Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) blasted President Donald Trump’s latest summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying one moment in particular made his “stomach turn.”
Speaking with Anderson Cooper on CNN Friday night, the Armed Services Committee member dismissed the Anchorage sit-down as “a nothing burger” that produced no progress toward ending the war in Ukraine.
But Blumenthal said Trump’s characterization of Putin as a “fabulously good friend” during the press conference was stunning and disturbing:
“Vladimir Putin is a war criminal. He has directed soldiers to kill women and children and bury them in mass graves. He’s kidnapped children as we speak. The reality on the ground is that people are bleeding and dying all around Ukraine because Putin is continuing to bomb them. And at the front, he’s continuing to pummel the brave Ukrainian soldiers who are defending Donetsk and Luhansk.”
Blumenthal argued the reason no ceasefire was reached is simple: “Putin doesn’t want peace. The only way to convince him to stop this diplomatic rope-a-dope, playing the president and delaying any kind of ceasefire, is through strength.”
He urged the Biden administration to counter Moscow by dramatically increasing military support for Ukraine — specifically more Patriot interceptors, long-range artillery, and missiles — while also ramping up “scorching, bone-crushing sanctions.”
Blumenthal floated sanctioning not just Russia, but also countries like China, India, and Brazil to pressure them into cutting off purchases of Russian oil and gas, which continue to fund Putin’s war machine.
Cooper pressed the senator on Trump’s failure to deliver a strong message directly to Putin at the summit. “It seems like, if there were going to be some consequences or ‘severe consequences,’ he could have said something to that effect to Vladimir Putin face-to-face,” the host remarked.
Blumenthal agreed: “You’re absolutely right. He could have said face-to-face, ‘There will be severe consequences.’ We’ll never know — at least for now — whether there was any kind of threat, veiled or otherwise.”
He ended by noting that while Putin walked away with a propaganda win, the international backlash could force Trump into backing tougher measures against Russia.
Would you like me to compile a roundup of bipartisan U.S. and European reactions to the Trump–Putin Alaska summit so you can see how allies and critics are framing it differently?
