Amid an ongoing saga of US-Russian relations, President Trump is due to meet with Vladimir Putin in the next couple days. He has set a deadline of August 10 for Russia to agree to a peace deal with Ukraine. Houston Public Media politics and government reporter Andrew Schneider joins the show to discuss what he calls “a propaganda effort” from the White House as it prepares for the meeting.
In addition, KPMG Chief Economist Diane Swonk joins the panel to talk about the growing economic impact of tariffs on US exports. And GOP Rep. Doug LaMalfa got an earful from town hall attendees who questioned him about his vote for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the Epstein files and how the Trump administration’s tariffs are hurting Californian farmers.
Since President Kennedy held his first press conference on January 25, 1955, the practice has become an important presidential tool for conveying information to the public. Press conferences provide a direct forum for the public to see what their president knows and how he feels about the issues they care about.
The table below shows how each president has used the medium of the televised news conference to communicate with the public. Press conferences are split into the categories of Solo (Regular or Special), Prime-Time, and Joint with a foreign leader. The number of conferences that were filmed live in prime time began with the Kennedy Administration and was irregular after Nixon.
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