Murdoch Paper Unleashes Savage Verdict on Trump’s Suck-Up to Putin

The Wall Street Journal has sharply criticized Donald Trump for easing pressure on Moscow.

trump putin

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper The Wall Street Journal has delivered a blistering verdict on President Donald Trump’s latest concessions to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In a scathing editorial, the newspaper condemned Trump’s decision to waive tariffs and sanctions targeting Russian energy buyers and officials under legislation that was backed by overwhelming bipartisan majorities in Congress.

The legislation, which was backed by the late Lindsey Graham and passed by the Senate, 86-11, gave Trump 30 days after its enactment to impose tariffs of up to 500 percent on all Russian imports. It also called for duties of as much as 100 percent on major buyers of Russian oil and gas, including China and India.

Trump’s order also suspends sanctions targeting Russian officials, state bodies, banks, energy companies and vessels Moscow uses to evade international restrictions.

Lindsey Graham

Lindsey Graham was one of Trump’s most ardent supporters in the Senate.

Trump’s executive order came just two days before the measures were due to take effect.

The president offered little justification for the decision, other than it was in the “national interests” of the United States.

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But the Wall Street Journal argued that “the opposite is true,” accused Trump of sticking “a shiv in the back” of the late Sen. Graham’s legacy, and declared that the president was now “Mr. Putin’s best friend in the world, after perhaps China’s Xi Jinping.”

Trump’s decision also provoked backlash from Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) meets with U.S. President Donald Trump (R) in Davos, Switzerland on January 23, 2026.

Trump and Zelensky’s relationship has been strained.

Ukranian Presidency / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images

″The decision to undo all of this, to block all of it, seems wrong to me,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on X. “And it definitely helps only the Russians. It only fuels their satisfaction and their desire to keep killing people.”

It also led members of Congress to jump to condemn Trump.

“Donald Trump confirms again that he stands on the side of a bloodthirsty thug & the enablers of Russia’s war machine & against the majority of Americans, their representatives in both houses of Congress, & our European allies,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democratic lawmaker from Connecticut who also helped write the Graham Act, said in an X post.

The criticism intensified after Russia followed Trump’s decision by launching one of its largest attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, striking more than 15 power generation and transmission facilities just days after Trump announced an “energy ceasefire” between the warring nations.

The Journal said Ukraine had honored the pause until it became clear Russia had not, yet Trump continued to blame Kyiv.

After the fighting resumed, Trump told reporters he believed Putin was willing to strike a peace deal, while questioning whether Zelensky was equally ready to reach an agreement.

It is not the first time Trump has made such a claim.

Zelensky has said on multiple occasions that he supports a ceasefire, but the Journal argued that “Trump wants Ukraine to surrender on Mr. Putin’s terms,” something that Ukraine is not willing to do.

American negotiators have broadly urged Kyiv to consider relinquishing control of the eastern Donbas region in exchange for an agreement with Russia.

Zelensky, however, has repeatedly rejected any suggestion of territorial concessions, insisting Ukraine’s constitution bars the government from surrendering any of its land to Moscow.

Steve Witkoff shaking hands with Vladimir Putin.

Steve Witkoff, here pictured shaking hands with Vladimir Putin

Gavriil Grigorov/via REUTERS

Meanwhile, Trump has sharply reduced military aid to Ukraine, while his top envoy, Steve Witkoff, has made at least two trips to Moscow over the past year.

The Journal accused Trump of “courting Mr. Putin” but “to no avail.”

It warned that Congress must eventually conduct “a bipartisan reckoning” over what it described as Trump’s emerging alignment with the Kremlin against Ukraine, Europe and U.S. interests.

“Congress is preoccupied with the Nov. 3 election, but Mr. Trump may not appreciate the anger he’s courting if he keeps aiding Mr. Putin. When the election is over there needs to be a bipartisan reckoning for Mr. Trump’s budding alliance with the Kremlin against Ukraine, Europe and American interests,” the paper wrote.

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

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