‘I’m Shocked!’ Ex-Biden Spox Stunned At Trump ‘Deference’ Holding Blockbuster Meeting In U.S.
Former Biden Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told CNN’s Phil Mattingly that she was “shocked” by President Donald Trump’s invitation for Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet on U.S. soil, suggesting it showed weakness.
The president teased a peace meeting during an event announcing a peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan. He stunned media observers with the blockbuster announcement Friday evening, writing on Truth Social:
The highly anticipated meeting between myself, as President of the United States of America, and President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, will take place next Friday, August 15, 2025, in the Great State of Alaska. Further details to follow. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
The meeting on U.S. soil has raised eyebrows. Ex-Trump senior adviser Amb. John Bolton called it “a great victory for Putin.”
On Friday’s edition of CNN’s The Lead, Singh said the location shows “deference” by Trump and demonstrates that Putin “really is holding the cards here”:
MATTINGLY: It’s — I mean this is just remarkable how fast this has all played out. I think the last meeting truly between Putin and a U.S. president was Geneva. I believe we were both there between President Biden and President Putin in 2021, I believe, before obviously the invasion of Ukraine.
Kaitlan Collins, as always, I really appreciate it, chief White House correspondent. And, obviously, don’t miss Kaitlan on her show, The Source with Kaitlan Collins. That’s tonight and every night at 9:00 Eastern on CNN.
I want to bring in former deputy Pentagon Press Secretary under President Biden Sabrina Singh and retired Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt.
General Kimmitt, I want to start with you. This is a — I’m not surprised by an awful lot these days, but the speed with which this happened, but also the location in Alaska, what’s your kind of big picture sense of things right now?
MARK KIMMITT, RETIRED U.S. ARMY BRIDGADIER GENERAL: Well, first of all, I think Alaska is halfway between geographic —
MATTINGLY: It’s really just that simple.
KIMMITT: Yes, it’s probably that simple. He can’t go to Europe, so he probably went to Alaska. It’s fast, but it is not, in my mind, unusual. We’ve been negotiating with Putin for months and months. We’ve had General Kellogg and his team in there almost continuously trying to work with them. We saw Steve Witkoff working with President Putin and nothing seems to work.
Putin is only going to talk to somebody he sees as a peer and he sees President Trump as a peer. And I think that President Trump said this is an opportunity to get the ceasefire I’ve always wanted. I’m not the slightest bit optimistic about what we’re going to see, but it’s good that they’re talking.
MATTINGLY: What’s your sense?
SABRINA SINGH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I mean, I’m shocked that it’s actually being held, that this meeting is being held in the United States. I think that’s giving incredible deference to someone that invaded a sovereign country. This is a war of choice that Putin started back in 2022. So, I thought, you know, a meeting in the Middle East or somewhere outside of the United States would make much more sense.
And, of course, for it to come together so quickly, I mean, you know, how White Houses work, certainly under the administration I served, these meetings take a lot of choreography and I think, you know. Putin has showed that he’s willing and has been able to move the chess pieces on the board in his favor, and he’s been able to get this administration to cater to a lot of his demands.
And then on fact, and, you know, holding it in Alaska, I think, is just even more proof of the fact that Putin really is holding the cards here.
Watch above via CNN’s The Lead.
