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Americanswers… on 5 Live! What’s really ...

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About this episode

Donald Trump has posted on social media that ‘something good just may be happening’ when it comes to negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine, after overnight talks in Geneva.

European leaders criticised a 28-point US peace plan when it emerged last week, saying it was too favourable to Russia. A new plan has been promised, but President Zelensky has played down Trump’s hopes of progress.

Sarah, Anthony and Marianna join Matt Chorley on 5 Live to answer your questions. We look at who’s actually involved in putting the plan together? And what does Donald Trump stand to gain from the proposed deal?

Plus, the MAGA icon and Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene says she will resign from Congress following her bitter feud with the president last week. Could we start to see power shifts within the MAGA movement following her departure? And why did Trump say the behaviour of some Democrats was “punishable by death”?

Plus, what happened when the mayor-elect of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, met Donald Trump in the White House on Friday? Clips of the meeting quickly went viral, with users commenting on the warmth between the two leaders. Is this the start of a fruitful friendship between Trump and Mamdani - or is it all just for show?

HOSTS:

- Sarah Smith, North America Editor - Anthony Zurcher, North America correspondent - Marianna Spring, Social Media Investigations correspondent

GET IN TOUCH:

- Join our online community: https://discord.gg/qSrxqNcmRB - Send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 9480 - Email Americast@bbc.co.uk - Or use #Americast

This episode was made by Rufus Gray with Grace Reeve. The technical producer was Dafydd Evans. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

If you want to be notified every time we publish a new episode, please subscribe to us on BBC Sounds by hitting the subscribe button on the app. You can now listen to Americast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Americast”. It works on most smart speakers. US Election Unspun: Sign up for Anthony’s BBC newsletter: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68093155 Americast is part of the BBC News Podcasts family of podcasts. The team that makes Americast also makes lots of other podcasts, including Newscast and Ukrainecast. If you enjoy Americast (and if you're reading this then you hopefully do), then we think that you will enjoy some of our other pods too. See links below.

Newscast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/p05299nl Ukrainecast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0bqztzm Radical: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0gg4k6r The Global Story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/w13xtvsd

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