; the foreign ministry said in a statement to Russian state media.
Trump had also suggested a security protection deal for Ukraine built by European leaders and the United States.
&#8220;When it comes to security, there&#8217;s going to be a lot of help &#8230; they are the first line of defense, because they&#8217;re there — they&#8217;re Europe,&#8221; Trump said on Monday. &#8220;But we&#8217;re going to help them out also. We&#8217;ll be involved.&#8221;
The multilateral meeting ended around 5:35 p.m, on Monday evening, after which the European leaders joined Trump in the Oval Office for more discussions.
Trump suggested several times on Monday that next steps might include setting up a trilateral meeting with Zelensky and Putin.
&#8220;I think it&#8217;s going to be when — not if,&#8221; Trump said of the trilateral.
And Zelensky specifically asked that Trump be part of such a meeting.
&#8220;Ukraine will be happy if you participate,&#8221; Zelensky said, looking across the table at Trump, who was listening intently, hands folded in front of him.
&#8220;If you want me there, I will be there,&#8221; Trump responded.
&#8220;Thank you. I think this is very important,&#8221; said the Ukrainian president.

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With Historic Zelensky Visit, Donald Trump Moves The World One Step Closer To Peace

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