Donald Trump raged against those critical of him for inviting Russian President Vladimir Putin onto U.S. soil for a meeting later this week.
The high-stakes meeting on Friday in Anchorage, Alaska, between the two leaders is aimed at putting an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine after years of bloody fighting.
But European leaders are worried that Trump will bow to Putin’s push to include in the peace deal the annexation of more land to Moscow.
Trump is speaking later this morning with those leaders, including Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, who plan to pressure him to take a stand against Putin.
In a post to Truth Social, the president slammed his ex-National Security Advisor John Bolton, one of his top critics, who said that by bringing Putin to Alaska, Russia has already ‘won.’
Trump said that his former aide and the media are ‘working overtime’ to push a narrative that he will make a ‘bad deal’ in negotiations with Russia.
‘Very unfair media is at work on my meeting with Putin,’ Trump posted to Truth Social on Wednesday. ‘Constantly quoting fired losers and really dumb people like John Bolton.’
‘They are sick and dishonest people, who probably hate our country,’ the president lamented.
President Donald Trump defended himself against ‘fake news’ attacks on his decision to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to U.S. soil for a meeting on ending the war with Ukraine
Putin will sit down with Trump in Alaska on Friday, August 15 for the first in-person meeting of the president’s second term
Trump slammed the media and former National Security Advisor John Bolton for claims that Putin ‘won’ by being invited to Alaska for the summit
Trump is heading to Alaska on Friday to meet in person with Putin for the first time of his second term.
According to both Moscow and Washington, D.C., the two leaders have spoken on the phone a handful of times since Trump’s reelection.
The White House said Trump will treat the summit as a ‘listening exercise’ and said the president is ‘determined to try to end this war [in Ukraine] and stop the killing.’
But European leaders are anxious that the terms Trump reaches with Putin will include handing over parts of Ukraine to Russia.
Trump said last week: ‘There’ll be some land swapping going on.’
But he also vowed to attempt to recover some of Ukraine’s territory currently held by Russia.
‘It’s very gracious of Putin to come to former Russian-America for this summit,’ Bolton sarcastically told CNN. ‘This is not quite as bad as Trump inviting the Taliban to Camp David… but it certainly reminds one of that.’
‘The only better place for Putin than Alaska would be if the summit were being held in Moscow,’ Bolton continued. ‘So the initial setup, I think, is a great victory for Putin. He’s a rogue leader of a pariah state and he’s going to be welcomed into the United States.’
‘I have a feeling this is sliding, very quickly, in Russia’s direction,’ Trump’s former NSA continued. ‘And it seems to me, listen[ing] to Trump talking about how things are progressing, that even without the meeting, Putin’s got his old magic back with Trump.’
United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer and other European Leaders are perpared to support Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky’s stance in Wednesday’s call with Trump.
Starmer insists a peace deal ‘must be built with Ukraine, not imposed upon it.’
They are also expected to argue that Putin can’t be rewarded with even more territory despite his aggression towards Ukraine.
Bolton told CNN: ‘The initial setup, I think, is a great victory for Putin…. I have a feeling this is sliding, very quickly, in Russia’s direction’
Officials confirmed that the high-stakes talks will take place in Alaska’s largest city, Anchorage.
Zelensky – who is excluded from the upcoming meeting – warned Russia is ‘readying for a new offensive’ rather than preparing to end the war.
Speaking at a White House briefing, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said: ‘This is a listening exercise for the President. Only one party that’s involved in this war is going to be present, so this is for the President to go and get a more firm understanding of how we can hopefully bring this war to an end.’
‘The President wants a peace deal, he wants to see this war come to an end. But this bilateral meeting is a bilateral meeting between one party in a two-party war – you need both countries to agree to a deal.’
Leavitt also suggested that Trump might soon visit Putin in Moscow , saying ‘perhaps there are plans.’
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