Trump Invites Putin to Step Foot in America

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1. Vivian Salama, Michael Scherer, and Jonathan Lemire: “Vladimir Putin is coming to America, despite the international warrant for the Russian president’s arrest, despite his years of hostile threats against NATO, and despite him showing no remorse for his invasion of a sovereign nation.

   “None of that matters to President Donald Trump, who announced Friday night that he would meet the globally shunned leader this Friday in Alaska. What does matter to Trump is that he may be able to stop the bloodshed in Ukraine, the worst European conflict since World War II, fulfilling one of his biggest campaign promises.

   “Many of Washington’s European allies, Ukraine included, now worry that the *Art of the Deal* president could propose a solution to this conflict that makes concessions to the aggressor, including and especially a redrawing of Ukraine’s borders, when he sits with Putin. Putin has made no commitments to cede territory or scale back Russia’s aggressive military campaign, and he has long claimed that Ukraine does not exist. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a video message yesterday, angrily condemned the notion that Trump and Putin alone could decide Ukraine’s future. ‘Any decisions made against us, any decisions made without Ukraine, are at the same time decisions against peace,’ he said.

   “Trump, who has grown frustrated in recent weeks with Putin’s lack of enthusiasm for compromise, had set a deadline for Russia to come to the negotiating table or risk increased tariffs and other punitive measures. He even threatened to move nuclear-armed submarines closer to Russia, and vowed to punish India—one of the largest buyers of Russian oil—for helping bankroll Moscow’s energy sector.

   “Trump had promised to end the conflict before even stepping foot inside the White House. As months passed with no deal, Trump finally came to believe that Putin was to blame.

   “But signs that an end to hostilities between Ukraine and Russia was remotely plausible came the day after Trump’s envoy to the Middle East (and beyond), Steve Witkoff, returned early this month from Israel. Through back-channel discussions with a close Putin ally, Witkoff—the real-estate executive who, like Trump, is more dealmaker than diplomat—received word of the Russian leader’s new willingness to discuss ways to end the fighting.

   “Witkoff had reason to believe that talks were in the making, but he did not want to discuss the details over the phone, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the discussions weren’t public. After giving his pilot a night off in Miami, Witkoff shuttled back to Washington to brief Trump, Vice President J. D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles on what he had learned, before heading to Moscow last week to get a face-to-face guarantee from Putin that he would attend an in-person meeting in good faith. ‘We are not going to send Donald Trump there if it’s not perfect,’ a top Trump adviser told us. By Wednesday, Trump and Witkoff looped in European allies, including Zelensky, on Witkoff’s meeting and their plans to get Trump and Putin in a room together.

   “Trump is open to including Zelensky in the Alaska talks this week, a White House official told us. But for now, at Putin’s request, the Ukrainian leader has not received an invite.”

   Read more: [https://theatln.tc/SLJ9M0PE](https://theatln.tc/SLJ9M0PE)

2. Doesn’t the ICC have an arrest warrant on Putin?

   That would be the perfect plot to turn him in. I doubt Trump has the decency to do the right thing though.

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