CNN global affairs analyst Kimberly Dozier on Monday appeared to not understand the purpose of President Donald Trump’s planned call with Russian President Vladimir Putin after his meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Trump said in an oval office presser with Zelenskyy that he would “have a phone call” with Putin immediately following their meetings on Monday. Dozier said on “CNN News Central” that the planned call indicated Trump required the Russian president’s “approval” and projected that Zelenskyy must have been troubled by it. (RELATED: ‘What Reality Do You Live In?’: Scott Jennings Spars With CNN Panelist Who Dismisses Trump’s Peace Deals)
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“The fact that he feels he’s got to check in with Putin right away, and that just as this meeting is taking place, we get news that Putin is saying, ‘By the way, no NATO troops on the ground in Ukraine. That is unacceptable,’ still feels like Trump needs Putin’s approval in a way that’s got to be very disturbing to Zelenskyy sitting there,” Dozier said.
“But of course, Zelenskyy was a good actor. He’s playing it cool. He’s not biting on any of the questions he got,” she continued. “And hopefully what’s going to happen is they’re going to go into this meeting with European officials and the Europeans are saying, ‘We need to put these troops on the ground inside Ukraine, and it’s not Vladimir Putin’s business.’”
Despite Russia’s hard line against NATO troops in Ukraine, Trump did not rule out the possibility of American troops maintaining security for the nation when asked about it during the Oval Office meeting.
“We’ll let you know that, maybe later today. We’re meeting with seven great leaders of great countries also. And we’ll be talking about that,” Trump said. “They’ll all be involved, but there’ll be a lot of help. When it comes to security, there’s going to be a lot of help. It’s going to be good. They are first line of defense because they’re there. They’re Europe. But we’re going to help them out also. We’ll be involved.”
Trump also met with Putin during a summit in Alaska on Friday. ABC News and CNN seemed fixated on Trump rolling out a red carpet that each leader walked down to meet after deplaning.
Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer on “The Morning Meeting” Monday criticized the media for its coverage of the welcoming portion of the summit, noting that Trump also orchestrated a flyover of military aircraft, including a B-2A Spirit stealth strategic bomber.
“They always worry about the process. ‘Oh my god, the carpet was red.’ Who gives a crap?” Spicer said. “If you get peace, if you stop people from killing and end the destruction, what the hell does it matter?”
“Do you know what a flex it was to see that B2 fly over the top? Putin looks up. That wasn’t a tip of diplomacy,” he added. “That was a, ‘Hey buddy, guess what we got coming up your butt if you do this again. We just used it in Iran.’”
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