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Trump and Putin to Meet Face-to-face in Alaska Soon; Air Force One Lands in Alaska Ahead of Trump-Putin Summit. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired August 15, 2025 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Trump expected to arrive in the summit later this hour, a highly anticipated sit down which the White House says could lay the groundwork for another meeting, potentially a trilateral one between Putin, Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine. The president expressing confidence that this meeting could lay the groundwork for eventual peace in Eastern Europe. Special coverage of the Trump-Putin Summit in Alaska continues right now with Anderson Cooper and Jake Tapper.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: You are looking over the last frontier of the United States, Anchorage, Alaska, as the world prepares for what could be one of the most defining moments of Donald J. Trump's presidency. These are live images coming in now from Joint Base Elmendorf- Richardson, right outside Anchorage. It's the site of today's crucial summit. We expect Air Force One containing President Trump to touch down in just moments for President Trump's high-risk, high-reward potentially, attempt at diplomacy. In just over an hour, President Trump will host Russian Leader, Vladimir Putin, here on American soil. Welcome to a Special Edition of "CNN News Central." I'm Jake Taper in Anchorage, Alaska.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR OF "ANDERSON COOPER 360": And I'm Anderson Cooper in Washington, D.C. Here's how we expect today's incredibly rare face-to-face meeting to actually play out. Shortly after President Trump lands, the Russian delegation will arrive in Alaska. Now, the White House says that Trump and Putin will have a one-on-one meeting with only translators present before lunch, both team -- with both teams from both sides, and then a news conference. Now, the leader not included today, of course, is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

TAPPER: Anderson, the White House spent the last few days trying to manage expectations for this summit, lowering them to be precise. The goal, of course, of the president is to end a war, not just a war, but the bloodiest war in Europe since World War II. But the White House is now characterizing this meeting as a mere listening session, as President Trump is even admitting there's a 25 percent chance this meeting will not be successful. Though he did say today that he will not be happy if a ceasefire is not agreed to today.

There is so much on the line here, Anderson. Russian attacks on Ukraine continue. This video comes to us from Northern Ukraine, it's the site of a Russian missile strike on civilian infrastructure. And elsewhere in central Ukraine, one civilian was killed and another wounded in a separate Russian strike. Russian forces are still trying to push through the front lines inside Ukraine. And Russia and Ukraine have rejected President Trump's suggestion that both sides will ultimately have to give up land in a land swap, a territory swap to end this war.

Plus, the potential lasting impacts of this summit cannot be understated. Western leaders are warning that if Putin gets his way with Ukraine, he will not be satisfied with just Ukraine. He'll continue to invade other countries. This very meeting itself, here on American soil, with Putin having given zero concessions, does serve as a bolstering of Putin, who many in Western diplomatic circles frankly see as a bloodthirsty tyrant.

Our team is in place to cover this story as only CNN can with our correspondents here on the ground in Alaska, and in both Moscow and Kyiv to get live reaction from leaders there to today's development. CNN Anchor and Chief Whitehouse Correspondent, Kaitlan Collins, is at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, which is a few miles away from where I am. In fact, you can see the area right over my right shoulder, kind of. Kaitlan, how is President Trump setting the tone for this meeting?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITEHOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, if you peer over the trees, Jake, you can -- you can see us. But yeah, this is where we are waiting on Presidents Trump and Putin to arrive here shortly. I'm actually standing inside the room right now where they are both scheduled to hold a joint press conference after that meeting happens, Jake. And that could be very telling of how Trump thinks that meeting went. Because if he comes out here by himself, that could be an indication that he did not hear from the Russian leader inside that meeting today, what he wanted to hear, what he came here to hear.

And as you noted, yes, white House officials have been downplaying expectations for this, describing it as a listening exercise, saying that Trump wants to just look Putin in the eyes and see what he wants to do. But Trump himself has made clear, Jake, why he is coming here to Alaska to sit down with the Russian leader and that was on Air Force One on the way here today. He said that everyone is saying that he won't be able to get a ceasefire today, but he said he will not be happy if he leaves Alaska and returns to Washington with no ceasefire in hand.

So, it is clear what he is aiming for here, what he would like to get. And that is going to be the key question as the two leaders go into that room together. One thing that I should note is the president has been leading up to this, Jake, he's been meeting with European leaders, talking to them, meeting and talking to Zelenskyy as well, and says he'll call both of them on the way out of this today.

[14:05:00]

But on the way here, he also spoke to a notable ally of the Kremlins, that is President Lukashenko of Belarus. And during that call, the president praised him, so they talked about prisoner swaps, but also talked Jake about this upcoming summit. And Lukashenko has been very critical of Trump putting deadlines on Putin or anything like that and has also said flatly, he doesn't believe Ukraine could win this war. Not a surprising statement, but one that has resonated with Trump.

So, all of that is kind of setting the stage for what this is going to look like, Jake, as everyone is really waiting here to see what the outcome is going to be, genuinely not knowing what it is. I talked to White House officials who say they have low expectations, but they're hopeful. But everyone is basically waiting to see what happens when the two of them are in the room together.

TAPPER: Yeah, that's fascinating stuff about Lukashenko, President Trump praising him. I think that Trump State Department five years ago, said that Lukashenko was not elected legitimately, quite a change in tone. Kaitlan, standby. We're going to go back to you when President Trump's arrival draws closer.

But right now, let's bring in my panel. We have with me CNN's Kristen Holmes and Jim Sciutto with me in Anchorage. And Kristen, let's start with you. Talk about how big of a meeting this is with the presidents, having Putin come here, welcoming him on American soil. This is, first of all, the first face-to-face between an American leader and the Russian president since Russia invaded Ukraine. It's also the first meeting Putin and Trump have had in something like six years?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, since his first term. And this is a big deal for both leaders and specifically President Trump. Now, when you talk to historians and experts in the field, they say it's a win for Putin that this is on U.S. soil. But President Trump uses this as a win for himself as well, that he got Putin to come to U.S. soil. And one thing to keep in mind is how they actually landed on Alaska.

Of course, as we know it is geographically right in the middle. But in addition to that, there weren't very many places that the two leaders could go given the fact that there was a warrant out for Putin's arrest for war crimes. So, it ended up coming down to Hungary which is ruled by Viktor Orban, who is close with both Trump and Putin, and the United States. And U.S. officials were pleasantly surprised when Putin said yes to United States. Now, this is a big deal for President Trump because one of his biggest campaign promises was that he was going to end this war in 24 hours. Well, obviously it's been --

TAPPER: The first 24 hours.

HOLMES: Exactly. And obviously, it's been six months. And time and time again, President Trump, even by his own admission, has been tapped along by Putin. He's been almost embarrassed by Putin. Gone on the phone with him, come out and said, these are the things we talked about, only to have that night, more strikes in Ukraine, and he's aware of that. So the stakes are very high here for President Trump specifically too.

TAPPER: And just to explain that for our viewers at home, the International Criminal Court has the warrant out --

HOLMES: Right.

TAPPER: -- for Putin's arrest. The United States is not a signatory to that. So there's no legal obligation, I suppose, for --

HOLMES: Although the Secretary of Treasury did lift some sanctions this week, so that Putin could fly into U.S.

TAPPER: So right, because there were other -- other reasons why. How might -- Jim Sciutto, how might the broader international community define success at this summit, is a temporary ceasefire, will that be considered enough?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Temporary ceasefire would move the ball forward, right, in that that would at least temporarily end the pummeling that Ukraine has been suffering even in the last several hours, right? I mean, Russia has not relented in its attacks at all. But I will say, when I speak to European officials, Ukrainian officials as well, there is one, managed expectations in terms of what is possible in this first meeting here, but also some nervousness about how steadfastly Trump will defend not just Ukraine's interests, but Europe's interests going forward. Because first of all, no one is more concerned about the outcome here than the Ukrainian people who have suffered --

TAPPER: Of course.

SCIUTTO: -- so much for the last three-and-a-half years.

TAPPER: Yeah.

SCIUTTO: And I spoke to a Ukrainian parliament member just a short time ago who said, when you talk about land swaps, for instance, you're talking about trading people. Right?

TAPPER: Right.

SCIUTTO: Because Ukrainian people occupy that land. This is very personal for them, no more personal --

TAPPER: Right, just, and I talked to -- I don't know if it was the same one, but a different member of Ukrainian parliament who said, can you imagine if somebody invaded in the United States and the United States just was forced to give up Florida?

SCIUTTO: Of course. Yeah.

TAPPER: It's millions of people.

SCIUTTO: Hundred percent, who are tied to that land. And then for Europeans as well, because they view Russia not just as a threat to Ukraine, but as a threat to Europe. You speak to Eastern European leaders, they fear they'll be next. Right? If Russia wins in Ukraine. So, it's very guttural, personal, visceral to them, the outcome of any peace negotiations. I will say this, Jake, I spoke to a senior European diplomat earlier today who said that prior to this meeting, that European officials and American officials are on the same page, that they've been talking to each other and they feel that Trump and Europe are aligned here which, as you know, given how wide the public gaps have been between European leaders and the president -- [14:10:00]

TAPPER: Yeah.

SCIUTTO: -- in recent months, that's no small thing. Right? I mean, we'll see if that plays out, but at least they're closer than they have been in the past.

TAPPER: So I know that Hungary and the United States are two of the few places where Putin can go and not risk being arrested because of the warrant out for his arrest by the International Criminal Court. Alaska also, there are other reasons to pick Alaska. I mean, the United States purchased Alaska from Russia --

HOLMES: Right.

TAPPER: -- back in 1867 for $7 million.

HOLMES: Well, there's also jokes now that Putin's coming so he can take Alaska back. I think one, again, it is centrally located in terms of geography. But the other part of this is that we know that President Trump did not want to go all the way back to the Mideast, which is the only other place that President Putin was welcome. And that's where the Russians were pushing to have this.

He had just been there in May.

TAPPER: Where? Qatar or some place?

HOLMES: It's a very long trip. Doha, Dubai, both of those were on the list at, all places again that the Russian president is welcome, unlike other places in the world. And Trump was not eager to make that trip again.

TAPPER: Far.

HOLMES: Just May -- yes, exactly. So this is --

TAPPER: 79? In 79?

HOLMES: There is -- there is some geography here that's at play.

TAPPER: OK. Kristen and Jim Sciutto, standby. We are waiting right now for President Trump's arrival any minute at the airbase, Elmendorf- Richardson, just over my right shoulder, just outside of Anchorage. Also ahead, the moment from a past Trump-Putin summit, when President Trump at least appeared to be siding with the Russian president over U.S. intelligence when it comes to Russia's interference in the 2016 election.

Could that cast a shadow over today's historic meeting in any way? We're going to talk with one of Trump's former advisers who was there as a Trump aide for that meeting. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:16:12]

COOPER: And welcome back to CNN Special Coverage. You're looking at live pictures of the U.S. military base in Alaska where at any moment, Air Force One will touch down ahead of a high-stake summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. On panel here is CNN's John King; Abby Phillip; CNN's Senior Political and Global Affairs Commentator and former U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel; John Bolton, former Trump National Security Adviser and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations who was present when then President Trump and Vladimir Putin met in Helsinki in 2018. Also joining us, former CNN Moscow Bureau Chief, Jill Dougherty.

Ambassador, let me start off with you. I want to play that moment for people. That was quite stunning to a lot of people watching at the time, President Trump seemed to back Vladimir Putin over the U.S. intelligence community's assessment about Russian interference in the 2016 election. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: My people came to me, Dan Coats came to me and some others, they said they think it's Russia. I have President Putin, he just said it's not Russia. I will say this, I don't see any reason why it would be. I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: You've written about this in your book, but can you just -- first of all, what were you thinking as his national security adviser at the time, in that moment, but also just his seeming deference to Vladimir Putin? How did you explain it?

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER TRUMP NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Well, I was frozen to my chair. I just -- I couldn't believe what I was hearing and the press conference wasn't over. So I couldn't get up and run out of the room and try and do something about it. But the first thing we did do was get on the phone to Dan Coats, the Director of National Intelligence, to make sure he wasn't about to resign. I mean, that's how bad it was. That's at least our first reaction.

Trump recognized he had made a mistake and he tried to correct it the next day, but nobody believed him. And so, that is the memory of the Helsinki Summit that he will be competing against if they have a joint press conference at the end of this one.

COOPER: Given your experience and how you saw how he interacted and at least in that moment seemed def in front of the cameras, seemed very deferential to Vladimir Putin, what are your thoughts about this summit now and concerns you may have?

BOLTON: Well, I think the real dynamic in this summit is whether Putin can work his KGB magic and get Trump back into the envelope of the Donald-Vladimir friendship. Everything else flows from that. If they're buddies again, then on Ukraine, on all of the bilateral U.S.- Russian issues, I think Putin will have the momentum. If that fails, then you could see what Trump predicted, that if he had a bad meeting, he'd walk out early and have a solo press conference. The longer this goes, the better news it is for Putin.

COOPER: Go ahead.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR AND SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I was just going to say one of the interesting things about this meeting is that the context is so different because Putin is standing in the way of something that Trump really wants, which is the Nobel Peace Prize. He wants peace in this conflict because he promised it. He thinks that this is part of the chips that he's stacking up in terms of peace deals.

And I think that has soured the relationship a little bit more now than it was in Helsinki. And whether Putin can smooth that over, I think you're right, Ambassador Bolton, could entirely determine how this goes for Trump because Trump wants a deal. It's just -- the question is who's going to be on the winning side of the deal? Is it going to be Russia or is it going to be Ukraine?

COOPER: I just want to tell our viewers that is Air Force One, President Trump now within sight of landing. Ambassador Emanuel, what do you think? What are your expectations for those concerns about it?

RAHM EMANUEL, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Look, I mean, I think why did this meeting came about, is because the president threatened Russia with another set of sanctions. I think people have underestimated how vulnerable Russia is after the last three-and-a-half years. They've -- the Finland border, you now have NATO.

[14:20:00]

They lost Armenia to Azerbaijan. They lost Syria. They lost Tehran. Three-and-a-half years, a country a tenth of the size, they can't beat it. And they --

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: So do you think Vladimir Putin is actually ready to make some sort of a deal?

EMANUEL: No, I think that the president underestimates the power he has. He has a tremendous card. And I think what I would add to what Ambassador Bolton said, one piece here, which is what he has to walk out of here is make sure that President Putin understands, I don't have impatience, which I know is going to be very hard for Donald Trump as an impatient person myself. He has to say I can go the distance as far as you want to go. And if he can get his -- Putin's clock readjusted, that's going to be a victory for the United States because time is not on President Putin's side economically, militarily or strategically.

COOPER: Jill Dougherty, a lot of U.S. presidents have misjudged Vladimir Putin over the years. JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yeah. And I think, what I'm worried about would be President Trump is coming in with kind of limited objectives, when you look at it. It's focused very much on Ukraine at this point. Vladimir Putin comes in with a much bigger agenda, a much longer agenda. I mean, he wants to rewrite the end of the Cold War. And if you come in with that, there are ways that Putin can be very impressive and kind of convincing in -- on a personal basis. And I think, Ambassador, you would know, to make something sound logical. I mean, you know, we have to --

COOPER: Well, Ambassador Bolton, you've already said publicly that you think he will come into this wanting to expand this, this is not just about Ukraine. Let's -- it's a business relationship. Let's talk about that. Let's talk about new start talks.

BOLTON: Well, let's talk about the two big leaders in the world getting together. Ukraine is kind of an issue over here we have to deal with. Putin started this yesterday and he started the KGB training manipulation yesterday when he issued a statement saying he was impressed by how serious and energetic the White House was on this peace effort. And then said, in effect, the New START Treaty expires next year. We don't have any negotiations going. We ought to have that in gear.

They could have a deliverable coming out of this meeting just to restart arms control negotiations that may be enough to prevent Trump from posing new sanctions.

COOPER: By the way, John, you don't need KGB training to know that if you flatter President Trump ahead of time, that's probably not a terrible thing to do.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is not. It works with him. Look, he was played in Helsinki, Ambassador Bolton frozen in his chair, not knowing what to do. Here's a chance, to Rahm's point, to start the second Trump term by saying this is going to be different. Now that's not the expectation going in, but that's his -- that's a chance to go in. But Abby, I think made a critical point in that Donald Trump's approach has been, and let's hope we're wrong about this, that what's in it for Donald Trump. Right?

This should be a meeting about what about the United States national security? What about a democracy in the heart of Europe that was invaded by Vladimir Putin -- invaded by Vladimir Putin. President Trump is not on the plane, he hasn't talked openly about security guarantees. He hasn't asked talked openly about Ukraine. Ukraine almost seems secondary, as the ambassador noted, to this meeting. It's not President Trump's country to negotiate a peace deal.

It would be wonderful if he could send a message to Vladimir Putin, to Rahm''s point, we're going to go the distance here. But this shouldn't be about the Nobel Peace Prize. This should be about somehow getting a progress toward peace in Ukraine that honors Ukraine's borders and lets Ukraine make decisions about land swaps, not the president of the United States. EMANUEL: I was -- as somebody wrote back in The Washington Post on November -- I mean, back in January about he wants -- he's desperate for a Nobel Peace Prize. I'm going to -- if he's successful, I'm going to nominate him for a Nobel Ceasefire Prize, because there is no peace here.

PHILLIP: Yeah.

EMANUEL: At best you got a ceasefire. India-Pakistan, ceasefire. Maybe in Gaza, ceasefire. There isn't no peace prize.

PHILLIP: And on -- and on the --

EMANUEL: And the Nobel Committee, it does not give nominations or awards for peace -- for ceasefires.

(LAUGH)

PHILLIP: So, Ambassador Bolton talked about what are the deliverables that could come out of this that could make Putin look good? Maybe even make Trump feel like he's gotten something. We can't forget the rare earth minerals, which are a big part of this. He tried to get a deal with Ukraine on that, and that fell through in that explosive Oval Office meeting. It turns out a lot of those rare earth minerals are in territory that Russia controls. So, in the Donbas. So just let's be on the lookout for that. Because I mean, Trump -- want in every interaction, in every public moment, Trump is going to want to get a win. And it may or may not have anything to do with a ceasefire or peace in this conflict, because today is just about today and how he wins in this particular conflict.

BOLTON: Let's look who's brought with him. He is brought the Secretary of the Treasury. He is brought the Secretary of Commerce. He's brought Steve Witkoff. The Russians are bringing Kirill Dmitriev, the Head of their Sovereign Wealth Fund, their finance minister. They're -- whenever the one-on-one ends, they're all going to be sitting there and they're not going to be potted plants.

(CROSSTALK)

[14:25:00]

KING: That's a -- that's a critical -- that's a critical point. You say, what's different than Helsinki? Ambassador Bolton was in Helsinki, a traditional Reagan conservative, skeptical of Russia, skeptical of Putin, worried about -- and a defender of democracy. Dan Coats, the Director of National Intelligence, a traditional Indiana conservative, Reagan conservative. Rubio used to be one of those people. Is he now? Is there anybody there -- is there anybody there who actually will view Putin for who he really is? That's my question.

COOPER: Yeah.

KING: They were there in Helsinki. I don't know if they're there.

COOPER: A lot of things to watch for. Jake, back to you. TAPPER: Thank you so much. Really appreciate it, Anderson. CNN's Chief White House Correspondent and Anchor, Kaitlin Collins is at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, where Air Force One has touched down. Kaitlan, who is traveling with President Trump?

COLLINS: Well, Jake, I'll get to the delegation, but I do want to bring you some news that we've just learned as Air Force One has landed. This is what a White House official told the reporters who were on the Air Force One traveling with the president from Washington here to Alaska, which is that that one-on-one meeting that we were expecting to happen between President Trump and President Putin, that Karoline Leavitt confirmed to me the other day was the plan going forward is now no longer happening.

There is no longer going to be a one-on-one. And what we are told by a White House official is that this will now be a three-on-three, meaning, meaning three members of the U.S. delegation and three members of the Russian delegation as well. And what we are told by the White House is that President Trump will be joined in that three-on- three by his Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff and the Secretary of State and Interim National Security Adviser, Marco Rubio. It's not clear who the other, their counterparts from the Russian side will be that are joining President Putin in that meeting.

But that is a huge development here, Jake, in terms of the structure of what this meeting is going to look like. And you've got to look at those two voices who are going to be inside the room with President Trump as this goes forward. One, Steve Witkoff, who is no stranger to Vladimir Putin and has met with him at length and actually was in that last meeting with him that set up all of the motion that put in place this meeting happening here today. So, he does have a lot of experience with the Russian leader.

But then also, Secretary of State Marker Rubio, who of course as a Senator in his previous job, took a very hard-line stance against Russia, was grilling previous officials on whether or not they believed that Putin was a war criminal during Senate confirmation hearings in Trump's first term. He will also be the other voice that is in the room there with President Trump as he is going to be meeting with President Putin. And so that in and of itself, Jake, is quite notable. No longer a one-on-one, instead it will be a three-on-three meeting as the summit gets underway here today.

TAPPER: Fascinating stuff. Kaitlan Collins, standby. So that's really interesting because what you have here, I don't want to say Witkoff is pro-Russia, he's not, but he's certainly been assigned to be somebody to get along with Vladimir Putin to try to negotiate with him versus Marco Rubio who still is a hawk when it comes to Russia.

HOLMES: Yeah, I mean, I can tell you that European leaders are going to be very happy that Marco Rubio is sitting in on that meeting. I think when it comes to Middle Eastern envoys, Steve Witkoff, he is the one who kind of sparked this meeting because of his trip to meet with Putin, because he came back and said Putin wanted to meet with you, and he had some details of a potential deal, which really got the ball rolling on this meeting. But again, as Kaitlan was mentioning, Marco Rubio has taken a very tough stance in the past on Russia. And when you talk to people who are close to President Trump, it is him still in President Trump's ear kind of poking at him when it comes to Putin. And we've seen obviously, Trump shift on this as well.

SCIUTTO: Even thinking back to the first administration, there were times, for instance, when Putin and Trump met solo in his first administration, when there were concerns even from inside Trump's own administration about what Trump might say or agree to, or how he might be swayed by the Russian president without others around him --

TAPPER: Or even what Putin might falsely claim was said, and there's no other witness other than Trump.

SCIUTTO: Exactly. And that's deliberate, right? Because you want to have multiple witnesses, so that you put your own read out, your own spin on it. But that, the deliberate show of force is significant and it seems to be consistent with what I'm hearing from European officials, that there is something of a team approach to this, right, in terms of how they -- how they go head to head with Putin here.

HOLMES: And I could not -- I mean, I think I cannot stress this enough, how different this time is than last time. President Trump has really, even up until the last six months, been mainly an isolationist. He believes that he has the best sense of all of this. He believes that on the world stage, United States first, that his opinion that his gut instinct is the most important instinct. We have seen a real about-face here when it comes to the Russian president. And he has really brought in these European leaders in a way that seemed like he would never do.

TAPPER: Yeah.

HOLMES: Having these conversations, even inviting them to a potential meeting after this with Zelenskyy.

TAPPER: And President Trump told this story, and correct me if I get this wrong, but he was -- this is just a few weeks ago. He was talking about -- he was telling -- he shared this with the country, with the world that he was talking to his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, about how he had just had a very nice conversation with Putin and he thought it went really well, and that the first lady said he just bombed a senior center. Putin just bombed a senior center. Like basically saying, what he just told you is not resulting in any action. He's blowing smoke.

HOLMES: Right.