President Donald Trump hosted Lee Jae Myung, the new president of South Korea, at the White House on Monday afternoon, after Trump threatened on social media not to do business with Seoul due to what the U.S. president called a “Purge or Revolution” taking place in South Korea, referring to raids on churches and on a U.S. military base by the country’s new government.
But any prospect of a hostile Oval Office meeting evaporated after Lee heaped praise onto Trump — lauding the decor, beseeching Trump to continue to help with Korean peace efforts and even suggesting a Trump Tower in North Korea.
“It’s a great honor to be with you and congratulations on your election,” Trump told Lee. “That was a big one, and we’re with you 100%.”
The cordial display showed how world leaders are taking notes from previous meetings between Trump and heads of state, who’ve largely chosen the route of praise and adulation rather than confrontation as they seek favorable trade terms and continued military aid from Washington.
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Trump signs proclamation honoring US servicemembers killed during 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan
The president has signed a proclamation honoring 13 American servicemembers killed in a suicide bombing during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal of forces at the end of the Afghanistan war in 2021.
Surrounded by family members of those killed in the attack, Trump called the attack “the worst day, and in many ways the most embarrassing day in the history of our country.”
In May, Trump directed the Defense Department to conduct a review of what occurred during the U.S. withdrawal, and Trump said during the event that he expected that to be complete by the middle of next year.
Tuesday marks the fourth anniversary of the suicide bombing.
Bipartisan pair of lawmakers pushing to lift Syria sanctions after visit
A bipartisan pair of congressional lawmakers are pushing to lift U.S. sanctions on Syria after they were heartened by a visit with the country’s new interim leader.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Republican Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina, told reporters on a call that they had talked with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa about permanently lifting sanctions and would make a push to have Congress do that in the coming months.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order lifting the sanctions on the country in June, but Congress would need to act to make that move permanent.
Shaheen said the sanctions “are preventing investment in the country and the prosperity and opportunity that people want to see in the future.”
Senate Democrat says she is ‘appalled’ by Israel’s bombing of Gaza hospital
The top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says that Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza needs to end after an airstrike on a hospital killed five journalists, including a freelancer who worked for The Associated Press.
“I personally am appalled by the bombing in Gaza and by the killing of journalists. And I think it needs to end now,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen told reporters on a call from Beirut.
Shaheen was traveling in the Middle East as part of a U.S. delegation to meet with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Congressional Democrats, who once were stalwart supporters of Israel, have recently become more outspoken critics of how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has conducted the war on Hamas.
US District Judge warns that the government cannot deport Abrego Garcia, who is now held in Virginia
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis noted that the government is temporarily prohibited from deporting Abrego Garcia under overlapping court orders currently in effect.
She asked Justice Department attorney Drew Ensign if the government knows it is “absolutely forbidden at this juncture” to remove him from the U.S. under the current legal landscape.
“Your honor, yes, we certainly understand that,” Ensign said.
Abrego Garcia was taken to a Virginia detention center after he surrendered on Monday, said the plaintiff’s attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, adding that they are concerned he would be moved to another facility later.
Xinis said she will order that Abrego Garcia is not moved from the Virginia facility for now. She said she believed she must extend a temporary restraining order barring Abrego Garcia’s removal from the U.S.
US ambassador to France doesn’t respond to French foreign ministry summons over antisemitic claims
U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Kushner did not respond to a summons to the French foreign ministry to answer complaints about an open letter he sent accusing French authorities of not doing enough to combat antisemitism, a French diplomatic official said.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with the ministry’s practice, said Kushner, the father of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, did not appear for the meeting and was represented instead by his number two.
The official said the U.S. diplomat was told that Kushner’s open letter to French President Emmanuel Macron “was unacceptable in both form and substance,” constituted interference in France’s internal affairs and ignored the French government’s efforts and policies on combating antisemitism.
Neither the embassy nor the State Department had any immediate response to the French official’s description of the meeting. The State Department had said on Sunday that it stood by Kushner’s criticisms and that the ambassador “is doing a great job advancing our national interests in that role.”
-Sylvie Corbet and Matthew Lee
Maine clinics denied Medicaid funds during lawsuit after Trump cuts to abortion providers
A network of clinics in Maine will not resume getting Medicaid funds to treat thousands of low-income patients during its lawsuit over Trump administration cuts to abortion providers, a judge ruled Monday.
President Trump’s policy and tax bill, known as the “ big beautiful bill,” blocked Medicaid money from flowing to Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider. The parameters in the bill also stopped funding from reaching Maine Family Planning, a much smaller provider that offers health care services in one of the poorest and most rural states in the Northeast.
Maine Family Planning says Medicaid dollars are not used for its abortion services, which are a relatively small percentage of the overall services provided. It’s unfair to cut off funding for the clinics “solely because Congress wanted to defund Planned Parenthood,” an attorney for Maine Family Planning told the judge earlier this month. But in his ruling Monday, Judge Lance Walker said the payments will not resume during the ongoing lawsuit by the provider seeking to restore the funds.
▶ Read more about the ruling on Maine abortion clinics
National Guard troops will be picking up trash in DC
One of the duties for National Guard members in Washington will be cleaning up trash around the city, the military task force overseeing all the troops deployed to D.C. said Monday.
The D.C. National Guard posted a video on social media Saturday that showed troops cleaning up an area around a trail. They were shown hauling several garbage bags and cleaning up large amounts of rubber gloves from a park bench.
Officials said the effort is part of a broader “beautification” operation aimed at community restoration and improvement.
Task force officials wouldn’t offer details about how often troops have been asked to clean up areas in Washington.
Armed National Guard members in DC will operate under long-standing rules for use of military force in the US
Those rules, broadly, say that while troops can use force, they should do so only “in response to an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm” and “only as a last resort,” the military task force overseeing all the troops deployed to D.C. said Monday.
Troops first began patrolling the streets of D.C. with guns on Sunday -- just days after Defense Secretary Hegseth authorized the move.
The task force has directed questions on why the change was necessary to Hegseth’s office. Those officials have declined to answer those questions.
Speaking in the Oval Office Monday, Hegseth said that it was common sense to arm them because it meant they were “capable of defending themselves and others.”
Trump has long singled out Chicago in his rhetoric
Trump made it a recurring theme on the campaign trail in both 2016 and 2024.
He has drawn controversial comparisons between the city and war zones like Afghanistan, and in 2017, vowed to “send in the feds” in response to gun violence — a move that came even as the city was experiencing a broader trend of declining violent crime.
Violent crime in Chicago dropped significantly in the first half of the year, representing the steepest decline in over a decade, according to city data. Shootings are down 37%, and homicides have dropped by 32%, while total violence crime dropped by over 22%.
Crime in Chicago also represents persistent, localized challenges, said Kimberley Smith, director of national programs for the University of Chicago Crime Lab. The neighborhoods with the highest homicide rates experience approximately 68 times more homicides than those with the lowest rates.
Smith attributes much of the drops in violent crime to a focus in Chicago on the systemic drivers of violence, rather than the militaristic approach Trump has touted in Washington, D.C. She encouraged more federal investment in researching these types of violence prevention strategies.
“Kind of out of necessity Chicago has become a hub for innovation in gun violence prevention,” she said.
Trump says there aren’t many GOP-led cities with high crime
When asked whether he’d be open to sending National Guard troops into Republican-led states and cities with high levels of crime in addition to as Democratic-led states, the president said, “Sure, but there aren’t that many of them.”
DC Mayor: ‘Leave our kids alone’
On the first day of school in Washington D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser said she sympathized with the dilemma of immigrant parents who may be keeping their children home for fear of being detained or arrested by ICE agents.
“Parents are anxious. We’ve heard from a lot of them,” Bowser said, following a ribbon cutting ceremony for a newly renovated bilingual middle school. “Parents who need to make adjustments are going to be making adjustments, and that’s a sad thing to say. Schools should be safe places.”
As schools opened across the capital city, parental social media groups and listservs were buzzing with reports and rumors of checkpoints and arrests from the hundreds of federal law enforcement personnel who have flooded the city.
Bowser didn’t mention Trump by name, but harshly criticized any immigration crackdown that targets school children.
“Any attempt to target children is heartless, is mean, is uncalled for and it only hurts us,” she said. “I would just call for everybody to leave our kids alone.”
Trump likens South Korea’s appointment of a prosecutor to investigate the country’s former leader to his own past legal issues
As South Korea’s president described a prosecutor appointed by his country’s National Assembly, Trump interjected, “Is his name Deranged Jack Smith, by any chance?”
Trump called Smith, who led two criminal cases against Trump before he took office for his second term, “a deranged, sick individual.”
“I’m only kidding. Maybe I’m not,” Trump added.
Trump suggested before his meeting with Lee began that a “Purge or Revolution” was taking place in South Korea.
By way of explanation, Lee talked about investigating what he called “turmoil” after former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol briefly imposed martial law and was ousted from office.
Bruise exposed on Trump’s hand
A sizeable bruise on Trump’s right hand was exposed during his meeting with the South Korean President Lee.
Last Friday, the president’s hand was covered with a noticeable splotch of makeup that did not match his skin tone.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has said Trump’s hand bruising is “consistent” with irritation from his “frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin.”
Trump predicts a ‘conclusive ending’ to Israel-Hamas war within weeks
Asked about famine in Gaza, Trump talked about Hamas’ attack on Israel in October 2023 and about the people still being held hostage by the militant group.
He said the U.S. is spending a lot of money to help feed the hungry in Gaza and that, “I think within the next two to three weeks you’re going to have a pretty good conclusive ending.”
Trump says he plans to travel to China later this year
President Trump said he would be traveling to China “at some point probably this year” after he said Chinese President Xi Jinping would like him to go to China.
Trump called the bilateral ties “a very important relationship.”
“We’re going to get along with China,” he said. The two countries are seeking to strike a trade deal, after both sides called a truce in escalating tariffs and export restrictions.
Trump said he’s resetting the economic relations with China, referring to his levying tariffs on Chinese goods.
Since he took office, Trump has levied 54% tariffs across the board on Chinese goods, though his administration has paused 24%, pending final negotiations.
Trump muses again on renaming the Department of Defense
In both of his appearances in the Oval Office Monday, Trump has mused about renaming the Department of Defense to its original name, the Department of War.
The name was changed in 1949.
Trump said the previous name “had a stronger sound” and there might be an update on the potential name change “over the next couple weeks.”
Trump walks down the DMZ memory lane
The U.S. president responded to a question about whether he would return to the Demilitarized Zone that separates the Koreas by fondly recalling the last time he did so in 2019.
“Remember when I walked across the line and everyone went crazy?” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday afternoon.
He recalled that everyone went crazy, “especially Secret Service.”
But “I loved it,” Trump said. He added that he felt safe because he had a good relationship with Kim Jong Un, the North Korean dictator.
Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to set foot on North Korean soil in June 2019 during an unannounced trip to the DMZ.
Trump says he’d like to scrap the US lease with South Korea covering a large military base
The president suggested that the U.S. should do away with a lease covering a large joint American-South Korean military base.
“I would like to see if we could get rid of the lease, and get ownership of the land where we have a massive military base,” Trump said.
Osan Air Base is a joint U.S. Air Force and South Korean base on South Korea’s west coast.
Trump says it remains unclear if Putin and Zelenskyy will meet
“I don’t know that they’ll meet, Trump said. “Maybe they will. Maybe they won’t.”
Trump last week following his hosting of European leaders and Zelenskyy for talks, as well as speaking by phone with Putin, said that he was arranging direct talks between Putin and Zelenskyy that might be followed by three-way talks in which he’d take part.
But Russia’s top diplomat, Sergey Lavrov, made it clear Friday that Putin won’t meet with Zelenskyy until the Ukrainians agree to some of Moscow’s longstanding demands to end the conflict.
“It takes two to tango. I always say,” Trump said. “And they, should meet, I think, before I have a meeting and probably close the deal.”
Trump says US is studying drone tactics in Ukraine
While answering a question about the conflict, Trump said “this is a whole new form of war.”
He highlighted to use of flying drones, which have been widely deployed for reconnaissance and weaponry.
“A drone war never existed before,” he said. “We’re actually studying it.”
South Korea’s president asks for Trump’s help bringing peace to the Korean Peninsula
“I would like to ask for your role in establishing peace on the Korean Peninsula,” President Lee told Trump. He even added that he’d like to see “construction of a Trump tower in North Korea and playing golf.”
Kim added of a possible upcoming meeting between Trump and North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un, “I believe that he will be waiting for you.”
Trump said he had a very good relationship in his first term with Kim though he also called him “Little Rocket Man.”
Trump repeated his suggestions that he could soon meet with Kim and suggested he could help work toward peace.
South Korean president begins Oval Office appearance with flattery for Trump
President Donald Trump, right, shakes the hand of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Lee Jae Myung complimented Trump’s decorative touches in the Oval Office, to which Trump has added numerous gold accents around the room.
He told Trump the office “looks very bright and beautiful” and has “the dignity of America.”
He also said, “I think America is becoming great again.”
House Republicans launch investigation into Washington, DC’s crime statistics
House Oversight Chair Rep. James Comer wrote that the Republican-led committee will probe “disturbing allegations that DC crime data is inaccurate and intentionally manipulated” in a letter to Metropolitan Police Chief Pam Smith.
Comer cited local reports that a police commander for Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department was put on administrative leave after allegedly altering some crime statistics. Mayor Muriel Bowser has confirmed there is an ongoing investigation into the incident.
“In light of these reports and a related whistleblower disclosure made to the committee, the committee requests documents and information, as well as transcribed interviews with the district commanders of each of the seven patrol districts,” Comer wrote.
The move comes two weeks after President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency over crime in the nation’s capital. More than 2300 National Guard troops have been deployed to the city along with a surge in federal law enforcement agents from the FBI, ICE, DEA and other agencies.
The Justice Department launched its own investigation into DC’s crime statistics. Trump and Republicans have cast doubt on those statistics and scrutinized some local policing policies they allege reduced the reports of criminal acts.
The Associated Press
