U.S. envoys met with Russian President Vladimir Putin for over three hours to discuss a potential deal aimed at ending the nearly four-year war in Ukraine. Trump confidants Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, along with newly-appointed Board of Peace senior advisor Josh Greunbaum, met with Putin at midnight Thursday as the World Economic Forum in Davos comes to a close. A video clip shared by the Kremlin on Telegram showed Putin, joined by his foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, and special envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, shaking hands with the envoys prior to the meeting. The group discussed the 20-point peace plan to end the Russian invasion, which has been held up due to key disagreements on Russian demands for land in Eastern Ukraine, much of which Ukraine has successfully defended at this point in the war. The outcome of the meeting was unclear in the immediate aftermath of the talks, which were held shortly after President Trump said a deal was “reasonably close” and Witkoff said a deal hinged on one last issue, according to Reuters. Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hours earlier at Davos, describing the conversation as “good” to reporters aboard Air Force One. “We’re discussing things that have been discussed for six or seven months, and he [Zelensky] came, and he said he wants to make a deal because I wasn’t necessarily sure. I think he should want to make a deal,” Trump said. “President Putin would like to make a deal. I think that President Zelensky would like to make a deal.” .@POTUS on his meeting with President Zelensky in Davos: “We’re discussing things that have been discussed for six or seven months and he came and he said he wants to make a deal because I wasn’t necessarily sure. I think he should want to make a deal.” pic.twitter.com/89LxjlmJTs — Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 23, 2026 Zelensky blasted European leaders during his Davos speech on Thursday for what he called their inaction against Putin. “Europe loves to discuss the future, but avoids taking action today,” Zelensky said. “Where is the line of leaders who are ready to act?”

Chinese tech giant ByteDance has reached a deal over ownership of TikTok for the social media platform to stay active in the United States. TikTok announced the deal on Thursday evening after a six-year campaign to ban the app under Chinese ownership from the United States. Congress passed legislation over a year ago that could have spelled the end of TikTok in the United States, but President Donald Trump postponed the ban from going into effect beyond the bill’s stated grace period to reach a deal. Since 2019, a conglomeration of people and entities have sought legal action against TikTok, while a bipartisan group of lawmakers has sought an outright ban over concerns that the platform was being used by China to steal from and spy on Americans. The effort to ban TikTok was resisted by social media influencers who have used the platform to further their careers, as well as Trump, who prioritized negotiating with ByteDance to sell off the platform to allow it to continue to operate in the United States. Under the terms of the deal, a new U.S. version of the app will be created, which will be 80% owned by international investors. TikTok’s Thursday statement listed the new group of international owners. The largest owners outside of ByteDance itself are the software giant Oracle, the Emirati investment firm MGX, and U.S.-based investment firm Silver Lake. ByteDance will retain 19.9% ownership of the U.S. version of the platform while the other big three will each have 15%. “Completing the full consortium of investors are: Dell Family Office, the investment firm of Michael Dell, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies; Vastmere Strategic Investments, LLC, an affiliate of Susquehanna International Group, LLP; Alpha Wave Partners; Revolution; Merritt Way, LLC controlled and managed by partners of Dragoneer; Via Nova, an affiliate of General Atlantic; Virgo LI, Inc., investment arm of a foundation established by Yuri and Julia Milner in support of science; and NJJ Capital, the family office of Xavier Niel, a French entrepreneur and pioneer in telecommunications,” the statement from TikTok explained. Oracle will become the manager of all U.S. user data on the platform. “TikTok USDS Joint Venture’s mandate is to secure U.S. user data, apps and the algorithm through comprehensive data privacy and cybersecurity measures. It will safeguard the U.S. content ecosystem through robust trust and safety policies and content moderation while ensuring continuous accountability through transparency reporting and third-party certifications,” the announcement stated.

President Donald Trump said on Thursday that his administration is closely watching Iran for signs that it’s killing protesters, and has sent a “big flotilla” toward the region “just in case.” The president said that he hopes the U.S. fleet is unnecessary. Trump talked about U.S. troop movements regarding Iran while on board Air Force One, with his orders suggesting that tensions between Washington and Tehran are still high amid Iran’s crackdown on anti-government protests. “We’re watching Iran. You know, we have a lot of ships going that direction just in case. We have a big flotilla going in that direction, and we’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters. The president said that he stopped Tehran from following through on hundreds of public executions. “I said, ‘If you hang those people, you’re gonna be hit harder than you’ve ever been hit. It’ll make what we did to your Iran nuclear look like peanuts.’ And an hour before this horrible thing (the executions) was going to take place, they canceled it,” the president said. “But we have an armada. We have a massive fleet heading in that direction. And maybe we won’t have to use it. We’ll see.” .@POTUS: “We’re watching Iran. We have a lot of ships going that direction just in case… We have a massive fleet heading in that direction, and maybe we won’t have to use it. We’ll see.” pic.twitter.com/eL0sRyJb6u — Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 23, 2026 Trump threatened Iran with another attack if the regime used deadly force, as anti-government protests have swept the Middle Eastern country in recent weeks. Tehran has maintained an internet blackout over the entire country for two weeks, as reports suggest that the regime has killed thousands. The U.S.-based Human Rights Activist News Agency says it has confirmed the deaths of over 5,000 people since mass protests erupted in Iran in late December. The human rights group says it is investigating nearly 10,000 more deaths. It says nearly 27,000 people have been arrested by the regime since the protests started. Trump and Iran’s top leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have traded strong words while Washington and Tehran negotiate and threaten each other over the fate of Iranian protesters and a potential U.S. strike. “Anything ever happens [to me], we’re going to blow the whole — the whole country’s going to get blown up,” Trump said on Tuesday in response to the Iranian regime’s threats on his life. Tehran hit back on Wednesday. An Iranian military spokesman, Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi, said: “Trump knows that if any hand of aggression is extended toward our leader, we not only cut that hand but also we will set fire to their world.” Trump ordered strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities last year, which the United States military carried out in cooperation with Israel, effectively ending the 12-Day War that took a significant toll on Iran’s top military leadership and nuclear research.

Vice President JD Vance doesn’t believe there’s a need to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota for the time being, he told The Daily Wire on Thursday. Vance touched down in Minneapolis, meeting with federal immigration officers to assess the chaos on the ground. For weeks following the fatal shooting of an ICE watch activist, left-wing agitators have followed federal agents arresting illegal immigrants across the Twin Cities trying to thwart their actions. “I’ve tried to understand this as well as I possibly could, and my understanding is what invoking the Insurrection Act would allow the federal government to use the military for local law enforcement operations,” he told The Daily Wire’s Mary Margaret Olohan. “Right now, we don’t think that we need that. Now, the president could change his mind, of course, things could get worse, but right now, we think that federal law enforcement officers can do the job of federal law enforcement. Now, what I do worry about … is if the chaos gets worse, if more and more ICE agents start getting assaulted, if other law enforcement officers start getting assaulted, that would be a real problem,” Vance said. In response to the rising tensions, President Donald Trump floated using the Insurrection Act, which would allow him to deploy the military and federalize the National Guard, to stop “professional agitators and insurrectionists” from attacking federal agents. Talk of invoking the Insurrection Act came after a federal agent shot an illegal immigrant who hit the agent with a snow shovel and broom handle as he tried to evade arrest. Last week, Trump said he didn’t “think there’s any reason right now” to use the 1807 law. .@VP tells @MaryMargOlohan that he and @POTUS don’t believe the Insurrection Act is necessary at this point in Minneapolis: “Right now, we don’t think that we need that. Now, the president could change his mind…but right now, we think that federal law enforcement officers… pic.twitter.com/f9sQzudwmc — Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) January 22, 2026 Vance said the onus is on the Minneapolis Police Department, which he said has stand-down orders preventing local officers from assisting federal immigration agents. “But, again, we have so much federal law enforcement resources here right now, we have so many people here that we do not wanna have here. I do not want so many ICE officers in Minneapolis right now. I mean, good lord, it’s really freaking cold outside, but they’re here not even to enforce immigration laws, but to protect the people from the rioters. That’s an absurd state of affairs and we wouldn’t need it if we had a little bit more cooperation from the Minneapolis Police Department,” he said.

The following is an edited transcript excerpt from The Michael Knowles Show. * * * The United States is the big dog and President Trump doesn’t want anyone to forget it. Not the Europeans and not the Canadians, the “snow Mexicans” who live in America’s evil top hat up north. Credit: @CTVNews/YouTube.com I love this moment. Trump does sound a little tired. You can hear it. And honestly, that makes sense. The guy basically pulled an all-nighter, flew straight over to Davos, Switzerland, bouncing from country to country in a nonstop whirlwind. And even then, he still seemed more energetic than most of the other zombies wandering around Davos. I love the slight lethargy in his voice because it makes him sound like Don Corleone: You should be grateful. We never ask anything of you. You come here on the day my daughter is to be married, and you don’t even have the courtesy to call me godfather. You’ll remember I’ve been very good to you. I cannot grant your request. You tell me not to take Greenland? That I cannot do. I love this not just because I’m a descendant of the Mezzogiorno in America, but because it’s reality. This is how the world actually works. Not the fake world of the World Economic Forum, not the fantasy land of the United Nations, not the imaginary liberal international system built on polite lies and hollow pretenses. One of the biggest lies is that every country is basically equal. That we’re all the same. That has never been true. The world has never operated that way. It’s a fiction. A noble lie, but still a lie. WATCH: The Michael Knowles Show Trump is reminding people of the truth. And while people like me might describe him as talking like a mafioso, like Don Corleone, even that’s not quite right. He’s speaking like an emperor. More precisely, he’s speaking like the leader of a great power, which we are. And that’s a good thing because it is reality. Politics works better when you acknowledge reality, even when that reality is uncomfortable. Even when it offends your ideology, whether you’re on the Left or the Right. Especially when it offends your ideology. There are disparities in power between nations. Great nations pursue their interests. The Left hates admitting that. But it’s true. There’s also another reality people don’t like admitting: you can’t have unlimited inequality in a democratic nation and expect stability. The palace is never safe when the cottage is unhappy. That reality offends libertarians and free-market ideologues on the Right, but it’s still reality. And if you don’t deal with reality, you don’t flourish. You get revolutions. You get revolts. You get collapse. And reality doesn’t care whether you like it or not.