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As President Donald Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, reactions from lawmakers again in Washington, D.C., flooded in, together with one Republican who stated he desires the president nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize following the summit.
Whereas Republicans largely praised Trump for an assertive posture and for his efforts working in the direction of peace, Democrats accused the president of being too pleasant with Putin.
“President Trump, I feel, is simply crystal clear that Putin’s again is in opposition to the wall and I feel he demonstrated that clearness along with his very first motion earlier than saying a phrase with the truth that he flew B-2 bombers over [Putin’s] head,” stated Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla. “That was not on accident, clearly. For him to fly a B-2 bomber over Vladimir Putin’s head, it was a sign to him that when President Trump says, ‘Hey there may very well be very critical penalties.'”
MIKE POMPEO ADVISES AMERICANS NOT TO ‘OVERREAD’ THIS PART OF TRUMP AND PUTIN’S MEETING
At the beginning of the summit, when President Trump greeted Russian President Vladimir Putin on the tarmac at Elmendorf Air Power Base in Alaska, a cohort of navy fighter jets, together with a B-2 stealth bomber, flew overhead. (Reuters)
Nonetheless, whereas Mast expressed that he noticed Trump difficult Putin, Democratic California Rep. Eric Swalwell described the summit as akin to “Trump toast[ing] Putin like he was giving him the lifetime achievement award.”
“What a Kremlin kiss a– our president is,” Swalwell added.
In the meantime, because the assembly was kicking off, Rep. Eugene Vindman, D-Va., stated, “The actual fact that Putin might be on American soil is a big win for him.”
“First, he’s legitimized and never a world pariah. Second, he can be topic to arrest in 123 international locations resulting from his ICC arrest warrant. Right here [sic] is strolling free,” Vindman lamented.
FROM ADMIRATION TO ALASKA: A TIMELINE OF TRUMP AND PUTIN’S HIGH-STAKES ENCOUNTERS
“Trump invited a dictator onto U.S. soil simply to get his s*** rocked,” added the official X account for the Democratic Celebration.
President Donald Trump shakes arms with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the tarmac after they arrived at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on Aug. 15, 2025. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP by way of Getty Photos)
However Republicans rallied across the president’s dealing with of the summit, with Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., saying Friday night time after the summit concluded that he intends to draft a Nobel Peace Prize nomination for Trump.
Some Republicans took the chance Friday to slam the previous Biden administration for failing to take the required motion to halt the conflict in Ukraine.
“When Joe Biden grew to become president he waved the sanctions on Nord Stream 2, he gave Putin and Russia a multi-billion greenback reward, and the explanation that triggered the conflict is as a result of Putin had shunned invading Ukraine as a result of he did not need to harm the pure gasoline pipelines that run by means of Ukraine,” Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz stated Friday in an interview on Fox Information.
In the course of the summit, whereas Putin was addressing reporters, he stated that he believed the declare from Trump and Republicans that had Trump been president when the conflict started as an alternative of Biden, it possible by no means would have began within the first place.
President Donald Trump, proper, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin arrive for a joint press convention at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP Picture/Jae C. Hong)
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“The important thing to ending this conflict honorably and justly is to create an infrastructure of deterrence that Biden and Obama didn’t do — which can forestall a 3rd invasion,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., stated following Friday’s summit.
The South Carolina senator added that following the summit, a gathering between Trump, Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy might be needed. The senator argued that, with such a gathering, he can be “cautiously optimistic” that the conflict might finish “effectively earlier than Christmas.”
“If that assembly fails to materialize, I feel President Trump could need to go all in to punish those that purchase low cost Russian oil and gasoline, propping up Putin’s conflict machine,” Graham concluded.
