White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt came out swinging during her latest briefing, accusing reporters of deliberately trying to undermine President Donald Trump’s efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
“All weekend, following those historic U.S.-Russia bilateral talks, we listened to clueless pundits on television trying, but failing, to claim that the president had failed,” she told the reporters.
“The so-called experts in the foreign policy establishment, whose record is nothing but endless wars, trillions of wasted taxpayer dollars and dead Americans, have the nerve to try and lecture President Trump, who has solved seven global conflicts in seven months, about peace.”
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Her remarks followed Trump’s summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska. The Russian leader was given rare honors, including a red carpet welcome and a ride in the presidential limousine. But even after three hours of talks, Trump did not secure the ceasefire he had hinted at in advance. Nor did he impose the “severe” sanctions on Russia that he had suggested were possible.
Leavitt defended the outcome, she described it as a “listening session” to set the stage for further negotiations. That follow-up took place on Monday in Washington, where Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and leaders from France, Britain, Italy, Germany, NATO, and the EU.
Trump’s allies in Congress quickly seized on the momentum
On Tuesday, Republican lawmakers Andy Ogles and Marlin Stutzman formally nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, citing his efforts to bring both sides to the negotiating table.
Trump has said he is working toward a direct meeting between Putin and Zelensky.
Notably, Russia made clear that NATO’s involvement in Ukraine remains a red line. “We reaffirm our repeatedly stated position of categorical rejection of any scenarios that envisage the appearance in Ukraine of a military contingent with NATO countries, which is fraught with an uncontrolled escalation of the conflict with unpredictable consequences,” the Russian foreign ministry said Monday, per The Daily Beast.
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However, Leavitt argued that the media is doing everything it can to cast Trump’s effort in a negative light.
“This is why Americans’ trust in the mass media is at a lowest point in more than five decades,” she told the briefing room.
