US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Alaska summit ended in confusion Friday, as Fox News journalists described the joint press conference at a military base as awkward, poorly managed, and politically lopsided.
The summit was billed as a chance to restart talks over Ukraine, where Russia’s invasion has caused immense human suffering and civilian deaths.
ALSO READ| Putin’s bizarre reaction to ‘when will you stop killing’ question before Trump meeting – Watch
Fox News reporter shares, ‘Everyone else in this room were surprised’
Fox News Senior White House Correspondent Jacqui Heinrich, reporting directly from the event, did not hold back her assessment. Speaking to Brian Kilmeade, she acknowledged the frustration in the room: “You and me and everyone else in this room were surprised.”
“We were told we would have an opportunity to put questions to both leaders after a joint press conference in the event the meeting went well enough that they could set the stage for a second meeting,” she explained.
“And President Trump said if that didn’t happen, he was likely to call off the joint presser and just address the media solo and send people home. Neither of those things happened.”
What followed stunned Heinrich. “You had Putin come out and address the press first. We are on U.S. soil here. And that left the media scrambling to get their headsets in. Usually, it is the leader of the country, the host country of a summit, that speaks first and addresses. Putin started off in Russian. And we all had to get our heads set on and listen to him rattle off the diatribe about the history of the U.S. and Russia,” she said.
“The way that it felt in the room was not good. It did not seem like things went well, and it seemed like Putin came in and steamrolled, got right into what he wanted to say. And got his photo next to the president and then left.”
ALSO READ| B-2 Stealth Bomber and F-22 jets welcomed Putin to Alaska: Here’s how much they cost
Trump’s former aide says ‘Putin clearly won’
John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, told CNN, “Trump did not lose, but Putin clearly won.” He argued that the Russian president walked away with the outcomes he wanted: no new sanctions, no firm ceasefire agreement, and no meaningful updates for Ukraine.
“It’s far from over, but I’d say Putin achieved most of what he wanted. Trump achieved very little.”
Notably, following the summit, Trump, in an exclusive interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, said, “Look, as far as I’m concerned, there’s no deal until there’s a deal. But we did make a lot of progress.”
