The White House is brushing off claims that sensitive info from President Donald Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin ended up in a hotel printer in Anchorage, Alaska. White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly joked that the materials found were merely a “multi-page lunch menu” and emphasized that the incident didn’t jeopardize national security.
In an interview with NewsNation, Kelly quipped, “It’s pretty funny seeing NPR call this a ‘security breach’ when it’s just a glorified lunch menu.” Newsweek reached out to the White House for further insights.
Why Does This Matter?
The documents in question, first highlighted by NPR, included details of a luncheon that was ultimately canceled, along with seating arrangements, a gift presentation, and contact numbers for both U.S. and Russian officials. The highlighted menu featured items like green salads, filet mignon, halibut, mashed potatoes, asparagus, and crème brûlée. Additionally, there were phonetic guides for pronouncing Russian names.
The Trump-Putin meeting took place on a Friday at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson as part of their discussions to potentially end the ongoing conflict in Ukraine initiated by Russia in February 2022. The White House reported that the meeting came at Putin’s request, and notably, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was not invited.
Key Takeaways
According to accounts, the documents turned up on a hotel printer around 9 a.m. the day of the summit at the Captain Cook Hotel, which is a four-star establishment located about 20 minutes from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. The eight pages marked with the U.S. State Department insignia contained important details about the upcoming meetings, including locations and contact numbers for three U.S. officials.
The first page described the meeting’s agenda, noting that there was a plan for Trump to present a gift to Putin. Other pages outlined who would attend from both sides, including phone numbers of American advance staffers. Pages six and seven detailed the lunch’s seating arrangement as well as the menu.
Despite Putin’s claims about desiring a peace agreement with Ukraine, Russian military actions against Ukrainian forces continued up until Friday when the two leaders were set to meet, which ostensibly revolved around a potential ceasefire.
The negotiations for peace also remain stalled, with Zelensky resistant to agreeing to any ceasefire deal that fails to offer security guarantees for Ukraine. Meanwhile, Putin insists that Ukraine must withdraw from NATO and concede territories that Russia says it has annexed.
After the meeting, Oleksandr Merezhko, the chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the Ukrainian parliament, conveyed to The New York Times that Putin used the encounter to underline that he isn’t isolated, arguing the Russian leader was able to gain leverage in the overall narrative during his joint remarks with Trump.
In addition, Trump delivered a letter from First Lady Melania Trump to Putin, which touched upon the war’s impacts on children. The contents of this message are still not publicly known.
The International Criminal Court had previously issued an arrest warrant for Putin concerning alleged child abductions amid the ongoing conflict. Russian officials described relocating these children from war zones as a precaution for their safety and dismissed the arrest warrant as unacceptable.
Officially, Ukraine claims that around 20,000 of its children have been taken since February 2022, meeting the United Nations’ criteria for genocide.
After meeting with Putin, Trump mentioned during a segment on Fox News that the responsibility to secure a ceasefire now lay with Zelensky following his inability to broker an agreement. He added, “It’s really up to President Zelensky to get it done. I also think European nations need to play a bigger role.”
What People Are Saying
Trump remarked on August 15: “I’ve always enjoyed a fantastic relationship with President Putin. The ‘Russia hoax’ made things a bit complicated, but he knew it.” Trump didn’t delve into the specifics of what he meant by “the Russia hoax.”
What’s Next?
Looking ahead, Trump is set to meet with Zelensky and European leaders in Washington, D.C., on Monday.
