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US to Appoint Turkey Ambassador Thomas Barrack as Special Envoy for Syria, Sources Say
Thomas Barrack, a billionaire friend of Donald Trump who chaired the former president’s inaugural fund, exits following a not guilty verdict at the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse in Brooklyn, New York, US, Nov. 4, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
The United States will appoint President Donald Trump’s longtime adviser and current US ambassador to Turkey, Thomas Barrack, as a special envoy for Syria, a person with direct knowledge of the matter and a diplomat in Turkey said.
The decision follows Trump’s landmark announcement last week that US sanctions on Syria would be lifted. It also suggests US acknowledgement that Turkey has emerged with key regional influence on Damascus since Bashar al-Assad’s ouster by rebels in December, which ended 14 years of civil war.
Trump met with Syria‘s interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia on May 14 and urged him to normalize ties with longtime foe Israel following his surprise sanctions announcement.
“There is no announcement at this time,” a US State Department spokesperson said when asked for comment about Barrack‘s Syria role.
Barrack, a private equity executive who has long advised Trump and chaired his inaugural presidential committee in 2016, is expected to continue as US envoy to Turkey, the sources said.
Speaking to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he was allowing Turkish embassy staff, including Barrack, to work with local officials in Syria to understand what aid they need.
“We want to help that government succeed, because the alternative is full-scale civil war and chaos, which would, of course, destabilize the entire region,” Rubio said.
A US-Turkish meeting focused on Syria was also held in Washington on Tuesday, which Barrack attended according to Turkey‘s foreign ministry, where sanctions relief and efforts to counter terrorism were discussed.
Removing US sanctions would clear the way for greater engagement by humanitarian organizations working in Syria, and ease foreign investment and trade as the country tries to rebuild.
Barrack has been busy since his arrival in Ankara earlier this month, dining with Turkey‘s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on his second evening in the capital, according to people familiar with the event.
He joined Rubio for several high-profile meetings last week, including one with Syrian Foreign Minister Assad al-Shibani in Antalya hosted by Fidan.
He and Rubio also met with Turkish and Ukrainian government ministers ahead of the latter’s talks with Russian officials, the first direct ceasefire discussions in three years between the warring sides.
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Trump Administration to Release Over $5 Billion School Funding That It Withheld
US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and President Donald Trump, in the East Room at the White House in Washington, DC, US, March 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
President Donald Trump’s administration will release more than $5 billion in previously approved funding for K-12 school programs that it froze over three weeks ago under a review, which had led to bipartisan condemnation.
“(The White House Office of Management and Budget) has completed its review … and has directed the Department to release all formula funds,” Madi Biedermann, deputy assistant secretary for communications at the U.S. Education Department, said in a statement, adding funds will be dispersed to states next week.
Further details on the review and what it found were not shared.
A senior administration official said “guardrails” would be in place for the amount being released, without giving details.
Early in July, the Trump administration said it would not release funding previously appropriated by Congress for schools and that an initial review found signs the money was misused to subsidize what it alleged was “a radical leftwing agenda.”
States say $6.8 billion in total was affected by the freeze. Last week, $1.3 billion was released.
After the freeze, a coalition of mostly Democratic-led states sued to challenge the move, and 10 Republican US senators wrote to the Republican Trump administration to reverse its decision.
The frozen money covered funding for education of migrant farm workers and their children; recruitment and training of teachers; English proficiency learning; academic enrichment and after-school and summer programs.
The Trump administration has threatened schools and colleges with withholding federal funds over issues like climate initiatives, transgender policies, pro-Palestinian protests against U.S. ally Israel’s war in Gaza and diversity, equity and inclusion practices.
Republican US lawmakers welcomed the move on Friday, while Democratic lawmakers said there was no need to disrupt funding in the first place.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon separately said she was satisfied with what was found in the review and released the money, adding she did not think there would be future freezes.
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Israel to Resume Airdrop Aid to Gaza on Saturday, Military Says
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
Israel will resume airdrop aid to Gaza on Saturday night, the Israeli military said, a few days after more than 100 aid agencies warned that mass starvation was spreading across the enclave.
“The airdrops will include seven pallets of aid containing flour, sugar, and canned food to be provided by international organizations,” the military added in a statement.
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Trump Says Hamas ‘Didn’t Want to Make a Deal,’ Now Likely to Get ‘Hunted Down’
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.
i24 News – US President Donald Trump on Friday said the Palestinian jihadists of Hamas did not want to make a deal on a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza.
“Now we’re down to the final hostages, and they know what happens after you get the final hostages. And basically because of that, they really didn’t want to make a deal,” Trump said.
The comments followed statements by Middle East peace envoy Steve Witkoff and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the effect that Israel was now considering “alternative” options to achieve its goals of bringing its hostages home from Gaza and ending the terror rule of Hamas in the coastal enclave.
Trump added he believed Hamas leaders would now be “hunted down.”
On Thursday, Witkoff said the Trump administration had decided to bring its negotiating team home for consultations following Hamas’s latest proposal. Witkoff said overnight that Hamas was to blame for the impasse, with Netanyahu concurring.
Trump also dismissed the significance of French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement that Paris would become the first major Western power to recognize an independent Palestinian state.
Macron’s comments, “didn’t carry any weight,” the US leader said.
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