Trump selects longtime adviser Keith Kellogg as special envoy for Ukraine and Russia

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday that he has chosen Keith Kellogg, a highly decorated retired three-star general, to serve as his special envoy for Ukraine and Russia.

Kellogg, who is one of the architects of a staunchly conservative policy book that lays out an “America First” national security agenda for the incoming administration, will come into the role as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its third year in February.

Trump, making the announcement on his Truth Social account, said, “He was with me right from the beginning! Together, we will secure PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH, and Make America, and the World, SAFE AGAIN!”

Kellogg, an 80-year-old retired Army lieutenant general who has long been Trump’s top adviser on defense issues, served as national security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence, was chief of staff of the National Security Council and then stepped in as an acting security adviser for Trump after Michael Flynn resigned.

As special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Kellogg will have to navigate an increasingly untenable war between the two nations.

The Biden administration has begun urging Ukraine to quickly increase the size of its military by drafting more troops and revamping its mobilization laws to allow for the conscription of those as young as 18.

The White House has pushed more than $56 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s February 2022 invasion and expects to send billions more before Biden leaves office in less than two months. The U.S. has recently stepped up weapons shipments and has forgiven billions in loans provided to Kyiv.

Trump has criticized the billions the Biden administration has spent in supporting Ukraine and has said he could end the war in 24 hours, comments that appear to suggest he would press Ukraine to surrender territory that Russia now occupies.

As a co-chairman of the American First Policy Institute’s Center for American Security, Kellogg wrote several of the chapters in the group’s policy book. The book, like the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025,” is designed to lay out a Trump national security agenda and avoid the mistakes of 2016 when he entered the White House largely unprepared.

Kellogg in April wrote that “bringing the Russia-Ukraine war to a close will require strong, America First leadership to deliver a peace deal and immediately end the hostilities between the two warring parties.”

Trump's proposed national security adviser, U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz of Florida, tweeted Wednesday that “Keith has dedicated his life to defending our great country and is committed to bringing the war in Ukraine to a peaceful resolution.”

Kellogg featured in multiple Trump investigations dating to his first term. He was among the administration officials who listened in on the July 2019 call between Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in which Trump prodded his Ukrainian counterpart to pursue investigations into the Bidens.

The call, which Kellogg would later say did not raise any concerns on his end, was at the center of the first of two House impeachment cases against Trump, who was acquitted by the Senate both times.

On Jan. 6, 2021, hours before pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, Kellogg, who was then Pence’s national security adviser, listened in on a heated call in which Trump told his vice president to object or delay the certification in Congress of President Joe Biden ’s victory.

He later told House investigators that he recalled Trump saying to Pence words to the effect of: “You’re not tough enough to make the call.”

Baldor reported from Washington. AP writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.

FILE - Ret. Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg speaks to reporters at Trump Tower, Nov. 15, 2016, in New York. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks won her reelection bid Wednesday after a recount confirmed her lead, helping her party pad its thin majority in the U.S. House and retain control of all four of Iowa’s congressional seats.

Miller-Meeks said in a post on the social platform X that she was “deeply honored” after she defeated Democrat Christina Bohannan in a rematch of 2022, when Miller-Meeks won by 7 percentage points. The margin this year was much tighter — Miller-Meeks' lead over Bohannan was less than a percentage point, or fewer than 1,000 votes.

“I am now looking forward to getting back to work in Washington to lower prices at the gas pump, grocery store and on prescription drugs, secure the border and help farmers," said Miller-Meeks, who represents the 1st District, which includes the eastern part of the state and a swath of south-central Iowa, including Johnson County, home to University of Iowa in Iowa City.

Miller-Meeks earned a first term in Congress representing Iowa’s 2nd District when she defeated Democrat Rita Hart by just six votes in 2020.

The Associated Press called this year's race at 4:02 p.m. ET on Wednesday. Miller-Meeks had declared victory earlier, but the AP had not yet called the race because the margin was close enough that it could prompt a recount.

Bohannan's campaign on Nov. 14 requested a recount, as any candidate is allowed to do, saying in a statement that the recount will make certain “that every voter is heard.” She congratulated Miller-Meeks in a message on X after the vote count was completed.

“Although this is not the result we wanted, I am so proud of our campaign,” she wrote. “We exceeded all expectations and turned a district that many pundits thought was unwinnable into one of the very closest races in the country.”

The request was made for a recount in each of the district’s 20 counties. Because the margin was less than a percentage point, the state — not the candidate — pays for the costs associated with the recount.

Miller-Meeks’ campaign accused Bohannan and other Democrats of being “election deniers," and Republicans have said Bohannan is wasting taxpayer dollars.

“This is a delaying tactic to thwart the will of the people,” the Miller-Meeks campaign said in a Nov. 14 statement. “A recount won’t meaningfully change the outcome of this race as the congresswoman’s lead is mathematically impossible to overcome.”

Republican incumbents held onto Iowa’s three other congressional seats, maintaining GOP control over the entirety of Iowa’s congressional delegation. The sweep in 2022 represented the first time in three decades that Iowa had an all-Republican delegation, emblematic of the sharp rightward shift in the state not long after former President Barack Obama carried Iowa in 2008 and again in 2012.

Obama won with solid support from the eastern counties along the Mississippi River that have mostly backed Trump since and bolster Miller-Meeks' in her district as well.

Two competitive congressional races in Iowa this year — the 1st and 3rd Districts — brought millions of dollars in paid advertising to the state from national campaign arms for House Republican and Democrats.

Zach Nunn fought off the challenge from Democrat Lanon Baccam in the 3rd District, which includes much of the Des Moines metro area.

Republican incumbents Ashley Hinson in the 2nd District and Randy Feenstra in the 4th District won decisively. Hinson defeated Democrat Sarah Corkery. Feenstra defeated Democrat Ryan Melton.

FILE - Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, speaks with local farmers on the set of the Barn Talk podcast on the Whisler family farm near Washington, Iowa, Nov. 1, 2024. (Nick Rohlman/The Gazette via AP FILE)