WTF Happened With Trump’s Meeting With Brazilian President?

Donald Trump and Lula were supposed to have a public meeting. Instead, we got three hours of radio silence.

Donald Trump was scheduled to meet Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva—usually referred to as Lula—at 11:15 a.m. Thursday in front of the press.

That did not happen, and for three hours, media members stood around wondering where the hell the two leaders of the largest countries in the Western Hemisphere were.

At 2 p.m., NewsNation reported that Lula had left the White House after meeting with Trump for about two hours. “This was a meeting that was supposed to be opened up,” host Nichole Berlie said. “But that did not happen.... We’ll have to see what the White House says.”

NewsNation reporter Kellie Meyer, stationed outside the White House, said it may have been Lula who was responsible for the secrecy.

“The president of Brazil said he wanted to wait until after the two met to then meet with the press in front of the cameras,” Meyer said. “They had lunch, and now we learn that he is leaving. He will speak to the press at the embassy, but he won’t be doing it here alongside President Trump. We do know that the two didn’t quite see eye to eye coming into this meeting, so maybe it is no surprise that they may not be going in front of the cameras.”

Lula is a leftist, and he and Trump have had an unsurprisingly contentious relationship over the years. Trump has repeatedly expressed support for Jair Bolsonaro, the right-wing former Brazilian president who was convicted of planning a coup in order to remain in power.

In July 2025, Trump imposed 50 percent tariffs on Brazil in order to pressure Lula’s administration to drop the charges against Bolsonaro. Lula stuck to his guns, however, and Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years in prison in September. The Supreme Court deemed American tariffs against Brazil (and everywhere else, for that matter) unconstitutional in February.

Shortly after Trump implemented the tariffs, Lula decried the weakening American democracy during his address to the U.N. General Assembly.

The drama’s not over, though: Bolsonaro’s son Flavio is running for president this year, and will look to free his fascistic father if he wins. Lula is also running for a second term, despite being 80 years old.

While Trump and his team are often late to their scheduled White House events, having the meeting behind closed doors after telling the press it would be open is significantly stranger.

After an afternoon of silence, Trump released a vague and surprisingly short statement on Truth Social at 2:22 p.m.: “Just concluded my meeting with Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the very dynamic President of Brazil. We discussed many topics, including Trade and, specifically, Tariffs. The meeting went very well. Our Representatives are scheduled to get together to discuss certain key elements. Additional meetings will be scheduled over the coming months, as necessary.”

Earlier reports suggested the meeting would be focused on organized crime groups in Latin America. Speaking to reporters in Portuguese at the Brazilian Embassy, Lula said the two men had discussed organized crime, critical minerals, and trade. Lula also said he jokingly told Trump not to reject the visas of any of Brazil’s soccer players before this summer’s World Cup, and that Trump laughed.

Trump Will Revoke Passports for Parents Who Owe Child Support

The State Department plans to revoke the passports of Americans who owe child support. Meanwhile, Republicans are pushing for strict laws where a passport would be necessary.

The State Department plans to start revoking U.S. passports from anyone who owes more than $100,000 in child support, as Republicans nationwide push stringent voter ID laws.

The Associated Press reports that the revocations could begin as early as Friday and would apply to about 2,700 passport holders. The AP first reported about the plan in February. The department plans to expand it in the future to those who owe as little as $2,500 in child support payments. That would increase the number of people who would lose their passports by thousands.

It’s an expansion of an existing policy that applies only to people who renew their passports. Now, the Department of Health and Human Services will notify the State Department of all past-due child support payments of more than $2,500, and anyone in that group will have their passports revoked.

“We are expanding a commonsense practice that has been proven effective at getting those who owe child support to pay their debt,” Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Mora Namdar told the AP. “Once these parents resolve their debts, they can once again enjoy the privilege of a U.S. passport.”

Anyone who loses their passport under the program will be notified that they can’t travel overseas, and would have to apply for a new passport once their debt is settled. Any American overseas when their passport is revoked will have to get an emergency travel document from a U.S. embassy or consulate.

In February, after the AP first reported on the planned program, the State Department said it had “seen data that hundreds of parents took action and resolved their arrears with state authorities since news broke that the State Department would start proactively revoking passports.”

“While we can’t confirm the causation in all of those cases, we are taking this action precisely to impel these parents to do the right thing by their children and by U.S. law,” the department said.

The program may bring benefits to families who haven’t received child support, but has the added dimension of aiding President Trump’s proposed voter ID law, the Save Act. That bill would require more stringent forms of identification, such as passports and birth certificates, at the polls. Currently, the Save Act is stalled in Congress, but if it........

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