Fresh off Democrats' domination in the off-year elections, the special election for Tennessee's 7th congressional district has become an unlikely test for whether a national blue wave is building that could produce a seismic shakeup in next year's midterm election.

Jared Kushner, senior White House adviser and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, was interviewed this month by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team as it investigates whether Trump associates colluded in Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election, said a person familiar with the matter.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff will meet senior Ukrainian negotiator, Rustem Umerov, for talks in Miami on Thursday.

During Trump’s first term, Kushner led the president’s push for Arab states to normalise ties with Israel. More recently he was called on to help broker a deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Now his task is to silence the guns and drones on the front lines in the Donbas. Kushner did not respond to a request for an interview for this article.

LONDON -- The White House said it's is "very optimistic" ahead of special envoy Steve Witkoff's meeting in Moscow on Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as U.S. officials continue their push to end Russia's war against Ukraine.