LANSING, Mich. (AP) — President Donald Trump will mark his first 100 days in office next week with a rally in Michigan, his first since returning to the White House earlier this year.
Trump will visit Macomb County on Tuesday, the White House press secretary said. The region is just north of Detroit, known as an automotive hub.
“President Trump is excited to return to the great state of Michigan next Tuesday, where he will rally in Macomb County to celebrate the FIRST 100 DAYS!” Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday on social media.
The rally will take place on Trump’s 100th day in office — a traditional early milestone in which a president's progress is measured against campaign promises. Michigan was one of the key battleground states Trump flipped last year from Democrats on his path back to the White House.
Trump has not traveled much since taking office outside of personal weekend trips. The Republican president's only other official trip in his second term was during the first week, when he visited disaster zones in North Carolina and California and held an event in Las Vegas to promote his plan to eliminate taxes on tips.
But later this week, Trump will travel to Pope Francis' funeral in Rome, the first foreign trip in his second term.
Trump’s upcoming trip to Michigan follows a series of meetings and phone calls with the state’s high-profile Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer. Once a sharp critic of Trump, Whitmer has said that she hopes to find common ground with the president in his second term.
A key area of potential cooperation that Whitmer has pointed to is Selfridge Air National Guard Base, long a concern for Whitmer and Michigan lawmakers amid uncertainty over its future as the A-10 aircraft stationed there are phased out. The base is located in Macomb County, where he is set to appear Tuesday.
Trump mentioned Selfridge during an April 9 executive order signing in the Oval Office, an event that Whitmer was present for, saying he hoped to keep the base “open, strong, thriving.”
“I think we’re going to be successful, Governor. I think we’ll be very successful there,” Trump said about Selfridge.
Whitmer — whom Trump praised during his remarks — later said she was unexpectedly brought into the Oval Office during her visit. A photo captured her trying to shield her face from cameras with a folder.
Asked Wednesday if Whitmer would appear with the president in Michigan, a spokesperson for the governor said they “don't have anything to share at this time."
Whitmer and other Michigan officials have long advocated for a new fighter mission to replace the outgoing A-10 squadron at Selfridge.
In a 2023 letter sent during President Joe Biden’s administration, Whitmer urged the secretary of the Air Force to act, writing, “I repeat and reiterate what I stated in November and many times before over the past year: a fighter mission at Selfridge to recapitalize the A10s is the right path forward for the State of Michigan, the Air Force, and the nation."
President Donald Trump arrives at a swearing in ceremony for Dr. Mehmet Oz to be Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, April 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) — Russia's delegation arrived in Istanbul for peace talks with Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday, and a Ukrainian official said a delegation including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was on its way the the Turkish capital Ankara.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was not part of the delegation from Moscow, however, according to a list released by the Kremlin Wednesday night, prompting criticism from Western officials that the Kremlin isn't serious about the peace effort.
Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to Putin, will lead the Russian delegation that will also include three other senior officials, the Kremlin said. Putin also appointed four lower-level officials as “experts” for the talks.
Earlier this week, Zelenskyy challenged the Russian leader to meet in person in Turkey. Zelenskyy said he would travel to Ankara to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and wait for Putin.
A Ukrainian delegation including Zelenskyy was due to arrive in Ankara on Thursday, a senior Ukrainian official familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.
Also in the delegation are Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, and the head of the Ukrainian presidential office Andriy Yermak, the official said.
He spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons as the team had not yet arrived in Ankara.
“Now, after three years of immense suffering, there is finally a window of opportunity," Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said at a NATO meeting taking place separately in Turkey. "The talks in Istanbul hopefully may open a new chapter.”
But Zelenskyy will sit at the table only with Putin, Ukraine’s presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, said.
Details about whether, when and where the Ukrainian delegation might meet their Russian counterparts are still unclear but is expected to be clarified after Zelenskyy and Erdogan meet, according to a Ukrainian official who requested anonymity to speak openly about the day’s plan.
Tass said that the talks were to take place in a presidential office on the Bosporus.
Putin on Wednesday evening held a meeting with senior government officials and members of the delegation in preparation for the talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, General Staff chief Valery Gerasimov, and National Security Council secretary Sergei Shoigu attended the meeting, among others.
Kyiv and its European allies had urged the Kremlin to agree to a full, unconditional 30-day ceasefire as a first step toward peace. Putin effectively rejected the proposal, offering direct talks between Russia and Ukraine instead.
The Kremlin billed Thursday’s talks as a “restart” of peace negotiations that were held in Istanbul in the first weeks of the war in 2022 but quickly fell apart. Moscow accused Ukraine and the West of wanting to continue fighting, while Kyiv said Russia’s demands amounted to an ultimatum rather than something both sides could agree on.
Russia's delegation then was also headed by Vladimir Medinsky.
Putin's proposal came after more than three months of diplomacy kickstarted by U.S. President Donald Trump, who promised during his campaign to end the devastating war swiftly. The Trump administration in recent weeks indicated that it might walk away from the peace effort if there was no tangible progress soon.
Trump had pressed for Putin and Zelenskyy to meet in Istanbul but said Thursday he wasn't surprised that Putin was a no-show. He brushed off Putin’s decision to not take part in the talks.
“I didn’t think it was possible for Putin to go if I’m not there,” Trump said during a roundtable in Doha, Qatar
The U.S. and Western European leaders have threatened Russia with further sanctions if there is no progress in halting the fighting.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha met with U.S. State Secretary Marco Rubio and Senator Lindsey Graham in the Turkish city of Antalya late Wednesday night. Antalya on Thursday is hosting NATO foreign ministers to discuss new defense investment goals as the U.S. shifts its focus to security challenges away from Europe.
Sybiha reaffirmed Ukraine’s support for Trump’s mediation efforts and thanked the U.S. for its continued involvement, urging Moscow to “reciprocate Ukraine’s constructive steps” toward peace. "So far, it has not,” Sybiha said.
On Thursday morning, Sybiha also met with other European foreign ministers, including his French counterpart Jean-Noël Barrot, who in a post on X reiterated the call for a ceasefire and the threat of “massive sanctions” if Russia doesn't comply.
“We’re in a very difficult spot right now, and we hope that we can find the steps forward that provide for the end of this war in a negotiated way and the prevention of any war in the future," Rubio said Thursday.
Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen, also in Antalya for the NATO talks, accused Moscow of not being willing to to engage in a serious peace process.
“We have one chair empty, which is the chair of Vladimir Putin. So now I guess the entire world has realized that there’s only one party not willing to engage in serious peace negotiations, and that certainly is Russia," Valtonen said.
Barrot echoed her sentiment: “In front of Ukrainians there is an empty chair, one that should have been occupied by Vladimir Putin,” he said. “Vladimir Putin is dragging his feet and in all evidence does not want to enter into these peace discussions.”
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Associated Press writers Lorne Cook in Brussels; Illia Novikov and Samya Kullab in Kyiv, Ukraine; Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia; Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey; Matthew Lee in Antalya, Turkey contributed to this report.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting on forthcoming Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul, in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting on forthcoming Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul, in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
