Anchorage: Let’s go back to Trump’s conversation with reporters on Air Force One while flying to Alaska.
Trump was asked for his opinion on Russia’s continued aggression against Ukraine overnight, which included drone and missile attacks that killed six people, according to Ukrainian officials.
“I think they’re trying to negotiate. He [Putin] is trying to set a stage,” Trump said. “In his mind that helps him make a better deal. It actually hurts him. But in his mind that helps him make a better deal if they can continue the killing.
“Maybe it’s a part of the world, maybe it’s just his fabric, his genes, his genetics. But he thinks that gives him strength in negotiating. I think it hurts him, but I’ll be talking to him about it later.”
As for talk about land swaps between the two warring countries, Trump said it would be discussed, but he had to let Ukraine make that decision.
“I’m not here to negotiate for Ukraine, I’m here to get him at a table. Vladimir Putin wanted to take all of Ukraine. If I wasn’t president, he would right now be taking all of Ukraine. But he’s not going to do it.”