‘Striking’: Former Ambassador to Russia Shocked By ‘Absolutely No Details’ Out of Trump-Putin Summit

Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul expressed his shock at the lack of details that resulted from Friday’s summit between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump and Putin met at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, ostensibly to discuss peace negotiations regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The meeting was highly controversial due to Russia’s war crimes and Putin’s insistence that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky not be included.

The two leaders and their aides met behind closed doors before holding a press conference, where Putin spoke at length, including flattering Trump by claiming he would not have invaded Ukraine if Trump had been president then. When it was Trump’s turn to speak, he admitted that while “many points were agreed to,” no agreement had been reached.

McFaul served as an advisor on Russia for President Barack Obama during his first term before being appointed to the ambassadorship during his second term, was part of a panel discussion on MSNBC immediately after the summit concluded, along with Alicia Menendez, Nicolle Wallace, Jen Psaki, and Ali Velshi from the network, along with Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA).

“We’ve been watching a live joint news conference between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin,” said Menendez. “Now, let’s be clear. What we are watching — there were not a lot of details there. We were not told there was reference to an agreement, no clarity, on what that agreement could possibly look like. The President of the United States saying that ‘points were agreed to,’ saying that some of what was not agreed to was not significant, seeming to indicate there was at least one major sticking point.”

It was also noteworthy, Menendez added, that Trump and Putin had showed up for “what was billed as a press conference,” but “no questions were taken from the press.”

“Ambassador McFaul, you and I got to watch this together,” said Mendendez. “Scant on the details.”

“No details, absolutely no details,” McFaul agreed. “The word that jumped out to me in the translation — and I want to emphasize that — when Putin was speaking, was the word ‘agreement.’ He said, ‘We had an agreement.’ President Trump didn’t underscore that. So we don’t know if there was any agreement at all.”

“There are no details at all about what was discussed, other than it was a very, very good meeting, it was extremely productive meeting,” he continued. “But we know almost nothing about what was agreed upon, which leaves me to wonder if there was any agreement, in fact. You can call it what you want, but if there was a real agreement, we would know some details. That we don’t know anything is striking to me.”

“And that this was a ‘press conference’ and then they walked away, taking no questions, suggests that probably there wasn’t a lot that they wanted to discuss with the press,” he concluded.

Watch the clip above via MSNBC.

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