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  • Final U.S. pennies sell for millions at auction after mint ends production

    Final U.S. pennies sell for millions at auction after mint ends production

    The last minted pennies sure cost a pretty penny.

    On Thursday, a three-coin set of the final pennies minted for circulation sold at auction for $800,000. Another of the sets sold for $180,000.

    In all, the final pennies sold for a combined nearly $17 million.

    Sold by Stack’s Bowers Galleries, the sets represented the 232 years since the penny was first minted in Philadelphia in 1793. Each included some of the last pennies struck for circulation at the U.S. Mint’s facilities in Philadelphia and Denver, plus a 24-karat gold penny minted in Philadelphia. Each coin bears a unique omega symbol (Ω), marking the end of the penny.

    The Philadelphia U.S. Mint struck the final circulating one-cent coins in November after President Donald Trump ordered the Mint to stop producing new pennies earlier this year. The last small-change coin the government canceled was the half-cent in 1857.

    Costly to produce and displaced by digital payment, the penny had grown almost as irrelevant as the half-cent. Still, pennies aren’t disappearing soon. Americans have hoarded 300 billion pennies, which remain legal tender, officials say. Killing penny production is estimated to save around $56 million a year, experts believe.

    Thursday’s auction had been closely watched by collectors and numismatics, who had expected bidding to be high. None more than for the final lot, which eventually topped out at $800,000. The special lot came with the three origin dies used to strike the coins.

    “This set represents the VERY LAST cents struck in the classic circulating finishing, the true Omega,” read for the listing for the final pennies. “It is impossible to overstate the historic nature of these three pieces, which are likely the most significant coins to emerge from the United States Mint this century.”

  • George Washington’s living quarters back on display after restoration

    George Washington’s living quarters back on display after restoration

    Only keen-eyed visitors will notice some of the subtle changes to George Washington’s Mount Vernon home, like a new finishing on the mantle in the former president’s study or the reworked underground framing of the house.

    But curators say each minuscule change to the sprawling Virginia estate can help visitors better understand the nation’s past, and therefore their place in the world today.

    Construction fences have lined the back of the mansion for the better part of two years as work continues on a $40 million project to restore the building to its 18th century integrity. Though work is ongoing, the first and second floor of the home are now open to the public for the first time since January 2024.

    A worker at the estate Wednesday, the day of an event marking the reopening of the first and second floors to the public.

    Heading into America’s 250th anniversary, Mount Vernon President and CEO Doug Bradburn said bolstering authenticity at the estate is more important than ever.

    “You cannot understand the United States of America’s founding without the indispensable George Washington,” Bradburn said. “You can’t understand him without Mount Vernon.”

    Washington lived at the estate along the Potomac River with his wife, Martha, for the last 45 years of his life. When he inherited the mansion, it stood at about 3,500 square feet. The serene view of the Potomac welcomed Washington home after he led American forces to victory in the Revolutionary War. He retired to Mount Vernon after serving as the nation’s first president.

    By the time Washington died in 1799, he had expanded the dwelling to more than triple that size, with more than 20 rooms. Most of the work was performed by people enslaved on the estate, officials have said.

    A bust of George Washington at the estate.

    The estate passed down through family members after Washington’s death until the Mount Vernon Ladies Association secured it in 1860. Since then, the nonprofit has worked to restore the remaining 500 acres of property to how it appeared when Washington died. The association has never accepted any government funding, and it solely relies on earned income and donations.

    Nearly 1 million people visit Washington’s home, located about 20 miles south of the nation’s capital, each year.

    “We believe in the power of place,” said Anne Neal Petri, regent of the Mount Vernon Ladies Association. “We want to engage the visitor in ways that the history books just can’t achieve.”

    This bout of rehabilitation is the largest in Mount Vernon’s history. Born from necessity after centuries of termite damage detached the building from its foundation, there wasn’t a single piece of original 18th century woodwork left underground, said Thomas Reinhart, director of the estate’s preservation.

    Only parts of Mount Vernon closed during the restoration. The extensive grounds, Washington’s tomb and the quarters for enslaved people remained open. The renovations focused only on Washington’s living quarters, called the mansion.

    To rebuild the mansion’s wooden frame, workers harvested white oak from the property, similar to how Washington would have sourced wood for the original construction. Only now, every piece of wood that touches masonry has added termite shields.

    “Termites are quite tenacious,” Reinhart said.

    From preservation carpenters, engineers, archaeologists and collection curators, it’s estimated about 350 people have worked on the restoration so far. Besides the structural changes, specialists throughout the house restoration performed paint analysis on doorframes and trims to make them accurate.

    Painters at Mount Vernon on Wednesday.

    The most noticeable visual differences are on the second floor, in the most intimate area of the house.

    Step into Washington’s bedroom, and visitors will see walls newly enveloped by a soft blue wallpaper with a bright floral design featuring a birdbath and two bright orange lovebirds.

    After referencing preserved documents, Amanda Isaac, a curator at the estate, said historians chose a replica 1790s French wallpaper based on a design that existed when Washington remodeled the home.

    She said with the most recent changes — which also included tearing the walls down to the studs and replastering them with historically accurate techniques — is a room that most resembles how the home looked when the Washingtons lived at Mount Vernon. It has nine of the original furnishings of the room, including the exact bedframe Washington died on.

    George and Martha Washington’s bedroom.

    Perhaps the largest undertaking is still ongoing.

    Underground, droves of people are still working to restore a cellar spanning the entire footprint of the house. That part of the home is being refinished to look like it did when it housed the enslaved Lee family, who served the Washingtons as valet, cook and butler. The estate is also adding an underground bunker to store an upgraded HVAC system created to better preserve and maintain the home.

    Though it’s been centuries since Washington walked the property, signs of his life are still littered around the land. While excavating the cellar, archaeologists discovered 35 glass bottles of preserved berries, 20 of which are still intact and now on display at the Mount Vernon museum.

    As the country looks to the future, Mount Vernon serves as a fixture of the past, forever reminding the nation how far it has come.

    “You can’t go to Rome without seeing the Colosseum, and you can’t go to Washington, D.C., without seeing Mount Vernon,” Bradburn said.

    Today’s rehabilitation is the largest in Mount Vernon’s history.
  • Eroded Jersey Shore beaches could soon get federal money for replenishment. Will it be enough?

    Eroded Jersey Shore beaches could soon get federal money for replenishment. Will it be enough?

    Congress appears poised to spend money in 2026 on beach replenishment projects in wake of the zero dollars it allocated this year.

    But bills proposed in the House by U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R., Tenn.) and in the Senate by U.S. Sen. John Kennedy (R., La.) appear to still fall woefully short of what is needed, a coastal advocacy group says. U.S. House Rep. Jeff Van Drew, however, believes there will be adequate funding.

    Dan Ginolfi, executive director of the American Coastal Coalition, an advocacy group for coastal communities and beaches, said the current best case would be the Senate bill, which proposes to spend $62.2 million. The House bill proposes $23 million.

    However, both proposals fall short of the approximately $200 million needed to fund approved projects in various states that received no money last year, he said.

    Any approved money would go to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which would choose which beach erosion projects to manage.

    In New Jersey, projects set for Cape May, Stone Harbor, Avalon, Sea Isle, Strathmere, Ocean City, and Long Beach Island have been stalled because of the lack of funding. So, too, have projects in Maryland, Delaware, Georgia, and Florida.

    That means “the level of risk in New Jersey right now is unacceptable,” Ginolfi said.

    Shore towns get no federal dollars for beach replenishments for the first time in almost 30 years

    He noted that it’s not only beaches at risk, but homes, businesses, public property, and infrastructure.

    “It really is imperative that the federal and state government work together to achieve a solution,” he said.

    Ginolfi noted that coastal communities in the U.S. generate $36 billion in federal and state tax revenue. So he sees $200 million as a good return on investment.

    He said his numbers for potential beach replenishment projects in the bills were confirmed with appropriations committees in both the House and Senate.

    However, the office of Van Drew, a Republican who represents many New Jersey beach communities, said the coalition’s numbers “misrepresent the true amount of funding available.”

    Paxton Antonucci, a spokesperson for Van Drew, said there is actually $166 million available in the House bill “for costs associated with shore protection like beach replenishment, which is the typical amount.”

    He said that number will come close to $200 million “after we compromise with the Senate.”

    In reality, Van Drew said, most beach replenishment funding comes from outside the regular budget process. He has actively sought such money.

    In October, Van Drew wrote to the Army Corps, requesting that it “activate disaster recovery authorities … to repair shore protection projects at the Jersey Shore, in response to damages caused by Hurricane Erin and by the recent nor’easter over the weekend of Oct. 10-12.”

    Ocean City declares emergency over beach erosion, urges state and federal help

    And he wrote to Gov. Phil Murphy and Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill this week urging that New Jersey declare a state of emergency to secure federal money “for the severe coastal erosion and storm damage affecting the Jersey Shore.”

    Van Drew said the Shore has been battered since July by “intense wind, wave, and water impacts from storm events including Hurricane Erin, Hurricane Imelda, offshore Hurricane Humberto, and a succession of destructive nor’easters.”

    He said the result has been “significant dune loss, beach profile collapse, and damage to public infrastructure in multiple municipalities.”

    Indeed, the Ocean City Council declared a local emergency over beach erosion from the storms and urged state and federal officials to help.

    The American Coastal Coalition has faulted Murphy’s office for failing to request disaster repair projects from the Army Corps in the wake of the storms.

    However, Murphy’s office said the storms this year did not meet financial thresholds needed to qualify for major federal disaster declarations.

    In addition, the office said that, even if they did, replenishment projects at Army Corps-engineered beaches are not routinely eligible for Federal Emergency Management Agency reimbursement.

    Rather, the office blamed Congress for putting forth a budget that cut beach replenishment projects, and said that blue states are a target of the Trump administration.

  • Killer who gunned down a pregnant Delco woman during Wawa fight sent to state prison

    Killer who gunned down a pregnant Delco woman during Wawa fight sent to state prison

    Evelina Williams told a Delaware County judge she has been agonizing for more than a year over her split-second decision to fatally shoot a pregnant woman and her unborn child.

    For that, the Southwest Philadelphia woman was sentenced Friday to 10 to 20 years in state prison.

    “I am not God. I can’t decide who lives and who dies,” Williams, 31, told Judge Kevin F. Kelly. “This is the biggest mistake of my life, and I hate myself for it.”

    Williams pleaded guilty in August to third-degree murder and third-degree murder of an unborn child for fatally shooting Latoya Davis in the parking lot of a Wawa store in Collingdale last year.

    At the time, Davis, 32, was six months pregnant, something Williams said she did not know when she pulled the trigger of her Ruger .380 handgun on that night in October 2024.

    “Not a day goes by where I don’t cry my eyes out,” Williams said. “I am sorry for the Davis family for the pain I have caused. I took something so precious, and I’m embarrassed, ashamed, remorseful, shattered.”

    Davis, who left behind two young daughters, was shot once in the back during the dispute, which prosecutors said began inside the Wawa and continued in the store’s parking lot, where the two women had parked next to each other.

    Latoya Davis, a mother of two, was killed outside of a Wawa in Glenolden. Davis was six months pregnant at the time.

    As Williams went to drive away, Davis continued to argue with her and, at one point, threw a beverage at her. In response, Williams shot her with the gun she was licensed to carry.

    Williams’ attorney, Anna Hinchman, said a lifetime of trauma, including sexual abuse as a teen and violent domestic assaults by her ex-husband, left Williams with a severe case of PTSD that was triggered when Davis confronted her.

    Assistant District Attorney Dan Kerley called the shooting a “senseless act of violence” and said that, despite Williams’ perception that she was defending herself, her actions forever ruined two families.

    “It’s undisputed that Ms. Williams had a license to carry her gun, but that did not give her a license to kill,” he said. “It does not give you the ability to shoot someone during an argument.”

    Still, Kerley credited Williams for remaining at the scene, performing CPR on the grievously wounded Davis, and cooperating with police.

    Gabou Jean Pierre Toure, Davis’ longtime boyfriend and the father of her unborn son, said no amount of remorse or accountability can heal the pain he feels.

    “I want to forgive you so bad. I’m trying to forgive you,” he said. “But I still feel this is a nightmare that I want to wake up from.”

    Toure said he and Davis were soulmates, and were both eagerly awaiting the birth of their son after struggling with fertility issues. The two shared a birthday and celebrated together every year.

    This year, he said, all he could do on that day was weep for his lost love.

    “You are a mom. You can imagine how it feels to lose your child,” he said to Williams. “I hope you regret what you’ve done.”

  • House Democrats release photos of Trump, Clinton, and Andrew from Epstein’s estate

    House Democrats release photos of Trump, Clinton, and Andrew from Epstein’s estate

    WASHINGTON — House Democrats released a selection of photos from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein on Friday, including some of Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, and the former Prince Andrew.

    The 19 photos initially released by Democratic lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee were a small part of more than 95,000 they received from the estate of Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. They released roughly 70 more photos later Friday, including images of his home, Epstein taking a bath, a photo of him with a swollen lip, and a photo of him posing with a book about the scandal.

    The photos released Friday were separate from the case files that the Department of Justice is now under compulsion to release, but anticipation is growing as the Trump administration faces a deadline next week to produce the Epstein files that have been the source of conspiracy theories and speculation for years.

    The photos were released without captions or context and included a black-and-white image of Trump alongside six women whose faces were blacked out.

    This undated, redacted photo released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee shows Donald Trump standing with a group of women.

    Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, did not say whether any of the women in the photos was a victim of abuse, but he added, “Our commitment from day one has been to redact any photo, any information that could lead to any sort of harm to any of the victims.”

    White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson accused Democrats of “selectively releasing cherry-picked photos with random redactions to try and create a false narrative” and called it part of a “Democrat hoax against President Trump.”

    Many of the photos have already circulated in the public. Democrats pledged to continue to release photos in the days and weeks ahead, as they look to pressure Trump over his Republican administration’s earlier refusal to release documents in the Epstein probe. Garcia said his staff had looked through about a quarter of the images it had received from Epstein’s estate, which included photos that were sent to him or that he had in his possession.

    “Donald Trump right now needs to release the files to the American public so that the truth can come out and we can actually get some sense of justice for the survivors,” Garcia added.

    This undated, redacted photo released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee shows Steve Bannon (left) talking with Jeffrey Epstein.

    Trump, once a close friend of Epstein, has said that he parted ways with him long before he faced the sex trafficking charges. Clinton, too, has minimized his relationship with Epstein, acknowledging that he traveled on Epstein’s private jet but saying through a spokesperson that he had no knowledge of the late financier’s crimes. Clinton also has never been accused of misconduct by Epstein’s known victims. However, Republicans on the House committee are pushing him and Hillary Clinton to testify in their investigation.

    A spokesperson for the Republican-controlled committee also said that nothing in the documents the committee has received shows “any wrongdoing” by Trump.

    Andrew lost his royal titles and privileges this year amid new revelations of his ties to Epstein, though he has denied wrongdoing.

    The photo release also included images of the right-wing political operative Steve Bannon, billionaires Richard Branson and Bill Gates, filmmaker Woody Allen, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, and law professor Alan Dershowitz. The men have denied any wrongdoing in their associations with Epstein, who kept many high-profile figures in his circle of friends.

    Amid an earlier release of emails between Summers and Epstein, Summers stepped away from his teaching position at Harvard University and faced other fallout to his standing in academic circles.

    Allen has faced allegations from his adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow, of molesting her as a child. He has denied the allegations.

    Some lawmakers, however, believe that other high-powered figures could be implicated in Epstein’s abuse if the full case files from the Justice Department are released.

    Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who was instrumental in passing a bill to require the public release of the files, said it was a good sign that the Department of Justice has sought to have grand jury material released from several courts.

    “The grand jury material is just a small fraction of what the DOJ needs to release, because the FBI and DOJ probably has evidence that they chose not to take to the grand jury because the evidence they’re in possession of would implicate other people, not Epstein or Maxwell,” he said.

  • Thai and Cambodian leaders have agreed to renew a ceasefire after days of deadly clashes, Trump says

    Thai and Cambodian leaders have agreed to renew a ceasefire after days of deadly clashes, Trump says

    WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Friday that Thai and Cambodian leaders have agreed to renew a truce after days of deadly clashes had threatened to undo a ceasefire the U.S. administration had helped broker earlier this year.

    Trump announced the agreement to restart the ceasefire in a social media posting following calls with Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet.

    “They have agreed to CEASE all shooting effective this evening, and go back to the original Peace Accord made with me, and them, with the help of the Great Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim,” Trump said in his Truth Social posting.

    Thai and Cambodian officials offered no immediate comment following Trump’s announcement. Anutin, after speaking with Trump but before the U.S. president’s social media posting, said he reiterated to Trump that Thailand’s position was to keep fighting until Cambodia no longer poses a threat to its sovereignty.

    Trump, a Republican, said that Ibrahim played an important role in helping him push Thailand and Cambodia to once again agree to stop fighting.

    “It is my Honor to work with Anutin and Hun in resolving what could have evolved into a major War between two otherwise wonderful and prosperous Countries!” Trump added.

    The original ceasefire in July was brokered by Malaysia and pushed through by pressure from Trump, who threatened to withhold trade privileges unless Thailand and Cambodia agreed. It was formalized in more detail in October at a regional meeting in Malaysia that Trump attended.

    Despite the deal, the two countries carried on a bitter propaganda war and minor cross-border violence continued.

    The roots of the Thai-Cambodian border conflict lie in a history of enmity over competing territorial claims. These claims largely stem from a 1907 map created while Cambodia was under French colonial rule, which Thailand maintains is inaccurate. Tensions were exacerbated by a 1962 International Court of Justice ruling that awarded sovereignty to Cambodia, which still riles many Thais.

    Thailand has deployed jet fighters to carry out airstrikes on what it says are military targets. Cambodia has deployed BM-21 rocket launchers with a range of 19-25 miles.

    According to data collected by public broadcaster ThaiPBS, at least six of the Thai soldiers who were killed were hit by rocket shrapnel.

    The Thai army’s northeastern regional command said Thursday that some residential areas and homes near the border were damaged by BM-21 rocket launchers from Cambodian forces.

    The Thai army also said it destroyed a tall crane atop a hill held by Cambodia where the centuries-old Preah Vihear temple is located, because it allegedly held electronic and optical devices used for military command and control purposes.

    Trump has repeatedly made the exaggerated claim that he has helped solve eight conflicts, including the one between Thailand and Cambodia, since returning to office in January, as evidence of his negotiating prowess. And he’s not been shy about his desire to be recognized with a Nobel Peace Prize.

    In an exchange with reporters later Friday, Trump credited his administration with doing a “a very good job” with its push to stem the renewed fighting.

    “And we got it, I think, straightened out today,” Trump said as he hosted members of the 1980 U.S. men’s hockey team in the Oval Office. “So Thailand and Cambodia is in good shape.”

    Another ceasefire that Trump takes credit for working out, between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, is also under strain — just after the leaders of the African nations traveled to Washington to sign a peace deal.

    A joint statement released by the International Contact Group for the Great Lakes expressed “profound concern” over the situation in Congo’s South Kivu region, where new deadly violence blamed on the Rwandan-backed M23 militia group has exploded in recent days.

    The Great Lakes contact group — which includes Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States, and the European Union — has urged all sides “to uphold their commitments” under the deal signed last week and “immediately de-escalate the situation.”

    And Trump’s internationally endorsed plan to end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza is still not finalized and in limbo, with sporadic fighting continuing while a critical second phase remains a work in progress.

  • Secret meetings between FBI and Ukraine negotiator spark concern

    Secret meetings between FBI and Ukraine negotiator spark concern

    Secret meetings between Ukraine’s top peace negotiator and FBI leaders have injected new uncertainty into the high-stakes talks to end the war there, according to diplomats and officials familiar with the matter.

    Over the last several weeks, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s lead negotiator, Rustem Umerov, flew to Miami three times to meet with President Donald Trump’s top envoy, Steve Witkoff, and discuss a proposal to end the nearly four-year conflict with Russia.

    But during his time in the United States, Umerov also held closed-door meetings with FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino, according to four people, who like some others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential conversations.

    The meetings have caused alarm among Western officials who remain in the dark about their intent and purpose. Some said they believe Umerov and other Ukrainian officials sought out Patel and Bongino in the hopes of obtaining amnesty from any corruption allegations the Ukrainians could face. Others worry the newly established channel could be used to exert pressure on Zelensky’s government to accept a peace deal, proposed by the Trump administration, containing steep concessions for Kyiv.

    Ukrainian Ambassador to Washington Olha Stefanishyna confirmed Umerov’s meeting with the FBI and told the Washington Post he “only covered national security related issues” that could not be disclosed publicly.

    An FBI official said the Umerov meetings included discussion of the two countries’ shared law enforcement and national security interests. The topic of white collar corruption in Ukraine came up in one of the meetings but was not the main focus, the official said. Any suggestion that Patel’s discussions were inappropriate is “complete nonsense,” the official added.

    The two FBI leaders have criticized Ukraine in various public comments. Patel in March questioned the scale of U.S. aid to Ukraine and urged Congress to investigate whether any U.S. funds sent there were misused. Bongino has accused Zelensky of covering up the allegedly corrupt activities of President Joe Biden’s son, whose board seat on a Ukrainian energy company has faced intense scrutiny. Trump “is very suspicious of Zelensky, because of what he and some of the people in his government did to sweep under the rug the Joe Biden madness,” Bongino said in February.

    A White House official said “U.S. officials regularly communicate with world leaders about national security issues of shared interest.” The official added that Trump’s national security team has been “speaking with both the Russians and the Ukrainians to facilitate a deal to end the war” and that anyone raising concerns about the FBI meetings “are not privy to these diplomatic conversations and have no idea what they are talking about.”

    A representative of Zelensky’s office declined to comment on any specific meetings but insisted that “it is stupid to link everything to ‘corruption.’”

    The New York Post noted Umerov’s meeting with Patel in an article published Nov. 28. Bongino’s meeting with Umerov has not been previously reported.

    The discussions are happening at a critical moment for Ukraine. It is under pressure by the Trump administration to agree to an end-of-war proposal with huge implications for the country’s borders and territorial integrity.

    It is also facing its most far-reaching corruption scandal since Zelensky took office in 2019. Ukrainian investigators alleged last month that $100 million had been stolen from the country’s energy sector through graft and kickbacks.

    Eight people, including Zelensky’s former business partner, are accused of embezzlement, money laundering and illicit self-dealing. Zelensky’s top aide, Andriy Yermak, the second most powerful person in Ukraine, resigned in late November after his house was raided. Another close former ally of Zelensky, Oleksiy Chernyshov, who served as deputy prime minister, is accused by Ukrainian authorities of receiving $1.3 million in kickbacks.

    “They do have a massive corruption situation going on there,” Trump told reporters this week, noting that the scandal was generating calls for elections in Ukraine. “People are asking this question: When do they have an election?”

    Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 prompted Kyiv to enact martial law, including the postponement of presidential and parliamentary elections.

    There is speculation inside and outside Kyiv over whether Umerov, who also serves as Ukraine’s national security adviser, may be implicated in the expanding embezzlement investigation, particularly as the country’s anti-corruption officials expand their probe into the defense sector. Umerov previously served as Ukraine’s defense minister.

    “I was surprised they sent him to negotiate given what’s being said about his potential involvement in the scandal,” said Angela Stent, a former intelligence officer in the George W. Bush administration and scholar at Georgetown University.

    Ukrainian opposition lawmaker Volodymyr Ariev told the Post that it was irresponsible to keep Umerov on as top negotiator while he’s under a cloud of suspicion. “A person who has grown a tail with corruption allegations shouldn’t chair fateful negotiations until they cut the tail,” Ariev said.

    Umerov’s defenders say he is an asset to Kyiv: His easygoing demeanor and proficient English have created a better rapport with U.S. officials than they had with Yermak, whom Zelensky relied on heavily before he resigned.

    But his FBI meetings have raised suspicion among Ukraine’s Western backers given the presence of Patel, who became a focal point of Trump’s first impeachment, which centered on the president’s threat to revoke U.S. aid to Ukraine to extract information on Hunter Biden’s activities in the country. Trump was acquitted by the Senate.

    Fiona Hill, a former Trump administration official, testified before Congress that Patel had involved himself in Ukraine issues in a manner that went beyond the scope of his job as a White House adviser, according to what she was told by colleagues. The impeachment report released by House Democrats also highlighted Patel’s discussions with Rudy Giuliani before the Trump administration’s suspension of $400 million in military aid to Ukraine.

    Hill told the Post for this report that Patel’s reemergence is “likely to be viewed with even more concern and consternation in Europe.”

    Patel has always denied he had a back channel with Trump on Ukraine during his first term and said his discussions with Giuliani were unrelated to Ukraine.

    FBI officials have worked for years with Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau, or NABU, to help the government in Kyiv overcome endemic corruption stemming from its Soviet past. But high-level meetings between a top Ukrainian negotiator and the director of the FBI are not common.

    “It is unusual for someone in that job to have a meeting with the leadership of the FBI,” said Sam Charap, a former State Department official and scholar at the Rand Corporation.

    A common theme of Trump’s Ukraine diplomacy, particularly as he has expressed frustration about delays in getting to a deal, is expanding the number of aides assigned to work on the issue. Besides Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Witkoff, a real estate magnate and longtime friend, Trump has also enlisted his son-in-law Jared Kushner and Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, an ally of Vice President JD Vance.

    The growing number officials involved in the talks has caused miscommunication and confusion surrounding the deal’s terms and what the United States supports.

    Several U.S. officials support a proposal in which Ukraine withdraws from Donetsk in eastern Ukraine in exchange for other areas under Russian control, such as the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

    Earlier this week, Zelensky pushed back against the idea of Ukraine relinquishing any territory. “Under our laws, under international law — and under moral law — we have no right to give anything away,” Zelensky said after meeting with top European leaders. “That is what we are fighting for.”

    But as negotiations have stalled, Russian forces have made advances in the East, exploiting Ukraine’s shortages in ammunition and fighters. It also continues to bomb Ukraine’s electrical infrastructure, triggering rolling blackouts and raising fears of widespread outages this winter.

    Trump has made clear his patience is wearing thin, and that if Ukraine doesn’t negotiate for land it could end up losing even more on the battlefield.

    “You’re losing thousands of people a week,” Trump said. “It’s time to get that war settled.”

  • Chileans are divided in a presidential runoff tilted toward the far right

    Chileans are divided in a presidential runoff tilted toward the far right

    SANTIAGO, Chile — Ask many Chileans how their country fared in the past several years and they’ll describe a descent into disaster: Venezuelan gangs surged across porous borders, bringing unprecedented kidnappings and contract killings to one of the region’s safest nations. A social uprising unleashed violent chaos on once-sleepy streets. An economy long vaunted for its rapid growth sputtered into a stall.

    These are the voters who hope to elect their country’s most right-wing president since its military dictatorship on Sunday.

    Former lawmaker José Antonio Kast, 59, they argue, can bring back the simple, stable life that Chileans lost to rising crime, uncontrolled migration, and left-wing excesses. Kast’s rival in this runoff presidential election is their worst fear: a communist.

    “We need to go back in time to when Chile meant peace and quiet, when there weren’t so many Venezuelans and Colombians in the streets, when you didn’t have to look over your shoulder every second,” said Ernesto Romero, 70, shucking corn at his vegetable stall in Chile’s capital of Santiago.

    A deeply polarized electorate

    Ask the same question to other Chileans and they’ll recount an opposite reality: A shorter workweek, higher minimum wage, and more generous pension system made one of Latin America’s most unequal countries more livable, they say. The homicide rate declined in the last two years, official figures show. A defiant foreign policy — outspoken about Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro‘s repression, President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigrants, and Israel’s actions against Palestinians — made Chile a regional champion of democracy and human rights.

    These are the voters who hope, against heavy odds, to elect their country’s most left-wing president since its return to democracy in 1990.

    Jeannette Jara, 51, they argue, can save Chile from the wave of far-right populism that has upended politics across the world. Jara’s rival is their worst fear: the son of a Nazi party member with a fondness for Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s brutal dictatorship.

    “We need to go forward,” said Lucía Poblete, a 32-year-old engineer at Jara’s rally late Wednesday. “Kast will erase all the progress we’ve made for women, for labor rights, for civil freedoms.”

    The chasm between Chilean perspectives on the status quo underscores not only the depth of Chile’s divisions but also the stakes of Sunday’s showdown, which Kast is expected to win after 70% of voters backed right-leaning parties in the first round.

    Kast vows to make Chile safe again

    Today, Kast is hoping the third time’s the charm, and his presidential run has so far been a much more effective endeavor than the previous two. That’s largely thanks to fears of organized crime and immigration driving voters to the right.

    “Jara seems more grounded, more sensible. But it’s not the time for that. It’s time for drastic measures, for shows of force,” said Eduardo Marillana, 48, a former Jara supporter who jumped ship for Kast after his truck was stolen a few weeks ago. “Whether we like it or not, we need the far right now.”

    In 2021, the Catholic father of nine lost the runoff election to current President Gabriel Boric, a former firebrand student protest leader who rattled investors with his promises to “bury neoliberalism” but appealed to millions of ordinary Chileans sick of fiscal austerity, angry about social inequality, and eager to reexamine Chile’s traumatic past.

    Kast’s family ties to the Nazi party sparked an uproar at the time — as did his apparent nostalgia for Gen. Pinochet (who he said “would vote for me if he were alive”) and his fierce opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion without exception.

    This time, Kast has dodged questions about his social views, pivoting to the more politically palatable issues of insecurity and mass migration that have ginned up voter anxiety and boosted the right from Washington to Paris.

    Taking a page from Trump’s playbook, Kast vows mass deportations of the estimated 337,000 migrants in Chile without legal status — mostly Venezuelans who arrived from their crisis-stricken country in the last seven years.

    Studying the crime-fighting tactics of El Salvador’s popular autocratic president, Nayib Bukele, Kast proposes boosting the power of police and expanding maximum-security prison capacity.

    Borrowing from Argentina’s radical libertarian President Javier Milei, Kast aims to slash red tape, shrink the public payroll, and cut state spending by $6 billion within just 18 months of taking office.

    His economic team on Thursday pushed back against criticism that such a budget cut was unrealistic — or unnecessary as Chile’s budget strains pale next to Argentina’s economic shambles.

    But it acknowledged to the Associated Press that it might be “preferable to allow for an adjustment over a longer period.”

    Underdog Jara faces tough odds

    Perhaps at any other moment, Jara would have a lot going for her.

    She engineered Boric’s most significant welfare measures as his minister of labor. Her humble origins selling hot dogs and toilet paper to get through school makes for a compelling up-from-nothing story rare in Chile’s elite circles of power. She has a strong record of negotiating with rivals to get things done.

    But experts say it’ll take a miracle for her to pry a victory from Kast.

    “There are just too many things stacked against her,” said Robert Funk, associate professor of political science at the University of Chile.

    The most glaring: being a communist. Although her proposals to boost foreign investment and promote fiscal restraint hardly smack of communism, analysts say her membership in the party since age 14 undercuts efforts to lure moderate conservatives.

    “Just the name ‘Communist Party scares people,” said Lucía Dammert, a sociologist and Boric’s first chief of staff.

    Then there’s the challenge of representing a government with a 30% approval rating in a country where citizens have voted out incumbent leaders at every election since 2005. Add to that the difficulty of appearing tough on crime next to Kast.

    “This campaign is among the most difficult I’ve ever run, by far,” Ricardo Solari, Jara’s campaign strategist and a former minister, told the AP.

    What keeps Jara in the game, he insisted, is her appeal as a bulwark against the sort of right-wing radicalism that has eroded the rule of law elsewhere.

    “The right exaggerates insecurity to convince people that the only possible response is extreme force,” Solari said. “We’ve seen elsewhere in Latin America that when that happens, ultimately what gets imprisoned is democracy itself.”

  • National Trust sues to stop Trump’s ballroom construction

    National Trust sues to stop Trump’s ballroom construction

    Historic preservationists begged President Donald Trump in October not to rapidly demolish the White House’s East Wing annex for his ballroom project, urging him to wait for federal review panels and allow the public to weigh in. Now a group charged by Congress with helping to preserve historic buildings is asking a judge to block construction until those reviews occur, arguing that the ongoing project is illegal and unconstitutional.

    The lawsuit from the nonprofit National Trust for Historic Preservation, which was filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, represents the first major legal challenge to Trump’s planned 90,000-square-foot addition and is poised to test the limits of his power. The organization argues that the administration failed to undergo legally required reviews or receive congressional authorization for the project, which Trump has rushed to launch in hopes of completing it before his term ends in 2029.

    “No president is legally allowed to tear down portions of the White House without any review whatsoever — not President Trump, not President Joe Biden, and not anyone else,” the complaint says.

    Comcast is one of 37 ‘patriot donors’ paying for Trump’s $300 million White House ballroom

    The administration in October rapidly demolished the East Wing to make way for the ballroom over the objections of the National Trust and other historic preservationists who urged the White House to pause its demolition, submit its plans to the National Capital Planning Commission, and seek public comment.

    Officials responded by saying they would work with the commission, a board that oversees federal building projects and is now led by Trump allies, “at the appropriate time.” It has yet to do so, even as regular work continues on the former East Wing site.

    The White House did not immediately respond Friday morning to questions about the lawsuit. The administration has maintained that Trump has authority over White House grounds and is working to improve them at no cost to taxpayers, dismissing critics as “unhinged leftists” who seized on the imagery of bulldozers tearing down what has been called “the People’s House” as a metaphor for the opening year of his term.

    “The lawsuit is our last resort,” Carol Quillen, National Trust’s CEO, said in an interview. “We serve the people, and the people are not being served in this process.”

    Nothing about Trump’s ballroom benefits us | Jenice Armstrong

    The National Trust is seeking a temporary restraining order on construction as the court reviews its claims, its lawyers said. One of those lawyers is Greg Craig, a Foley Hoag lawyer who previously served as White House counsel to President Barack Obama, and who is working pro bono on the case. Craig also served as President Bill Clinton’s lawyer during Republicans’ efforts to impeach Clinton in the late 1990s.

    Trump has made the ballroom a focus and frequent talking point in the opening year of his second term, and administration officials have acknowledged that he is involved to the point of micromanagement.

    “In a very short period of time — like about a year and a half — you’re going to have the best ballroom anywhere in the country,” Trump told lawmakers at the White House on Thursday night.

    The president has also maintained that he is not bound by typical building restrictions or the need to seek construction approvals, citing conversations with advisers and experts.

    “They said, ‘Sir, this is the White House. You’re the president of the United States, you can do anything you want,’” Trump said at an October dinner to celebrate the ballroom’s donors.

    Jeffrey Yass, Pa.’s richest man, donated at least $2.5 million to Trump’s White House ballroom

    Several polls have shown that the ballroom project is broadly unpopular, and Democrats have consistently attacked it, eager to contrast the president’s focus on a luxurious ballroom against many Americans’ concerns about affordability. Some conservatives have also questioned Trump’s plans and pace, asking why the administration did not undergo a formal review process before tearing down part of the symbolic seat of government. The president and his original handpicked architect battled over Trump’s desire to expand the ballroom’s size before Trump replaced him, the Washington Post previously reported.

    The $300 million project is being funded by wealthy individuals and large companies that have contracts with the federal government, including Amazon, Lockheed Martin, and Palantir Technologies. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns the Post.) The administration has released a partial list of contributors but granted some anonymity — eliciting concerns from Democratic lawmakers and others, some of which are reflected in the complaint.

    The National Trust, for example, alleges that the Trump administration violated the Constitution’s property clause, which authorizes Congress to oversee property on federal land.

    The National Trust’s lawsuit names Trump and other administration officials, including at the National Park Service and the General Services Administration, as defendants. The National Trust argues that the ballroom plans are legally required to be reviewed by the NCPC and the Commission on Fine Arts, another federal panel, which is without members after Trump fired them in October. The organization also contends that the White House has failed to fulfill its obligations under the National Environmental Policy Act to conduct and publish an assessment of the environmental impact of tearing down the East Wing and disposing of the debris, particularly given concerns about environmental contamination.

    White House officials have previously dismissed criticism from the National Trust, arguing that its leaders are “loser Democrats and liberal donors” who oppose Trump on political grounds. The National Trust has a decades-long association with Trump: In 1995, he donated easements to the organization that made his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida a historic property in exchange for tax breaks. National Trust officials have said they subsequently worked with the Trump organization on “collaborative” construction projects at the resort, including its ballroom.

    The White House also has defended the project by drawing a distinction between construction on the White House grounds, which administration officials say is covered by federal review panels, and demolition and site prep, which they maintain is not.

    However, the National Trust says that this is a distinction without a difference. Recent photos have shown that heavy construction machinery and teams of people are working regularly on the site, and Trump has said that pile drivers are operating “all day, all night.”

    The group’s lawsuit also cites the White House’s own public timeline for the project, which includes a section that says “construction commences” and that it “kicked off in September 2025.”

    Quillen said she did not have a “hard objection” to a White House ballroom — so long as its size, materials and design were consistent with the White House and did not overshadow the main building. It is the National Trust’s job, she said, to preserve American history, particularly at the White House, given the building’s iconic status and central role. She noted that the organization has also brought legal challenges to past administrations’ construction projects.

    “Following the process and enabling public input often results in a better project outcome,” Quillen said.

  • Best-selling British writer Joanna Trollope has died at 82

    Best-selling British writer Joanna Trollope has died at 82

    LONDON — British writer Joanna Trollope, whose best-selling novels charted domestic and romantic travails in well-heeled rural England, has died, her family said Friday. She was 82.

    Ms. Trollope’s daughters, Antonia and Louise, said the writer died peacefully at her home in Oxfordshire, southern England, on Thursday.

    Ms. Trollope wrote almost two dozen contemporary novels, including The Rector’s Wife, Marrying the Mistress, Other People’s Children, and Next of Kin. They were often dubbed “Aga sagas,” after the old-fashioned Aga ovens found in affluent country homes.

    Ms. Trollope disliked the term, noting that her books tackled uncomfortable subjects including infidelity, marital breakdown, and the challenges of parenting.

    “That was a very unfortunate phrase and I think it’s done me a lot of damage,” she once said. ”It was so patronizing to the readers, too.”

    Ms. Trollope’s most recent novel, Mum & Dad, examined the “sandwich generation” of middle-aged people looking after both children and elderly parents.

    Ms. Trollope also published 10 historical novels under the pseudonym Caroline Harvey.

    Ms. Trollope, a distant relative of Victorian novelist Anthony Trollope, was born in Minchinhampton in the west of England in 1943. She studied English at Oxford University, then worked in Britain’s Foreign Office and as a teacher before becoming a full-time writer in 1980. She became a household name after The Rector’s Wife was adapted for television in 1991.

    Ms. Trollope’s novel Parson Harding’s Daughter won a novel of the year award from the Romantic Novelists’ Association in 1980. In 2010, the association gave her a lifetime achievement award for services to romance.

    In 2019, she was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, or CBE, by Queen Elizabeth II.

    Her literary agent, James Gill, called Ms. Trollope “one of our most cherished, acclaimed and widely enjoyed novelists.

    “Joanna will be mourned by her children, grandchildren, family, her countless friends and — of course — her readers,” Gill said.