President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, got closer to an official confirmation Tuesday, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio announces a new partnership with Russia.

Patel moves closer to Senate confirmation in new vote

The U.S. Senate took another procedural vote on one of President Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees Tuesday. By a narrow margin, lawmakers moved forward with the nomination of Kash Patel to lead the FBI.

That sets up a potential final floor vote on Patel’s confirmation later this week.

It was not immediately clear when the final confirmation vote will occur, but so far even nominees once seen as having uncertain prospects — including new Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence — have been able to marshal sufficient support from Republicans eager to fall in line with Trump's agenda.

Patel has raised alarm for his lack of management experience compared to other FBI directors and because of a catalog of past statements, which include calling investigators who scrutinized Trump “government gangsters” and describing at least some defendants charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S Capitol as “political prisoners."

At his confirmation hearing last month, Patel said Democrats were taking some of his comments out of context or misunderstanding the broader point that he was trying to make, such as when he proposed shutting down the FBI headquarters in Washington and turning it into a museum for the so-called "deep state." And Patel denied the idea that a list in his book of government officials, who he said were part of a "deep state,” amounted to an “enemies list,” calling that a “total mischaracterization.”

Russia, U.S. agree to work toward improving ties, ending Ukraine war in landmark talks

Russia and the U.S. agreed Tuesday to start working toward ending the war in Ukraine and improving their diplomatic and economic ties, the two countries' top diplomats said after talks that reflected an extraordinary about-face in U.S. foreign policy under President Donald Trump.

In an interview with The Associated Press after the meeting, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the two sides agreed broadly to pursue three goals: to restore staffing at their respective embassies in Washington and Moscow, to create a high-level team to support Ukraine peace talks and to explore closer relations and economic cooperation.

He stressed, however, that the talks — which were attended by his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, and other senior Russian and U.S. officials — marked the beginning of a conversation, and more work needs to be done.

Lavrov echoed Rubio's remarks and told reporters that "the conversation was very useful."

"We not only listened, but also heard each other," he said.

Trump's national security adviser, Michael Waltz, and special Mideast envoy Steven Witkoff joined Rubio at the table, along with Lavrov and Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov.

No Ukrainian officials were present at the meeting, which came as the beleaguered country is slowly but steadily losing ground against more numerous Russian troops in a grinding war that began nearly three years ago.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country would not accept any outcome from the talks since Kyiv didn't take part, and he postponed his own trip to the kingdom scheduled for Wednesday.

European allies have also expressed concerns that they are being sidelined.

Bradenton business says Trump’s tariffs are raising prices

Experts say President Donald Trump’s new tariffs on steel and aluminum are already spiking prices, which could lead to more inflation in the U.S.

Many businesses are already feeling the pinch, and some say it could eat into profits.

Roth Stethem runs Pioneer Welding and Boatworks in Bradenton, and says he is already seeing higher aluminum prices.

“I made an order at the beginning of the week and got material in and it was about a $3,000 order," he said. "And with the tariffs going into place, that’s going to be a $4,000 order now."

Pioneer Welding was established a year ago and works on custom projects that include everything from a custom exhaust for a Lamborghini to aluminum gas tanks for landscapers.

The Trump administration has said these tariffs were designed to eliminate loopholes and exemptions that have led some importers to game the system.

Stethem says he is hopeful the tariffs will eventually pay off.

"It will be good in the long term, because it will bring manufacturing and jobs back here," he said. "The short term, it's definitely going to hurt the smaller guys, since we won’t be able to absorb the profit margin losses."