Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton's warnings about Trump and Putin resurface - what did they say?

After US president Donald Trump was reportedly “steamrolled” by Russian president Vladimir Putin during an almost three-hour-long meeting in Alaska on Friday – by Fox News, no less – Twitter/X users have reposted videos from previous election debates arguing that former rivals Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris “were right” about Trump’s interactions with Putin.

Putin met with Trump on US soil to discuss bringing about an end to the war in Ukraine, but talks ended with no agreement on a ceasefire, and the Russian leader suggesting the next round of talks between the two countries could take place in Moscow.

In 2016, responding to Trump’s claim that Putin has “no respect” for her, Clinton said: “Well, that’s because he’d rather have a puppet as president of the United States.

“It’s pretty clear you won’t admit … that you are willing to spout the Putin line, sign up to his wish list, break up Nato, do whatever he wants to do, and that you continue to get help from him, because he has a very clear favourite in this race.”

Republicans Against Trump shared the footage again this week, writing that “Hillary was right”:

With Trump continuing to boast about his work to bring about peace and an end to global conflicts, Clinton said on Friday that she will “nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize myself” if the president can negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine “without Ukraine having to cede territory”.

She added: “Trump should know by now that he's not meeting with a friend of the United States today.

“He is meeting with an adversary who wants America's destruction and the end of the entire western alliance.”

More recently, former US vice president Kamala Harris issued similar warnings about Trump’s relationship with Putin during their election debate last year.

She said: “If Donald Trump were president, Putin would be sitting in Kiev right now – and understand what that would mean, because Putin’s agenda is not just about Ukraine.

“Understand why the European allies and our Nato allies are so thankful that you are no longer president, and that we understand the importance of the greatest military alliance the world has ever known – which is Nato – and what we have done to preserve the ability of [Ukrainian president Volodymyr] Zelensky and Ukrainians to fight for their independence.

“Otherwise, Putin will be sitting in Kiev with his eyes on the rest of Europe, starting with Poland, and why don’t you tell the 800,000 Polish Americans, right here in Pennsylvania, how quickly you would give up, for the sake of favour, and what you think is a friendship, with what is known to be a dictator, who would eat you for lunch.”

Singer-songwriter Ricky Davila argued both Clinton and Harris were “right about everything” because “Putin only met [Trump in Alaska] to confirm that he in fact owns him like a puppet”:

A day after the meeting, Trump took to his Truth Social platform to claim it was a “great and very successful day in Alaska” and that following conversations with Zelensky, European leaders and Nato secretary general Mark Rutte, “it was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war … is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up”.

The move away from a ceasefire has since seen Trump accused of ‘capitulating to Putin’ by former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt:

The next step in talks to bring about an end to the conflict takes place on Monday, when Zelensky travels to Washington for discussions with Trump, which hopefully won’t end up like the infamous February blowout.

Why not read…

• Fox News stuns Trump critics with ‘brutal’ assessment of Alaska talks
• Trump critics think this one comment proves Putin ‘manipulated’ him

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