President Donald Trump “humiliated” himself on the world stage by letting Vladimir Putin “play” him at the flop Alaska summit, according to Rep. Eric Swalwell.
The California Democrat, a longtime critic of Trump who served as House manager in the president’s second impeachment trial, blasted Trump for literally rolling out the red carpet for Putin on U.S. soil, then walking away without any deal to end Russia’s three-year invasion of Ukraine.
“Putin completely played Trump. This is entirely about Donald Trump refusing to release the Epstein files and in putting forward this scripted counter programming to that,” Swalwell told CNN’s Newsroom. “He made America weaker as perceived by the rest of the world, and he humiliated himself.”
“I want peace in the region, and the best way to achieve peace is to band together and show strength against a bully like Russia. Instead, yesterday, we saw Donald Trump toast Vladimir Putin like he was receiving some lifetime achievement,” he added.
Even before the Anchorage meeting on Friday, critics warned Putin would win on optics alone by forcing Trump to meet in a U.S. state once part of the Russian empire. There was further criticism about how the summit ended without even the bare minimum Trump had pushed for–that Russia agree to a temporary ceasefire to allow further talks.
Trump has since melted down on social media, lashing out at critics who had spoken out against the dud of a summit.
“The Fake News has been saying for 3 days that I suffered a ‘major defeat’ by allowing President Vladimir Putin of Russia to have a major Summit in the United States,” Trump posted on Truth Social Sunday. “Actually, he would have loved doing the meeting anywhere else but the U.S., and the Fake News knows this. It was a major point of contention!”
He also took a swipe at the “very unattractive (both inside and out!)” Sen. Chris Murphy, after the Connecticut Democrat told NBC’s Meet the Press, the meeting was an “embarrassment” and that Putin “got everything he wanted.”
Ahead of Trump’s Monday sit-down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders to discuss the next moves regarding the conflict, Swalwell questioned whether Trump can stand up to Moscow following the letdown in Alaska.
“Having talked already today and yesterday to leaders over in Europe, they are very worried about what’s next, not just for Ukraine, but for democracies across the West, because the United States is shirking its responsibility to stand up and defend democracy everywhere,” Swalwell said.
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