Secretary of State Marco Rubio fired back at ABC News host Martha Raddatz after she claimed President Donald Trump had “elevated” Russian President Vladimir Putin simply by holding last week’s summit in Alaska.
During the Sunday interview, Raddatz suggested that by welcoming Putin with ceremony, Trump had handed him a symbolic victory. “Critics of President Trump will say the pomp and circumstance — the red carpet, the warm handshake — that President Trump simply lost that, that Putin gained there just by being on the world stage and walking down a red carpet with the president,” she said.
Rubio dismissed the premise outright, laughing at the assertion before explaining that Putin was already a major figure on the global stage regardless of the summit. “Critics of President Trump are always going to find something to criticize, we don’t even pay attention to it anymore, but I will tell you this: Putin is already on the world stage,” Rubio said. He added that Putin controls the second largest nuclear arsenal in the world and has waged a war in Ukraine for more than three years — hardly a leader who needs “elevating.”
.@SecRubio nukes ABC for asking about the “red carpet” for Putin: “You’re not going to end a war between Russia and Ukraine without dealing with Putin… [@POTUS] is the only leader in the world that could get Putin to a meeting to talk about serious things.” pic.twitter.com/daqIzXA9H6
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 17, 2025
The Secretary of State also pointed out that the media itself has made Putin a constant topic, contradicting its own narrative. “When I hear people say that, ‘Oh, it elevates him,’ all we do is talk about Putin all the time. All the media’s done is talk about Putin all the time for the last four or five years,” Rubio said. “That doesn’t mean he’s right about the war, that doesn’t mean he’s justified about the war. But it does mean that if you want a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, you don’t get there without dealing with Putin.”
Rubio went further, saying it was “common sense” that Trump had to engage directly with Putin if there was to be any hope of resolving the conflict. “It’s not the United States at war with Russia,” Rubio said. “President Trump didn’t have to involve himself at all, but he’s the only leader who actually can make progress.”
When pressed by Raddatz to reveal specific concessions Putin may have made during the talks, Rubio refused. He argued that negotiations only work when conducted privately and not as a media spectacle. “What utility would there be of me going on a program and telling you we wagged our finger at Putin and told him you must do this?” Rubio asked. “As much as everyone would love it to be a live pay-per-view event, these discussions only work best when they are conducted privately.”
.@SecRubio: “What utility would there be of me going on a program and telling you we wagged our finger at Putin and told him you must do this? … As much as everyone would love it to be a live PPV event, these discussions ONLY work best when they are conducted privately.” pic.twitter.com/8LFJj06Fgq
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 17, 2025
The post Rubio Slaps Back ABC’s Raddatz For Saying Trump ‘Elevated’ Putin appeared first on Real News Now.
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