Former national security adviser John Bolton on Friday shared his analysis following the roughly three-hour meeting between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, doubling down on his prediction that Putin would ultimately win.
“I think Trump did not lose, but Putin clearly won. Trump didn’t come away with anything except more meetings,” Bolton said during an appearance on CNN’s “OutFront” with host Erin Burnett. Putin has, I think, gone a long way to reestablishing the relationship, which I’ve always believed was his key goal.”
He added that the Russian leader “has escaped sanctions. He’s not facing a ceasefire. The next meeting is not set.”
Prior to the closed-door summit, Bolton said Putin would walk away with the upper hand from the meeting in Anchorage, Alaska.
Others, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, painted the meeting between Trump and the Russian leader as a “photo-op” and argued that without trilateral participation, no ceasefire proposals could be finalized.
“Zelensky was not told any of this before this press conference. It’s far from over,” Bolton told Burnett. “But I’d say Putin achieved most of what he wanted. Trump achieved very little.”
“And I will say one other thing. I thought Trump looked very tired up there. I mean, very tired,” he continued. “Not disappointed, tired. And we’ll have to reflect on what that means.”
Following the summit, the president said he had an “extremely productive meeting,” but acknowledged that it did not end with a ceasefire deal. He later hosted a call with NATO and European leaders to debrief them on the face-to-face session with Putin, their first since Trump returned to the Oval Office.
Trump added that in the end, it would be up to Kyiv and Moscow to come to a deal.
“It’s a terrible war where both are losing a lot, it would be a great achievement for them, forget about me…,” he said of ceasefire talks during an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity following the summit.
“I would also say the European Nations, they have to get involved a little bit,” the president told Hannity. “And if they’d like, I’d be at that next meeting. They’re going to set up a meeting now … not that I want to be there, but I want to make sure it gets done. And we have a pretty good shot of getting it done.”
Trump and Zelensky are expected to meet at the White House on Monday.
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