After his summit with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Friday, President Trump sat down with the Fox News host Sean Hannity to record an interview in which he offered few details about what the two leaders had said about the war in Ukraine, but talked up their personal connection.
“I think the meeting was a 10,” Mr. Trump said after Mr. Hannity asked how he would rate his talks with the Russian president. “In the sense we got along great, and it’s good when two big powers get along, especially when they’re nuclear powers. We’re No. 1 and they’re No. 2 in the world.”
Without sharing any specific information from the meeting in Alaska, Mr. Trump put the onus for securing peace on Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Now it is really up to President Zelensky to get it done,” he said during the interview, which was broadcast later on Fox News. “I would also say the European nations have to get involved a little bit.”
In the interview, Mr. Trump repeatedly praised Mr. Putin, and brought up compliments he received from the Russian leader during the summit.
“I always had a great relationship with President Putin,” Mr. Trump said. “And we would have done great things together.”
He claimed that Mr. Putin had even supported his claim that the 2020 U.S. presidential election, which Mr. Trump lost to Joseph R. Biden Jr., was rigged.
“He said, ‘Your election was rigged because you have mail-in voting,’” Mr. Trump said, adding that Mr. Putin told him that by-mail voting does not exist anywhere else in the world. Whether Mr. Putin actually said that or not, several countries have by-mail voting. And Mr. Trump’s own attorney general in 2020 said his assertions of widespread fraud couldn’t be proven.
During the interview, Trump mused about a three-way summit between himself, Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Putin but said explicitly, “I didn’t ask about it.” Twenty minutes after saying that, Mr. Trump said he had in fact discussed that with Mr. Putin.
“They both want me there,” Trump said. “And I will be there.”
Mr. Zelensky said on Saturday that he would travel to Washington on Monday to discuss the war with Mr. Trump.
Earlier on Friday, the Ukrainian leader had criticized Russia’s latest attacks and cast doubt on Mr. Putin’s commitment to ending the war. But Mr. Trump told Mr. Hannity that he thinks the Russian leader wants to “solve the problem.”
He did not acknowledge that Mr. Putin had started the war.
Chris Cameron is a Times reporter covering Washington, focusing on breaking news and the Trump administration.
Maggie Haberman is a White House correspondent for The Times, reporting on President Trump.
The post After Summit, Trump Heaps Praise on Putin in Fox News Interview appeared first on New York Times.
