Trump, Putin Talk Ukraine; Treasury Secretary Calls Stock Slump 'Healthy'

<p>On today's podcast: &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p><br />1) President Donald Trump said he&rsquo;ll speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday as the US presses for an end to fighting in Ukraine and European nations rush to bolster their support for Kyiv.<br />&ldquo;We are doing pretty well I think with Russia,&rdquo; Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll see if we have something to announce maybe by Tuesday,&rdquo; he said, adding that there is &ldquo;a very good chance&rdquo; for a deal.&nbsp;<br />The Trump administration has pushed for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine amid a flurry of renewed engagement between Washington and Moscow, three years after Russia&rsquo;s full-scale invasion. Yet that effort has sparked angst among European leaders who worry Trump may concede too much on Ukraine&rsquo;s behalf in a direct exchange with Putin and leave Kyiv without any longer-term security guarantees.&nbsp; &nbsp;</p> <p><br />2) Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a former hedge fund manager, said he&rsquo;s not worried about the recent downturn that&rsquo;s wiped trillions of dollars from the equities market as the US seeks to reshape its economic policies.&nbsp;<br />&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been in the investment business for 35 years, and I can tell you that corrections are healthy, they are normal,&rdquo; Bessent said Sunday on NBC&rsquo;s <em>Meet The Press</em>. &ldquo;I&lsquo;m not worried about the markets. Over the long term, if we put good tax policy in place, deregulation and energy security, the markets will do great.&rdquo;&nbsp; &nbsp;</p> <p><br />3) The Trump administration said it arrested and expelled hundreds of alleged members of Venezuela&rsquo;s Tren de Aragua gang to El Salvador for imprisonment, even as a federal judge ordered a halt to some deportations.<br />&ldquo;This weekend, at the President&rsquo;s direction, the Department of Homeland Security successfully arrested nearly 300 Tren De Aragua terrorists, saving countless American lives,&rdquo; White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Sunday in a statement. &ldquo;These heinous monsters were extracted and removed to El Salvador where they will no longer be able to pose any threat to the American People.&rdquo;<br />The US is paying El Salvador to hold the Venezuelans under an agreement Secretary of State Marco Rubio brokered with the Central American country&rsquo;s president, Nayib Bukele. Some 238 members of the gang were transferred to a terrorism confinement center, Bukele said on X.&nbsp;</p><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p>