President Donald Trump made the same flub twice on Monday – telling the press he was traveling to Russia, not Alaska, to meet Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump had taken over the press briefing room to make an announcement about crime in Washington, D.C. but also took questions on Friday’s Alaska summit with Putin – the first meeting of the two leaders during Trump’s second term.
It will also mark the first time an American president has come face-to-face with Putin since he ordered the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Trump called the get-together a ‘feel-out meeting’ and said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky isn’t a ‘part of it.’
‘Well we’re going to have a meeting with Vladimir Putin and at the end of that meeting – probably in the first two minutes – I’ll know exactly whether or not a deal can be made,’ Trump said.
When a reporter asked the president how he would do that, Trump had a response at the ready.
‘Because that’s what I do,’ he said. ‘I make deals,’ the Art of the Deal author added.
Trump’s meeting with Putin came together quickly.
President Donald Trump twice flubbed and said he was traveling to Russia on Friday. He’s headed to Alaska for the first face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin of his second term – the first time a U.S. leader has met with Putin since the start of the Ukraine war
On Friday evening, Trump announced that Alaska would be the locale – though the White House still hasn’t said where in the large state they would be gathering.
Over the weekend it appeared that Trump was open to having Zelensky meet him in Alaska as well.
On Monday, he downgraded that interaction to a call.
‘I think out of respect, I’ll call him first,’ Trump said of Zelensky.
Trump said he would also dial up the European leaders, touting their friendly relationship.
‘And I get along with Zelensky but, you know, I disagree with what he’s done, very, very, severely disagree. This is a war that should have never happened, wouldn’t have happened,’ Trump said.
It wasn’t clear what Zelensky could have done to prevent the Russian invasion.
‘But I’ll be speaking to Zelensky. The next meeting will be with Zelensky and Putin or Zelensky and Putin and me. I’ll be there if they need. But I want to have a meeting set up between the two leaders,’ Trump continued.
President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that he’ll be able to tell ‘probably in the first two minutes’ if Russian President Vladimir Putin, photographed in Moscow on Monday, is serious about making a deal that would put an end to the Ukraine war
He then criticized Zelensky again, saying he was a ‘little bothered’ that the Ukrainian president said he would need constitutional approval to change the country’s boundaries.
‘Because there will be some land swapping going on. I know that through Russia and through conversations with everybody,’ Trump said. ‘To the good, for the good of Ukraine. Good stuff not bad stuff. Also some bad stuff for both. There’s good and there’s bad,’ he went on.
Trump said he might also go into the meeting with Putin and sense the Russian leader wasn’t ready for a ceasefire.
‘Now I may leave and say “good luck,” and that’ll be the end,’ Trump said.
During his first term, Trump walked out early on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during their second summit in Vietnam when it became clear to the U.S. president a denuclearization deal couldn’t be made.
‘I may say this is not going to be settled,’ he continued.
‘There are those that believe Putin wanted all of Ukraine, I happen to be one of them, by the way,’ he added.
Trump said he would call Zelensky afterward and give him an assessment.
‘And I may say, “lots of luck, keep fighting,” or I may say, “we can make a deal,”‘ Trump said.
