And moments ago President Trump boarded Air Force One to
head to Alaska to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin
. You're seeing that right there on your screen.
He did not speak to reporters, which he sometimes
does ahead of these big events. On the agenda
for the US is getting a peace deal done between
Russia and Ukraine. Russia's agenda on the other hand
, that appears to be a bit foggier and while
Ukraine is absent from this high stakes meeting, they're
watching this meeting closely. I know that Putin doesn't
want to end the war, but also I know
that Putin is afraid of the United States. And
if Trump will find the right words and if Trump
will be tough enough in this conversation today, Putin
will end the war, and that's what we hope
for. Scripps News congressional correspondent Nathaniel Reed is live
from the DC newsroom on this highly anticipated and high
stakes meeting. Good morning, Nate. Even the
most hopeful person does not think that a peace deal
will be done after this meeting. Has the White
House said what it would consider to be a breakthrough
out of the summit? Well, look, the
White House has been tamping down on expectations all week
, Liz. They're calling this kind of a listening
exercise, a listening session, allowing President Trump to
hear the Russian president out, getting the two men
in the same room. Even President Trump is making
clear that he's not exactly expecting to walk out of
this thing with a deal. He's already previewing a
next. Bigger, better summit that he said it
is going to include the Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelinsky who
notably will not be in anchorage for that summit.
President Trump just boarding Air Force One a couple moments
ago as you can see there on your screen,
but he told reporters yesterday, even though he didn't
talk with them today, that again he's looking forward
to this second summit date TBD. Take a listen
. I think it's going to be a good meeting
, but the more important meeting will be the 2nd
meeting that we're having. We're going to have a
meeting with President Putin, President Zelinsky, myself,
and maybe we'll bring some of the European leaders along
. Maybe not. I don't know that it's going
to be very important. We're going to see what
happens, and I think President Putin will make peace
. I think President Zelinsky will make peace. We'll
see if they can get along and if they can
, it'll be great. Now to be clear,
Liz, there are still some concerns about this meeting
. Getting the two men in the same room could
certainly yield unintended consequences. Ukraine itself worried about the
possibility of land swaps. The Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelinsky
urging President Trump to not agree to those, effectively
giving, uh, rewarding Russia for its war in
Ukraine, giving them portions of Russian controlled territory that
they did not have before the war, obviously Crimea
. A major point of discussion that was taken in
2014, but those red regions on your screen to
the right there, those were taken, you know
, before the current conflict. There are also Russian
controlled areas right now that again Ukraine desperately wants back
. There's a lot of questions about whether President Trump
will agree to any sort of land swaps or will
push for those despite the fact that the Russian,
the Ukrainian president rather has Told them that those should
be off the table. There's also broader concerns here
. Europe, they will not be in on this
conversation. You can assume that President Trump will likely
be briefing them. We know that Secretary of State
Marco Rubio is headed along on this trip with President
Donald Trump, along with the Treasury Secretary Scott Besant
, the Secretary of Commerce as well, Howard Lutnick
. So a lot of, you know, high
profile officials on this trip. But questions though too
about what Trump uh uh could agree to whether there
will be security guarantees that Putin might ask for asking
for NATO troops to not be in certain parts of
Eastern Europe that would obviously be a big win for
President Vladimir Putin. We still do not know what
the plans are, but as you can see on
your screen. And Air Force One about to take
off, taking that long cross country flight up to
the northern one state. They call us the Lower
48 up there headed to Alaska. My colleagues Haley
Bull and Jason Bellini on the ground in Anchorage ahead
of that summit. Again, a lot of questions
about what can happen from that summit. And Nate
, some critics say that this entire face to face
meeting is just a PR stunt by the Kremlin and
that Putin wants to be seen essentially as legitimized by
being in the same room meeting with President Trump.
Can you explain why some of these critics are saying
this? Well, look, as President Trump taxis
down the runway and takes off on his way to
Anchorage, Alaska, this is obviously a big win
of legitimacy for Vladimir Putin. He met several times
with President Trump back in the first term. He
only met with President Joe Biden once during President Biden's
presidency. Now he's meeting yet again with President.
Trump for the first time that the two men are
sitting down face to face, they've had a number
of phone calls, but this is obviously an escalation
, at least in terms of diplomatic recognition of Russia
and what they've done in Ukraine. He'll become the
first American president to meet with Putin since that war
in Ukraine began. So obviously that is notable there
. But look, having Russian President Vladimir Putin on
American soil certainly a choice. My colleague Jason Blini
also reported that Anchorage, Alaska, well within the
reach of Russian nuclear weapons, a concern there that
that, you know, is, is something,
you know, an area where the US has sought
in the past security guarantees. We all remember the
famous line from former. Alaska governor and one time
presidential candidate and congressional candidate, people forget she ran
for that too. Sarah Palin saying that she could
see Russia from her house, not exactly sure if
that was actually her or that was SNL at this
point. It's so far in the past and it
was SNL, my producer reminded me, but obviously
a very strategic importance in the Arctic there, uh
, holding this in, uh. Anchorage, Alaska
, you're seeing there. Air Force One taking off
from Joint Base Andrews, wheels up officially now,
just a couple of minutes, 7 minutes past the
hour en route to Anchorage, Alaska. Again,
a lot of questions about what can be accomplished,
whether. This is a fool's errand or whether President
Trump can get uh a Russian President Vladimir Putin to
the negotiating table, possibly using this summit as an
attempt to try and negotiate some sort of future,
some sort of agreement moving forward. Scripsy's congressional correspondent
Nate Reed we'll check back in with you in an
hour. And as Nate was saying there, we
saw the president leave for Alaska. He's officially on
his way. We will check back in with our
colleagues who are on the ground there in a bit --> .