Swalwell: ‘Putin completely played Trump’

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) said President Trump was “completely played” by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the leaders’ historic summit in Alaska on Friday.

In an interview Saturday on “CNN Newsroom,” Swalwell criticized Trump’s treatment of Putin at the meeting and said world leaders fear the U.S. is “shirking its responsibility” to defend democracy globally.

“Putin completely played Trump. This is entirely about Donald Trump refusing to release the Epstein files and putting forward this scripted counterprogramming to that,” Swalwell said in the interview. “He made America weaker, as perceived by the rest of the world, and he humiliated himself.”

Trump greeted Putin on Friday on a red carpet spread across the runway of a U.S. air base and clapped as the Russian leader approached. The two men shook hands, and Putin joined Trump in his presidential limo as they traveled to the summit to discuss an end to the war in Ukraine.

Swalwell said on CNN he would have liked to see Trump greet Putin with a show of strength.

“I want peace in the region, and the best way to achieve peace is to band together and show strength against a bully like Russia. Instead, yesterday, we saw Donald Trump toast Vladimir Putin like he was receiving some lifetime achievement award,” Swalwell said. “That doesn’t make us stronger.”

“And right now, having talked already today and yesterday to leaders over in Europe, they are very worried about what’s next — not just for Ukraine, but for democracies across the West — because the United States is shirking its responsibility to stand up and defend democracy everywhere,” he added.

The remarks came ahead of Monday’s meeting at the White House, where Trump will huddle with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders to discuss the Putin summit and next steps in peace negotiations.

Trump sparked criticism Saturday when he said after a call with Zelensky and European leaders that “it was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up.”

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