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SOFREP Evening Brief: Trump To Call Putin and Zelensky Monday To Discuss Peace, Audio Recording Highlights Biden’s Memory Lapses, Possible F-22 Upgrades, Israel Launches New Offensive in Gaza

BY Guy D. McCardle

As President Trump readies high-stakes calls to end the Ukraine war, confronts NATO holdouts, proposes bold new fighter jet designs, and watches Israel escalate its Gaza offensive, former President Biden faces renewed scrutiny over his cognitive fitness following the release of damning audio from his classified docs probe.

F-55 concept. Image Credit: Northrop Grumman

President Donald Trump is set to make a series of important phone calls on Monday aimed at putting an end to the war in Ukraine. He plans to speak first with Russian President Vladimir Putin at 10 a.m. Eastern Time, followed by a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and later with NATO leaders. Trump says the main goal of these talks is to “stop the bloodbath,” referring to the thousands of soldiers dying on both sides every week. He also plans to touch on trade matters during his conversations.

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Trump wants to get a ceasefire in place and believes the only way forward is through direct, personal diplomacy. He’s made it clear that if any side stands in the way of a peace deal, they could face sanctions—whether it’s Russia, Ukraine, or even NATO members dragging their feet. If Putin doesn’t show a willingness to negotiate, Trump hinted at the possibility of ramping up sanctions on Moscow.

These calls come just days after Russian and Ukrainian representatives met in Turkey. That meeting led to a prisoner exchange but failed to produce any real breakthrough on ending the fighting. Notably, Putin didn’t attend those talks himself, instead sending lower-level officials, while Zelensky said he wouldn’t show unless Putin did.

Trump sees his role as essential to breaking the current deadlock. He believes that without him personally stepping in, the situation will just continue to spiral. Along with his talks with Putin and Zelensky, Trump will also be coordinating with NATO allies to make sure everyone is on the same page when it comes to the next steps for peace.

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In short, Trump is taking the lead on a new diplomatic push to end a war he calls “a war that should have never happened,” and he’s betting that a few tough phone calls can do what years of weak backroom negotiations haven’t.

 

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The Telltale Biden Recordings

Recently released audio recordings of President Joe Biden’s 2023 interviews with special counsel Robert Hur are raising fresh questions about the former president’s memory and overall cognitive sharpness. In these tapes, Biden struggles to recall major personal and political milestones—like when his son Beau passed away, when he finished his term as vice president, and even when Donald Trump was elected. The recordings include long pauses, stumbling speech, and moments where aides had to step in and help fill in the blanks.

While the transcripts of these interviews were already public, hearing the audio adds another layer of clarity. It gives weight to Hur’s earlier description of Biden as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” That assessment played a major role in Hur’s decision not to bring charges over Biden’s handling of classified documents. Still, the audio makes it tougher for the White House to brush these concerns aside, especially since officials had previously downplayed any issues with Biden’s memory.

The Biden administration tried to keep the tapes under wraps by invoking executive privilege, but now that they’re out, they’ve only amplified public doubts. Critics are pointing to the recordings as confirmation of what they’ve been saying for months: Biden’s mental decline became increasingly harder to ignore and eventually forced him out of politics.

 

Trump Proposes New F-55 Warplane

President Donald Trump is pushing for some bold new moves in U.S. fighter jet development. First up is a plan to modernize the F-22 Raptor into what he’s calling the “F-22 Super.” While the exact upgrades haven’t been made public yet, the idea is to keep the Raptor competitive as newer aircraft come online. Lockheed Martin, the original maker of the F-22, is fully on board and sees value in keeping the line alive and modernized.

Trump is also talking about something even more ambitious—a brand new fighter jet called the F-55. This would be more than a slightly better version of the F-35. It would be a twin-engine aircraft based on the F-35 platform, with serious upgrades across the board. Trump made it clear he’s not a fan of single-engine fighters, citing safety and performance reasons. The F-55 would address that by packing two engines, which theoretically offers more reliability and power.

But there’s a catch. Turning the F-35 into a twin-engine fighter isn’t just a matter of slapping on another motor. Experts say this would be a massive redesign—basically creating an entirely new plane from the ground up. It would likely cost tens of billions of dollars and take years to develop. So far, the Pentagon hasn’t confirmed anything, and no formal program has been started.

All of this comes at a time when Boeing is already working on the F-47, a next-gen air superiority fighter. The F-55, if it ever gets off the ground, would be going head-to-head with that aircraft for funding and future missions. Bottom line: the F-22 Super is a serious proposal to upgrade what we already have, while the F-55 is more of a moonshot. Both ideas sound exciting, but for now, they’re just concepts with a long way to go before becoming reality.

 

Israel Launches Yet Another Military Offensive on Gaza

Israel has just kicked off a major new military offensive in Gaza called Operation Gideon Chariots. The mission has two main goals: pressure Hamas to release the remaining hostages and wipe out the group’s presence in Gaza once and for all. This operation launched shortly after President Donald Trump wrapped up his trip to the Middle East—a trip that didn’t produce any breakthrough on a ceasefire or improve access for humanitarian aid.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have ramped up their airstrikes and boots-on-the-ground activity in a big way. In just 24 hours, they hit more than 150 Hamas targets and pushed into areas like Deir al-Balah, which hadn’t seen much ground fighting before. Israeli officials say this campaign won’t stop until their objectives are fully met—no halfway measures this time.

But the cost is high. Since the operation escalated on Thursday, over 300 Palestinians have been reported killed, and the death toll continues to climb by the day. All this is happening while Gaza is facing a dire humanitarian crisis. Food supplies are nearly nonexistent, and aid is barely trickling in due to the ongoing blockade. Relief groups are warning that conditions for civilians are rapidly going from bad to catastrophic.

Meanwhile, there are still backchannel negotiations happening in Qatar. Israel and Hamas are involved in indirect talks, supposedly focused on a possible truce and hostage exchange. But there’s a major roadblock—Hamas is demanding a complete Israeli withdrawal and an end to the war, and Israel isn’t budging on that.

Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz have made it clear: they’re not backing down. They say the operation will continue with “great force” until the hostages are freed and Hamas is dismantled, even as pressure builds from the international community to halt the fighting and ease the humanitarian crisis. For now, it looks like the guns will keep firing and the suffering will continue, with no clear end in sight.

 

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