Leavitt press conference lowers expectations for Alaska summit – againpublished at 19:06 British Summer Time
Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent
Yesterday, Donald Trump described Friday’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “feel-out meeting”. This
afternoon, his press secretary Karoline Leavitt said it will be a “listening
session”.
Whatever you call it, the White House is clearly trying to lower
expectations ahead of the first meeting between the two leaders since Trump
returned to office in January.
As Leavitt acknowledged from the press-room lectern, the conflict
in Ukraine is a two-party war, and only one participant will be in
Alaska. Trump may relay a Russian offer to Volodymyr Zelensky, but it is far
from guaranteed that the Ukrainian president would – or even could – accept it.
With Trump, it’s often best to expect the unexpected – but at the
moment there seems slim chances that Friday’s meeting will provide any kind of
substantive breakthrough.
Trump and Leavitt are acting like that’s what they think, too.
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