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Trump says he’ll meet with Zelenskyy at Trump Tower Friday morning
Former President Donald Trump said he’ll meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Trump Tower on Friday morning, following doubt over whether the two would meet while Zelenskyy is visiting the U.S.
Trump has been highly critical of funding to Ukraine and at times, Zelenskyy — an uneasy relationship that was made even less comfortable after the Ukrainian president announced a visit to an ammunition plant in battleground state Pennsylvania. House Speaker Mike Johnson called on Zelenskyy to fire his ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markarova, over the Pennsylvania trip and its lack of Republicans present.
Zelenskyy has in turn been critical of Trump, saying the former U.S. president “doesn’t really know how to stop the war.” Trump frequently says Russia “would have never attacked Ukraine” if he was president.
Speaking to reporters in New York City on Thursday, Trump announced he’ll met with Zelenskyy at Trump Tower at 9:45 a.m. ET.
“As you know, President Zelenskyy has asked to meet with me and I will be meeting with him tomorrow around 9:45 in Trump Tower,” Trump told reporters.
Earlier Thursday, Trump posted to his social media platform, Truth Social, a message purportedly from Zelenskyy requesting a face-to-face meeting with Trump while Zelenskyy would already be in New York.
Trump’s announcement that he would meet with Zelenskyy came shortly after that post.
Zelenskyy was in Washington on Thursday for meetings with top members of Congress, as well as President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
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A teacher and student killed in a shooting earlier this week at a school in Madison, Wisconsin, were identified Wednesday by authorities.
The Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office said in a news release provided to CBS News that 42-year-old Erin West and 14-year-old Rubi Vergara were fatally shot Monday morning at Abundant Life Christian School.
Preliminary examinations determined the two died of “homicidal firearm related trauma.” Both were pronounced dead at the scene, the medical examiner said.
An online obituary on a local funeral site stated Vergara was a freshman who leaves behind her parents, one brother, and a large extended family. It described her as “an avid reader” who “loved art, singing and playing keyboard in the family worship band.”
West’s exact position with the school was unclear.
The medical examiner also confirmed that a preliminary autopsy found that the suspected shooter, 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow — a student at the same school — was pronounced dead at a local hospital Monday of “firearm related trauma.” Madison Chief of Police Shon F. Barnes had previously told reporters that Rupnow was pronounced dead while being transported to a hospital.
Police had also previously stated that she was believed to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The shooting at the private Christian K-12 school was reported just before 11 a.m. Monday. In addition to the two people killed and the shooter, six others were wounded.
Police said the shooting occurred in a classroom where a study hall was taking place involving students from several grades.
A handgun was recovered after the shooting, Barnes said, but it was unclear where the gun came from or how many shots were fired. A law enforcement source said the weapon used in the shooting appears to have been a 9 mm pistol.
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