'There's no deal until there's a deal': Trump says Alaska meeting with Putin was 'extremely productive'

President Donald Trump and Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin appeared in an amicable but short media briefing before reporters on Friday, where no deal was announced.

In the days leading up to the summit, Trump expressed optimism that the discussions would move toward a ceasefire and peace talks between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had projected just a 25% chance of failure for the meeting.

'We have a very good chance of getting there. We didn't get there, but we have a good shot of getting there.'

Trump said there had been some progress and that the meeting was a beginning for negotiations, but he did not say whether he would follow through on a threat to sanction Russia if they did not reach a deal.

Trump arrived in Alaska's Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson around 3 p.m. Eastern for the scheduled meeting.

Trump greeted Putin on the tarmac, shaking his hand before walking together along a red carpet lined with four F-22 Raptor fighter jets. As they moved toward a stage with a sign that read "Alaska 2025," American military planes, including a B-2 stealth bomber, flew overhead.

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After posing for a brief photo-op, they entered the presidential limousine to head to their scheduled meeting.

Putin spoke first after the meeting and said in his comments that Trump was correct in saying there would have been no invasion of Ukraine had Trump been in office.

He said that he called Trump his "close neighbor" and talked about the historical ties between Russia and the U.S. He noted that there had been no summit between the two nations for four years and lamented that fact.

Putin also said he hoped Ukraine didn't participate in backroom dealings to undermine progress on a peace deal.

"We had an extremely productive meeting. Many points were agreed to," Trump said, speaking second.

"There are just a very few that are left," he added. "Some are not that significant. One is probably the most significant. But we have a very good chance of getting there. We didn't get there, but we have a good shot of getting there."

Trump concluded the briefing by offering that there could be a follow-up summit after this meeting.

"Next time in Moscow," Putin joked in English.

"That's an interesting one. I don't know. I think I may get a little heat on that one. But I could see it possibly happening," Trump responded.

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Bitter rival Hillary Clinton admits Trump would deserve glory if he ends Russia-Ukraine war

Failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (D) admitted that rival President Donald Trump would deserve high praise and acknowledgement if he succeeds in ending the war between Russia and Ukraine.

During a "Raging Moderates" podcast interview released on Friday, Clinton told host Jessica Tarlov that she would consider nominating Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize herself if he ends the war without requiring Ukraine to give up territory.

'Hillary is not serious.'

Trump is scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday around 3:00 p.m. Eastern at Alaska's Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

He has referred to the upcoming summit as a "feel-out meeting" to determine whether Putin is willing to reach a ceasefire agreement and initiate peace talks. Trump seemed optimistic about the discussion with Putin, estimating that it has a 25% chance of failure.

Clinton told Tarlov, "Honestly, if he could bring about the end to this terrible war, if he could end it without putting Ukraine in a position where it had to concede its territory to the aggressor, could really stand up to Putin — something we haven't seen, but maybe this is the opportunity — if President Trump were the architect of that, I'd nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize."

She added, "Because my goal here is to not allow capitulation to Putin, aided and abetted by the United States."

Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

Clinton stated that she believes Trump "would very much like to receive a Nobel Peace Prize."

Trump has already indicated that an end to the war will likely require some "land swapping" that would be "good" and "bad" for both countries.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rejected the idea, insisting that Ukraine "will not give land to the occupier."

Photo by MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images

David J. Harris Jr., a conservative political commentator, reacted to Clinton's nomination statement.

"Did not have this on my 2025 bingo card!" he stated in a post on social media.

Paul Szypula, another commentator, wrote, "Of course, she sets conditions that'll never happen like Ukraine not having to give up territory. Hillary is not serious."

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Trump is optimistic ahead of Putin meeting — predicts 25% chance of failure

U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are slated to meet Friday in Alaska. Trump has referred to the upcoming summit as a "feel-out meeting" to determine the likelihood of reaching a ceasefire agreement and ultimately an end to the conflict with Ukraine.

Trump stated in the days leading up to the summit that if the talks are successful, there is a chance they will remain in Alaska longer than initially planned to host a second meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

'Trump is not likely to suffer another Putin ploy to string him along, making this meeting more consequential and high-risk for Moscow, with secondary sanctions and tariffs already placing a cost on those still supporting or doing business with Russia.'

Trump is optimistic that Putin "wants to get it done," though he noted that there is a 25% chance the meeting will be a failure.

"I believe now he's convinced that he's going to make a deal," Trump said. "I'm going to know very quickly."

Secretary of State Marco Rubio made similar remarks ahead of Friday's summit, stating that the administration will know "very early" in the meeting "whether something is possible or not."

Trump has vowed to implement "very severe consequences," including sanctions, if Putin refuses to advance peace talks.

Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

He indicated that negotiations between Putin and Zelenskyy would likely require some "land swapping" that would be "good" and "bad" for both countries.

"Russia has occupied a big portion of Ukraine," Trump stated. "They've occupied some very prime territory. We're going to try and get some of that territory back for Ukraine."

Zelenskyy rejected Trump's land swapping idea, stating that Ukraine "will not give land to the occupier."

On Thursday, Putin said that the Trump administration was "making, in my opinion, quite energetic and sincere efforts to stop the hostilities, stop the crisis and reach agreements that are of interest to all parties involved in this conflict."

Zelenskyy is less optimistic about the upcoming meeting, claiming that Russia has shown "no sign" that it is preparing to end the war.

"Our coordinated efforts and joint actions — of Ukraine, the United States, Europe, and all countries that seek peace — can definitely compel Russia to make peace," Zelenskyy said.

He has accused Russia of “dragging out the war,” insisting that “it deserves stronger global pressure.”

“Russia refuses to stop the killings, and therefore must not receive any rewards or benefits. And this is not just a moral position — it is a rational one. Concessions do not persuade a killer. But truly strong protection of life stops the killers,” he wrote in a post on social media.

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Regardless of the outcome of Friday's meeting with Putin, Trump intends to speak with the press afterward. However, it remains undecided whether the press conference will be addressed jointly.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt previously indicated that Trump and Putin would hold a press conference together, but Trump later appeared to walk back those plans.

"If it's negative, I'll have a press conference to say that the war is going to go on and these people are horribly going to continue to shoot each other and kill each other, and I think it's a disgrace, and I'll head back to Washington," Trump said. "Or I'll have a press conference that's positive."

Trump plans to call European leaders and Zelenskyy after his meeting with Putin to discuss next steps. He promised that the next meeting would involve both Putin and Zelenskyy.

"I will put the two of them in a room," he said. "I think it will get solved."

Trump is scheduled to meet with Putin at Alaska’s Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson around 3:00 p.m. Eastern.

Brent Sadler, a national security senior research fellow with the Heritage Foundation, told Blaze News, “The best outcome is Putin beginning to talk and giving up his maximalist approach to negotiations. Trump is not likely to suffer another Putin ploy to string him along, making this meeting more consequential and high-risk for Moscow, with secondary sanctions and tariffs already placing a cost on those still supporting or doing business with Russia.”

When contacted for a comment, the White House directed Blaze News to the statements made by Trump and Leavitt ahead of the summit.

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'Where's the Money?': Zelenskyy faces demand for U.S. aid audit

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is facing criticism from President Trump, who posted on Truth Social that Zelenskyy’s recent boasting that Ukraine “will not legally recognize the occupation of Crimea” is “harmful to the Peace Negotiations with Russia.”

“Crimea was lost years ago under the auspices of President Barack Hussein Obama and is not even a point of discussion. Nobody is asking Zelenskyy to recognize Crimea as Russian territory but, if he wants Crimea, why didn’t they fight for it 11 years ago when it was handed over to Russia without a shot being fired?” Trump continued in his post.

“It’s inflammatory statements like Zelenskyy’s that makes it so difficult to settle this War. He has nothing to boast about. The situation for Ukraine is dire — he can have Peace or, he can fight for another three years before losing the whole Country,” he added.

Pat Gray of “Pat Gray Unleashed” notes that President Trump has repeated this sentiment several times, and it “just doesn’t seem to be registering with Zelenskyy.”

However, Zelenskyy isn’t just facing criticism from President Trump.

The Ukrainian president also sat down with the Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro, who asked him some hard-hitting questions — including where the money he’s received from the United States is going.

“I want to start by asking you about the meeting that you had in the Oval Office. How do you feel that you could have handled things better with the president and the vice president?” Shapiro asked the Ukrainian president.

“The meeting in the Oval Office — it did not help Ukraine,” he replied.

Shapiro then dug a little deeper, pointing out to Zelenskyy that the United States has spent nearly $200 billion on the defense of Ukraine. “Would an audit be possible by the United States of where those dollars are going?” Shapiro pressed.

“We are ready to have any inspections from the very beginning of the war. The inspectors coming from the United States, Europe, and our own inspectors — they’re working. We have complete reporting counting, absolutely transparent within the Ministry of Defense,” Zelenskyy responded.

“There is access to all the figures starting from the very first year of the war,” he continued, adding that “most of those money were in the form of weapons.”

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Will Russia declare WAR on America after Biden greenlights ATACMS missiles for Ukraine?

Putin has been clear: If Ukraine fires long-range missiles into Russia, the country will consider the missile-supplier, as well as other NATO countries, its enemies in its war against Ukraine.

“If this decision is made, it will mean nothing less than the direct participation of NATO countries, the United States, and European countries, in the war in Ukraine," he said back in September.

And now America finds herself on that precarious edge of what many are saying will be the next world war, as President Biden has authorized Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to launch ATACMS missiles deeper into Russian territory following a major shift in policy that occurred over the weekend.

The Ukrainian government has been persistent in urging Washington to approve ATACMS for a while now, but Biden has remained reluctant to greenlight the initiative to avoid more U.S. involvement in the war.

But now that that’s changed, there are two burning questions we’re all asking: What does it look like for Russia to consider the United States its enemy in the war? And why would President Biden do this?

Glenn Beck and his head writer and researcher Jason Buttrill explore the possibilities.

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World War III?

“Biden has put us at the brink of World War III,” says Glenn.

“The threat of that is obviously a lot higher,” agrees Jason, who’s a former Department of Defense intelligence analyst.

However, “I think Putin's response will probably be to take out those missiles as quickly as possible.” Even though “the threat of a nuclear weapon is there,” the chances are, “Putin is not going to nuke a city.”

“The biggest threat will be a tactical nuclear weapon,” which is “a low yield weapon made specifically for the battlefield,” Jason predicts.

“Let's say there's some ATACMS surrounded by several battalions of Ukrainian troops. Well, the only way to be sure that they take it out is to use a tactical low yield nuclear weapon that will take out that entire battle space, including the ATACMS,” he explains, adding that is “the more likely scenario.”

Even though this wouldn’t be the kind of nuclear warfare everyone fears, it “would still be a big international faux pas if [Russia] did something like that,” and it would certainly “be escalatory.”

Undoubtedly, it would put the United States in a precarious position.

“Do we allow them to press the button on it and fire that missile, or do we send actual U.S. assets in to take out the areas inside Russia so they don't even have time to press the button?” asks Jason.

If the latter happens, “Then it escalates to a completely different level.”

Why now?

“Why would we do this?” asks Glenn.

Jason’s theory is “regime survival.”

When it comes to “the DOD-security-military complex ... I think that they are terrified of any change in the status quo with the Trump administration,” he says. “I think that they would love to see us push to a point of no return, where we can't do the things that Trump said that he was going to do.”

“I think they are driving us to a point of no return, where Trump and his Cabinet have no choice but to continue,” he adds. “That's the only reason that makes sense two months before they take power.”

To hear more of the conversation, including whether or not Russia wants the U.S. more involved in the war, what’s going on with the undersea communications cables in the Baltic Sea that were suddenly cut on Monday, and British Airways losing communications with its aircraft following a major IT outage, watch the clip above.

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Who’s really at war with Ukraine? Apparently 'it’s not Russia'

Even though Russia invaded Ukraine over two years ago, the ongoing war between the two countries still has many people confused. Who’s the good guy in this situation? Surely, it’s not Putin. But Zelenskyy? What about the U.S. and the other countries offering aid to Ukraine?

According to founder and CEO of “Truth in Media” Ben Swann, "none of the above" is the answer. Despite the various narratives surrounding the war, Swann claims that Ukraine is actually a pawn in a much bigger game.

Swann recently joined Auron MacIntyre to explain how Ukraine became a “corrupt slush fund for the global managerial elite.”

“Is there something particular about the culture or the way that Ukraine is structured or the corruption there that allows United States companies or officials to profit uniquely from Ukraine?” MacIntyre asked.

“There’s a couple of things, actually,” Swann said. “Ukraine itself was historically, in the last 40 years, infamously ... one of the most corrupt countries on the planet. ... It’s run by oligarchs; it was handed over and basically auctioned off to the highest bidder; it is essentially run by gangsters.”

Further, “we have within the United States a whole lot of political players who have managed to get themselves involved in Ukraine,” including the Biden family, which we know “has business interests” in the country, Swann explained.

“Ukraine is being handed over. It’s not just about the war but the rebuilding effort afterwards; it’s the massive global funds that are being set up to administer hundreds of billions of dollars going back into Ukraine and the control of that.”

Swann went on to explain that Argentina has had the highest International Monetary Fund debt of any country, which is why Javier Milei was elected — to hopefully recover their “famously destroyed economy.” However, once the warring between Russia and Ukraine comes to an end, “by a long margin ... it will be Ukraine.”

A lot of the global money being funneled into Ukraine — money we’ve been told is a generous gift to aid their war against Russia — “is no longer a gift” and “no longer aid.”

“It’s a loan,” Swann said. “[The money] is all being restructured into loans that now the nation of Ukraine and the people of Ukraine will owe for generations” — billions, if not trillions of dollars that will take “lifetimes” to pay off.

“If you really want to look at who’s at war with Ukraine and who just conquered Ukraine, it’s multinational corporations; it’s not Russia. The real winner — the real entity that has won a war without firing a bullet at the people of Ukraine — is multinational corporations that now own that country and will own it into the foreseeable future,” Swann concluded.

To hear MacIntyre’s response, watch the video below.

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Glenn Beck’s powerful message about a potential draft

Glenn Beck wears many hats. He’s a radio host, a political commentator, a television producer, an entrepreneur, an author, and the CEO, founder, and owner of Mercury Radio Arts.

But he’s also a dad.

And it’s that precious role that has him worried about what President Biden did yesterday in regard to Operation Atlantic Resolve.

On July 13, Biden authorized 3,000 reserve troops to be called up by the military, even though tens of thousands were already sent overseas last year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“My first thought,” Glenn says, “was that my son is of draft age, and my son is not going to fight in a war that I don’t even know what we’re fighting for.”

“I want somebody to stand up and say no – no, we are not going to go into World War III,” he continues.

2024 presidential candidate Tim Scott agrees: “Sending any of my family members or your family members to a foreign land for a purse that we cannot identify is just an impossibility for me.”

Watch the full clip here.

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Where the Ukraine Money Is Actually Going | 4/17/23

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'There's no deal until there's a deal': Trump says Alaska meeting with Putin was 'extremely productive'

Bitter rival Hillary Clinton admits Trump would deserve glory if he ends Russia-Ukraine war

Trump is optimistic ahead of Putin meeting — predicts 25% chance of failure

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