Republican Senator Questions Trump’s Red Carpet Treatment of Putin: ‘Are We Being Too Conciliatory?’

Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) questioned the optics of President Donald Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying, “Are we being too conciliatory?” in a Friday appearance on CNN’s The Lead With Jake Tapper.

Murkowski met briefly with Trump today on Air Force One ahead of his meeting with Putin, as the plane sat on the tarmac of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson to reinforce her view that there should be “no concessions about Alaska” in the ceasefire negotiations.

CNN’s Jake Tapper asked the senator how she felt about Trump “literally rolling out the red carpet” for Putin and welcoming him “with open arms”, to which she responded that she thinks “it sends a mixed message.”

“With what Putin has done in Ukraine, with the deaths and atrocities that we have seen, it’s not acceptable on any level at all,” she said.

“To invite him to the United States, to invite him to a strategic military base, I think it is fair to question what that message is,” she continued. “Are we being too conciliatory?”

Earlier today, Trump clapped for the Russian president as they approached one another on the tarmac, flanked by fighter jets. Trump then invited Putin to ride with him to the summit in his car, dubbed ‘The Beast’.

Watch the clip above via CNN.