The New York Times
Updated
Dec. 29, 2025, 4:06 p.m. ET16 minutes ago
Trump Administration Live Updates: President, Hosting Netanyahu, Presses for Reconstruction in Gaza
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ImageTwo men in dark suits and red ties stand before two flags in a doorway trimmed in gold paint.
President Trump with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel at Mar-a-Lago on Monday.Credit...Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times
Where Things Stand
Netanyahu meeting: President Trump is hosting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Monday at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. In comments to reporters before their meeting, Mr. Trump said reconstruction in Gaza would begin “soon” and declined to rule out future Israeli or American attacks on Iran.
Putin call: Mr. Trump said he had a phone call with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Monday morning, the second straight day the leaders had spoken about the war in Ukraine. “We have a few very thorny issues,” Mr. Trump said. The call came one day after Mr. Trump hosted Ukraine’s president, Volodymr Zelensky, at Mar-a-Lago.
Venezuela strike: Mr. Trump said the United States had attacked a warehouse near a dock area last week in Venezuela, and said the target was a drug trafficking site, but offered few details. Military officials previously said they had no information to share about the claim, which Mr. Trump first made in a radio interview, and the Central Intelligence Agency declined to comment. Read more ›
1 new update
David Halbfinger
Dec. 29, 2025, 4:06 p.m. ET16 minutes ago
David HalbfingerJerusalem bureau chief
A long and, for Israelis, no doubt disconcerting riff from President Trump on the idea that, without Netanyahu and without Trump, they might not have a country any longer. That’s one of several lines from Trump that one could easily see appearing in Netanyahu campaign ads in 2026.
Tyler Pager
Dec. 29, 2025, 3:53 p.m. ET29 minutes ago
Tyler PagerWhite House reporter
After meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel about Gaza and other topics, President Trump said “there’s very little difference in what we’re looking at and where we want to be.” Netanyahu lavished praise on Trump, saying their partnership was “second to none.”
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Credit...Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times
Tyler Pager
Dec. 29, 2025, 3:47 p.m. ET35 minutes ago
Tyler PagerWhite House reporter
President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are expected to speak shortly about their meeting at Mar-a-Lago.
Tyler Pager
Dec. 29, 2025, 2:32 p.m. ET2 hours ago
Tyler PagerWhite House reporter
President Trump briefly left his meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak with the media on the patio of his club. He pointed out the family of Ran Gvili, the last remaining Israeli hostage in Gaza. Gvili was an Israeli police officer who was killed during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas.
“They’re waiting for their son to come home,” Trump said.
Tyler Pager
Dec. 29, 2025, 2:29 p.m. ET2 hours ago
Tyler PagerWhite House reporter
President Trump declined to say how the attack in Venezuela, which he disclosed a few days ago during a radio interview, was carried out.
“There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,” he said. “They load the boats up with drugs. So we hit all the boats, and now we hit the area. It’s the implementation area, that’s where they implement, and that is no longer around.”
Edward Wong
Dec. 29, 2025, 2:28 p.m. ET2 hours ago
Edward WongInternational diplomacy reporter
Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel in Florida to “discuss regional security, economic cooperation, and the fight against antisemitism,” Tommy Pigott, the deputy State Department spokesman, said in a statement. He added that “both leaders emphasized the importance of continued cooperation to promote peace and stability in the Middle East, in line with the vision of President Trump’s 20-Point Peace Plan.”
Tyler Pager
Dec. 29, 2025, 2:26 p.m. ET2 hours ago
Tyler PagerWhite House reporter
Trump said President Vladimir Putin of Russia told him during their call Monday morning of the alleged attack on his residence.
“I don’t like it,” he said. “It’s not good.”
When asked whether U.S. intelligence services verified it occurred, Trump said it was “possible” that the attack did not take place.
David Halbfinger
Dec. 29, 2025, 2:03 p.m. ET2 hours ago
David HalbfingerJerusalem bureau chief
One last note on the Netanyahu-Trump side-by-side: That was at least the second time now that I’ve seen Trump call the Israeli leader “difficult” to his face. Hard to know if it’s just an expression of respect — he called him “strong” in the same breath — or also a bit of a warning as they head into private talks.
Tyler Pager
Dec. 29, 2025, 1:55 p.m. ET2 hours ago
Tyler PagerWhite House reporter
After taking questions outside, President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are now seated across from one another in the dining room at Mar-a-Lago. Trump is joined by Secretary of State Marco Rubio; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth; Susie Wiles, his chief of staff; Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Stephen Miller; Steve Witkoff; Jared Kushner; and Dan Scavino.
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Credit...Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times
David Halbfinger
Dec. 29, 2025, 1:54 p.m. ET2 hours ago
David HalbfingerJerusalem bureau chief
President Trump was asked about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bid for a pardon in his long-running corruption trial back in Israel. Trump said he believed Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, would grant the pardon: “How do you not? He’s a wartime prime minister who’s a hero. How do you not give a pardon?” Trump added: “I spoke to the president and it’s — he tells me it’s on its way. You can’t do better than that, right?”
Herzog’s office quickly denied that any decision had been made and said a decision was weeks away, at a minimum.
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CreditCredit...Associated Press
David Halbfinger
Dec. 29, 2025, 1:37 p.m. ET3 hours ago
David HalbfingerJerusalem bureau chief
President Trump just said that no hostages were released from Gaza during the Biden administration. That’s not true. In the 2023 cease-fire, 105 hostages were released, including 81 Israelis, 23 Thais and one Filipino.
Tyler Pager
Dec. 29, 2025, 1:34 p.m. ET3 hours ago
Tyler PagerWhite House reporter
President Trump said he had five major subjects to discuss with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, including Gaza. Trump added that he thought the reconstruction of Gaza would begin “soon.”
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CreditCredit...Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times
Tyler Pager
Dec. 29, 2025, 1:30 p.m. ET3 hours ago
Tyler PagerWhite House reporter
President Trump said he had “a very good talk” with President Vladimir Putin of Russia earlier Monday. “We have a few very thorny issues,” Trump said.
Tyler Pager
Dec. 29, 2025, 1:26 p.m. ET3 hours ago
Tyler PagerWhite House reporter
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has arrived at Mar-a-Lago for his meeting with President Trump. “Does anyone recognize this man?” Trump joked as he shook hands with Netanyahu.
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CreditCredit...Associated Press
David Halbfinger
Dec. 29, 2025, 1:22 p.m. ET3 hours ago
David HalbfingerJerusalem bureau chief
As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel prepares to meet President Trump at Mar-a-Lago, the pressure on him is mounting from every direction. A criminal trial on charges of bribery and fraud is inexorably advancing. Trump’s peace plan for Gaza is inching toward a difficult new phase, and tensions are building with the White House over Israel’s actions in Syria and Lebanon. On top of all that, polls indicate that Netanyahu is headed to defeat in next year’s elections.
Tyler Pager
Dec. 29, 2025, 12:27 p.m. ET4 hours ago
Tyler PagerWhite House reporter
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel is meeting with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in Florida, the prime minister’s office said in a statement. Netanyahu is slated to meet with President Trump later Monday afternoon at Mar-a-Lago. He met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier Monday.
Constant Méheut
Dec. 29, 2025, 5:50 a.m. ETDec. 29, 2025
Constant MéheutReporting from Kyiv, Ukraine
News Analysis
Zelensky gets a win just by keeping Trump talking about a Ukraine deal.
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A soldier in camouflage points an antiaircraft gun toward the sky as he looks around.
A Ukrainian soldier monitoring the sky for Russian drones in the Donetsk region this past week. Russia has stuck firmly to its view that Ukraine must relinquish the entire region.Credit...Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
A new round of peace talks between President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and President Trump on Sunday seems to have produced little beyond a promise to meet again next month and a reminder of how distant a peace deal remains.
Yet for Mr. Zelensky, even a stalemate in the discussions counts as a measure of success.
Following setbacks in U.S. support for Ukraine this year, one of Mr. Zelensky’s main priorities when meeting Mr. Trump has been to prevent talks from derailing. After the meeting, Mr. Trump signaled that he would remain engaged in the negotiations — a win for Ukraine given his repeated threats to walk away. Mr. Trump also backed away from setting another deadline to reach a peace deal, after having previously floated Thanksgiving and Christmas as target dates.
“I don’t have deadlines,” Mr. Trump told reporters as he greeted Mr. Zelensky at Mar-a-Lago in Florida for the talks. “You know what my deadline is? Getting the war ended.”
Most important for Ukraine, Mr. Trump did not echo Russia’s maximalist demands to stop the fighting, a departure from earlier in his term when he often appeared to side with the Kremlin. The change was also notable because Mr. Trump had spoken with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia just before meeting Mr. Zelensky, the type of last-minute Russian intervention that has derailed Ukrainian hopes before.
That outcome may leave Mr. Zelensky hopeful that Kyiv and Washington have become more closely aligned in the peace negotiations. Several European leaders also joined the talks by phone, and Mr. Zelensky said that the United States might host a new round of negotiations next month that could include them.
“The fact that they’re talking is a victory in and of itself,” Harry Nedelcu, a senior director at Rasmussen Global, a research organization, said of the American and Ukrainian presidents.
Still, Mr. Zelensky acknowledged some division between them on Monday, noting that while Mr. Trump has agreed to help secure Ukraine, he offered such guarantees for only 15 years, short of the several decades that Mr. Zelensky and Ukrainians seek.
“The challenge for Zelensky is to demonstrate to Trump that he’s doing his best to deal with Trump’s version of the peace plan while making it digestible for the Ukrainian society,” Mr. Nedelcu said.
At the heart of Mr. Zelensky’s challenge are key sticking points, chiefly the fate of Ukrainian-held territory in the eastern Donetsk region. Russia wants Ukraine to cede the land, something Mr. Trump has encouraged Kyiv to do, but opinion polls show that a majority of Ukrainians oppose territorial concessions.
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President Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky stand behind lecterns featuring the U.S. presidential seal. Behind the men are U.S. and Ukrainian flags and a dark blue curtain.
President Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine at Mar-a-Lago in Florida on Sunday. Mr. Zelensky acknowledged that several sticking points remained in a draft peace deal.Credit...Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times
After the meeting, Mr. Zelensky struck a hopeful tone. “We had a really great discussion on all the topics, and we appreciate the progress that was made by American and Ukrainian teams in recent weeks,” Mr. Zelensky said. Still, he acknowledged that several proposals remained unresolved in a draft peace deal, including Donetsk and control of a Russian-occupied nuclear power plant.
As Mr. Zelensky arrived in Florida, some Ukrainians were concerned that he might walk into another meeting where Mr. Trump would pressure him to strike a quick peace deal on Moscow’s terms. The concern grew when Mr. Trump unexpectedly announced that he had held a “good and very productive telephone call” with Mr. Putin.
In October, Mr. Trump held a similar unannounced call with Mr. Putin shortly before meeting with Mr. Zelensky to discuss supplying Kyiv with powerful U.S. cruise missiles. In that call, Mr. Putin appeared to have steered Mr. Trump away from selling the missiles. Mr. Trump later told Mr. Zelensky that Ukraine would not get the weapons during a meeting described as tense by European officials.
Sunday’s call did not appear to have the same influence on Mr. Trump. After meeting Mr. Zelensky, the American president refrained from echoing the Kremlin’s demands and did not publicly pressure Ukraine to cede land and strike a deal quickly. “This is not a one-day-process deal,” Mr. Trump told reporters. “This is very complicated stuff.”
Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump held another call on Monday to discuss the war in Ukraine, according to Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary.
Moscow reacted to the latest peace talks with aggressive statements, accusing Ukraine on Monday of launching a drone attack overnight on a residence of Mr. Putin’s in Russia. Mr. Zelensky denied the allegation and called it an attempt to derail the negotiations.
Mr. Putin also ordered his generals to continue advancing to capture the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, in an apparent effort to increase pressure on Mr. Zelensky. A regional capital of about 700,000 people, Zaporizhzhia has been relatively far from the scene of the most-active fighting in Ukraine’s east, but Russian troops have recently made gains toward it.
Mr. Putin issued the order while meeting Monday with senior commanders who delivered reports on the situation at the front lines. This was the third time in two weeks that Mr. Putin publicly discussed the state of fighting in Ukraine with his top brass, highlighting the Kremlin effort to project strength and demonstrate to Washington that it had a battlefield advantage.
After meeting with Mr. Trump, Mr. Zelensky said that the peace plan was “90 percent” complete, the same progress he reported before flying to Florida. He added that Ukraine and its American and European allies were very close to agreement on the security guarantees Kyiv is seeking to prevent further Russian aggression.
The current draft peace plan says the United States, NATO and Europe will provide Ukraine with so-called Article 5-like guarantees — a reference to NATO’s mutual defense clause requiring members of the military alliance to come to one another’s aid in the event of an attack.
Mr. Zelensky said Mr. Trump had agreed to provide Ukraine with guarantees only for 15 years. “We would very much like the guarantees to be longer,” he told reporters. “And I told him that we would really like to consider the possibility of 30, 40 or 50 years.”
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A person walks on a road lined with debris. A large, damaged building and bare trees stand in the background.
A damaged neighborhood in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast in Ukraine on Christmas Eve.Credit...Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
Mr. Nedelcu, the analyst, was more cautious regarding progress on security guarantees. He said European allies had yet to agree on what they could realistically provide Ukraine to deter another Russian attack, with discussions continuing on whether to deploy European troops to Ukraine — a red line for Moscow in any negotiations. An Article 5-like commitment to defend Ukraine might also prove too vague to be an effective deterrent.
On the territorial issue, Ukraine has offered as a compromise the creation of a demilitarized zone from which both Ukrainian and Russian troops would pull back. Mr. Zelensky said Ukrainians should vote on the proposal through a referendum held before a peace deal is finalized — a step that would first require a cease-fire.
Russia has rejected the idea of a cease-fire, and has shown no indication that it is willing to accept anything short of Ukraine relinquishing the Donetsk region, including areas that Ukraine still controls.
Asked about progress in resolving the territorial issue, Mr. Trump said: “I would not say ‘agreed,’ but we’re getting closer to an agreement on that.”
Perhaps the most promising development for Ukraine was Mr. Trump’s apparent willingness to hold another round of talks next month in the United States, potentially with European leaders at the table.
In past negotiations, European leaders were brought in to salvage talks after disagreements between Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Trump. Their presence as full participants rather than belated troubleshooters could help Ukraine strengthen its position.
On Monday, Mr. Zelensky outlined “a course of action” to keep the talks on track and bolster that alignment. He said he hoped that American, European and Ukrainian advisers would meet in the coming days, followed by a meeting of European and Ukrainian leaders. Then, another round of talks would take place with the United States, this time including Europe.
“And after that, if everything proceeds step by step, there will then be a meeting in one format or another with the Russians,” Mr. Zelensky said.
Ségolène Le Stradic and Ivan Nechepurenko contributed reporting.
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Tyler Pager
Julian E. Barnes
Dec. 28, 2025, 10:36 p.m. ETDec. 28, 2025
Tyler Pager and Julian E. BarnesThe reporters have been covering the Trump administration’s pressure campaign against Venezuela.
Trump says the U.S. struck a ‘big facility’ in its campaign against Venezuela.
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Such an attack would be the first on land since President Trump began his military campaign against Venezuela.Credit...Eric Lee for The New York Times
President Trump said in a radio interview that the United States had knocked out “a big facility” last week as part of his administration’s campaign against Venezuela, an apparent reference to an American attack on a drug trafficking site.
American officials said that Mr. Trump was referring to a drug facility in Venezuela and that it was eliminated, but provided no details. Military officials said they had no information to share, and the Central Intelligence Agency declined to comment. The White House declined to comment.
Mr. Trump made his statement on Friday during an interview with John Catsimatidis, the Republican billionaire and supporter of the president who owns the WABC radio station in New York. The two men were discussing the U.S. military campaign to disrupt drug trafficking from Latin America by striking boats suspected of carrying narcotics.
“They have a big plant or a big facility where the ships come from,” Mr. Trump said, without saying where it was or explicitly identifying Venezuela as the target. “Two nights ago we knocked that out.”
Asked about the incident on Monday, Mr. Trump declined to say how the attack had been carried out or by whom but said it was along a shoreline.
“There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,” he told reporters at Mar-a-Lago, his club and residence in Florida. “They load the boats up with drugs. So we hit all the boats, and now we hit the area. It’s the implementation area, that’s where they implement, and that is no longer around.”
The attack appears to be the first known to have been carried out on land since he began his military campaign against Venezuela. U.S. officials declined to specify anything about the site the president said was hit, where it was located, how the attack was carried out or what role the facility played in drug trafficking. There has been no public report of an attack from the Venezuelan government or any other authorities in the region.
While some officials called the facility struck a drug production site, it is not clear what role in narcotics trafficking the facility would have played. Venezuela is well known for its role in trafficking drugs, especially cocaine produced in Colombia, but has not been a major producer of narcotics.
Mr. Trump has been promising strikes on land in Venezuela for weeks, part of an intensifying pressure campaign on Nicolás Maduro, the authoritarian leader of Venezuela, who is under indictment in the United States for his role in the drug trade.
Mr. Trump authorized the C.I.A. to begin planning covert operations inside Venezuela months ago.
The United States has been conducting military strikes on boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific since September. The administration maintains that the vessels are transporting cocaine. The operations have killed at least 105 people so far, and have been called extrajudicial killings by critics who say the U.S. military has no legal basis for lethal strikes against civilians. The administration has defended the attacks by asserting that the United States is in a conflict with what it calls narco-terrorists who can only be stopped with military force.
Those boat strikes were originally developed as part of a two-phase operation. The second phase, which has yet to be officially announced, was to include strikes on drug facilities in Venezuela, people familiar with the planning have said.
Since beginning the strikes, Mr. Trump has announced what he has called a blockade of Venezuela as the United States has begun trying to intercept oil tankers, cutting off a vital source of income for the Maduro government.
Mr. Trump has publicly acknowledged he has authorized the C.I.A. to plan for operations inside Venezuela.
Exactly what operations Mr. Trump had in mind for the C.I.A. were not clear, but they could include both sabotage operations and psychological operations meant to prod Mr. Maduro into making some mistake.
Eric Schmitt, Edward Wong and Maria Abi-Habib contributed reporting.
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