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The Situation Room

Putin and Trump Set to Meet; Pentagon Says Pete Hegseth Supports Women's Right to Vote; Interview With Ukrainian Parliament Member Halyna Yanchenko. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired August 15, 2025 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

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[11:30:17]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: As we wait for the Russian and U.S. leaders to arrive here in Anchorage, Alaska, for their crucial summit, let's take a look at Vladimir Putin's complicated history with U.S. presidents.

Here's CNN's Brian Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Vladimir Putin has now been leading Russia across the administrations of five American presidents, a period when he's launched multiple invasions and allegedly overseen assassinations, hacking and meddling campaigns, always while working the angles toward the person in the Oval Office he's dealing with.

SAMUEL CHARAP, RAND CORPORATION: He does at least reportedly employ some of the tactics he learned when he was in the KGB, in terms of assessing -- trying to find weaknesses in those who he's talking to and trying to exploit them.

GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy.

TODD: George W. Bush had only been in office a few months when he swaggered out of a meeting with Vladimir Putin and made a declaration.

BUSH: I was able to get a sense of his soul.

TODD: Almost immediately, then-Senator Joe Biden tried to tamp down enthusiasm for the former KGB colonel.

JOE BIDEN, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'd caution the administration against being excessively optimistic about Mr. Putin and his -- and his intentions.

KEITH DARDEN, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: Joe Biden is one of the poll the American politicians who identified very early the type of man he was dealing with Vladimir Putin. He did not trust Putin. TODD: Ten years after his initial warnings about Putin, Biden, as

vice president, met face-to-face with Putin in Moscow. Biden told a journalist that he said to Putin during that 2011 encounter -- quote -- "I'm looking into your eyes, and I don't think you have a soul."

Biden claimed Putin smiled and replied -- quote -- "We understand one another." Putin later said he didn't remember that exchange, and analysts say Biden hasn't always gotten the Putin portfolio exactly right.

BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: During the Obama administration, Biden was given the charge for that, along with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

TODD: Obama, his vice president, and secretary of state famously tried to hit the reset button with Putin's regime. But by 2013, the relationship was so bad that the two men could barely look at each other during a meeting in Northern Ireland.

Then came Russia's invasion of Crimea and its intervention in Syria during Obama's watch.

CHARAP: I think Obama had a much more difficult time with him trying to maybe understand where he's coming from, but failing in the end.

TODD: Obama's successor thought he'd figured out Putin and that he could cut deals with him.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think I'd get very -- along very well with Vladimir Putin.

TODD: But many analysts believe Putin played Donald Trump from the start, especially when Trump took the word of Putin over his own intelligence agencies, which had concluded that Russia had meddled in the 2016 election.

[11:35:08]

TRUMP: 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.

SANNER: That was the kind of thing where Putin was able, I think, in some ways, to very craftily control the room.

TODD: The analysts we spoke to say one thing that Vladimir Putin has insisted on throughout is to be seen as an equal with any U.S. president he deals with.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Our thanks to Brian Todd there.

Joining us now is a member of the Ukrainian Parliament, Halyna Yanchenko, who, of course, like all of Ukraine, is watching these discussions here in Alaska very closely.

Halyna, thanks so much for joining.

HALYNA YANCHENKO, UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER: Pleasure.

SCIUTTO: You and I have spoken a number of times about your hopes for what President Trump can accomplish in terms of bringing an end to the war there in Ukraine.

Do you believe that when Trump meets with Putin in just a few hours time here, that he will represent Ukraine fairly, that he will keep Ukraine's interests close to heart?

YANCHENKO: Well, he's president of U.S.

So what I hope for him, not even to represent Ukraine with dignity, but to represent U.S. with dignity. I really hope that President Trump will not try to please Putin or make Putin happy or satisfy Putin, but I hope that President Trump will speak and act with power because he's a powerful leader.

And as he numerously said, there is only one language Putin understands, the language of power, the language of force. So, this is what I hope for, and I hope that he will actually use the card of the secondary sections, the strongest card that U.S. and President Trump has on hand.

SCIUTTO: President Trump this morning as he was here to Alaska said that the topic of land concessions by Ukraine, giving up territory to Russia, that he won't discuss that here with Putin, that has to be a decision for Ukraine.

And I wonder if you took some hope from that statement, that, on that very sensitive issue, President Trump won't make a decision over your heads, he says.

YANCHENKO: This is very important that he mentioned this, because, when we are talking about trading the lands, we actually are talking about trading people.

These lands are actually inhabited by Ukrainians, by civilians, but people who live in the villages and cities which Putin wants to take over. And it's simply unfair to trade the fate of these people.

I believe that no one in U.S. would want president of U.S. to decide what country they should belong to, and neither do Ukrainians. We should not trade people and we should not even let authoritarian leaders or leaders of authoritarian regimes like Putin or his friends in Iran, North Korea, or China to actually trade people, people of democratic countries like Ukraine, like U.S., like other democratic countries.

SCIUTTO: I know that it is an extremely sensitive issue for Ukrainian leaders to discuss even the possibility of giving up Ukrainian territory.

But do you believe that, ultimately, realistically, Ukraine will have to, at least for now, give up some land in order to reach peace?

YANCHENKO: Once again, we are not talking about giving up some lands. We are talking about giving up on people who live in those villages and cities.

Do we want to disguise the trading of people? I hope that this is -- this is a part of history already. Trading of people will not happen in this world anymore.

SCIUTTO: President Trump has said that the U.S. will not be directly involved in providing security to Ukraine after any agreement. He seems to be saying that will be up to Europe.

Is that sufficient for Ukraine? Do you believe Ukraine will be safe without some sort of U.S. presence or guarantee?

[11:40:05]

YANCHENKO: Of course, I believe that these negotiations will work better, they will be more efficient and more, sustainable if U.S. will also provide security guarantee.

If U.S. is serving as a mediator, there should be -- like, OK, I will put it in another word. As we already mentioned, Russia understands only the language of force and of power.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

YANCHENKO: And only way to end this war is to force Putin to stop, because we are not invading Russia. It's Russia invading and keeps on invading Ukraine.

So, given this fact, if U.S. wants sustainable end of the war, they should be ready to apply force if Russia breaks the negotiations, if Russia neglects the role of U.S. in this negotiation. Otherwise, it will be simply a weird role of U.S. in all this process.

SCIUTTO: Halyna Yanchenko, member of the Ukrainian Parliament, thanks so much for joining this morning.

And, as I always say to you, given where you are in Kyiv, I wish that you remain safe.

YANCHENKO: Thank you. Thanks.

SCIUTTO: And we will be right back with more.

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[11:45:43]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Breaking news, President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin drawing closer and closer right now to Anchorage, Alaska, and their face-to-face meeting in the coming hours.

Aboard Air Force One just a little while ago, the president told reporters he is not negotiating for Ukraine and isn't promising any security guarantees.

The former NATO supreme allied commander retired U.S. Army General Wesley Clark is joining us right now.

General, thanks so much for joining us, as always.

The president thinks Europe should take the lead on promising security for Ukraine. What's your reaction to that?

WESLEY CLARK, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I think it's going to be difficult on the long term, because dealing with Russia has always required the weight of the U.S. strategic nuclear deterrent. That's the formula that's maintained stability in Europe really since the end of World War II.

So we have got to be careful that we don't withdraw that from Europe. And if we want to really support Ukraine, somehow, the United States has to sort of wedge that in there.

BLITZER: Yes, that's a good point. The United Kingdom says it's ready to, and I'm quoting now, put boots on the ground in Ukraine if Russia agrees to a cease-fire, clearly only if Russia agrees to a cease-fire.

Can Europe alone, do you think, protect Ukraine?

CLARK: Well, it depends on the specifics of the agreement. You need confidence-building measures, not just a cease-fire. But in other words, there needs to be restrictions on Russian mobilizing forces, putting them near the border, maneuver of artillery and rockets, production.

What's going on in Belarus, for example, right now is a buildup of Russian logistics that would support a further assault either into the western part of Ukraine or into the Baltic regions. So, without a complete package of confidence-building measures, putting a couple of thousand British troops, and that's about all you would have on the ground, it's worse than a trip wire, really.

It's just, without the confidence-building measures, it's something that's going to result in rising tensions, a Russian accusation at some point of Ukraine violating the cease-fire and then a scramble on the part of the European nations to decide, do they flee or do they fight?

Because, if they fight, they won't have the forces to really make an appreciable difference in the battlefield. So it's risky. It all depends on the overall package, Wolf. That's what's got to be done.

BLITZER: Yes, it's so critically important.

And other countries, you correctly point out, in Europe are deeply worried about what Russia potentially could do. I have spoken several times with high-ranking Polish officials who fear that whether Russians have done to Ukraine, they could wind up doing at some point towards Poland as well, because they would like to recreate, Russia, the former Soviet Union. You suspect that's an accurate fear?

CLARK: Yes, I do.

And Vladimir Putin's had this dream of recreating the Soviet Union for 25 years. When I was NATO commander, the Europeans would come to me and say, this is what we're hearing. And they all had their connections into Russia. They knew what the ultimate objective's been. He's an intelligence man. He's not a warrior. So he has many different tools.

He has bribery, threats, blandishments, maneuvers, payoffs, corruption, the energy weapon. I mean, he's got a lot of different tools in his toolkit to be able to bring Russia and Europe closer and drive the Americans out.

And what he really would like to do is have America distance itself from Europe. And then he'd like to see China and America at odds, with Russia in the middle. This was Stalin's play in World War II. And Putin understands it very well. Stalin set Japan and the United States at war. He benefited on both sides and ended up with a major part of Europe under Soviet control.

That's the overall scheme.

BLITZER: General Wesley Clark, thanks so much for joining us. Always good to have your analysis.

And we will be right back.

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[11:54:09]

BROWN: Well, the Pentagon is now clarifying that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth does believe women should have the right to vote.

This comes after he reposted my SITUATION ROOM special report about Christian nationalism that came out last week. I spoke with Pastor Doug Wilson and his pastors in his network called the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches. I spoke with him out in Moscow, Idaho. That is where the community is based, but they have churches all over the world.

And Hegseth is one of their most prominent followers. Of course, he is in the president's Cabinet right now.

Here's part of my report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DOUG WILSON, SENIOR PASTOR, CHRIST CHURCH: Women are the kind of people that people come out of.

BROWN: So, you just think they're meant to have babies. That's it. They're just a vessel. WILSON: No, it doesn't take any talent to simply reproduce

biologically. The wife and mother, who is the chief executive of the home, is entrusted with three or four or five eternal souls.

[11:55:05]

BROWN (voice-over): Wilson says in his vision of a Christian society, women as individuals shouldn't be able to vote. His fellow pastors Jared Longshore and Toby Sumpter, agree.

TOBY SUMPTER, SENIOR PASTOR, KING'S CROSS CHURCH: In my ideal society, we would vote as households. And I would ordinarily be the one that would cast the vote, but I would cast the vote having discussed it with my household.

BROWN: But what if your wife doesn't want to vote for the same person as you?

SUMPTER: Right. Well, then that's a great opportunity for a good discussion.

BROWN: There are some who have gone so far as to say that they want the 19th Amendment repealed.

JARED LONGSHORE, EXECUTIVE PASTOR, CHRIST CHURCH: I would support that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And then he went on to say it's because he doesn't think the atomization in society is good for humans.

Now, the Pentagon press secretary was asked about whether Hegseth thought women should have the right to vote. Kingsley Wilson told reporters -- quote -- "Of course the secretary thinks that women should have the right to vote. That's a stupid question."

But, of course, it's not a stupid question, because Hegseth literally retweeted our report with pastors and his church congregation saying that women should not have the right to vote, that it should be up to the household, and households, in their view, are led by the man, the husband.

When pressed on whether Hegseth disagreed with the pastors on other issues like criminalizing gay sex and turning the U.S. into a Christian theocracy, she reiterated the -- quote -- that "Hegseth appreciates many of Wilson's writings and teachings. I'm not going to litigate every single aspect of what he may or may not believe in a certain video."

BLITZER: Excellent reporting. Thank you very, very much.

BROWN: Thank you.

BLITZER: And, to our viewers, thanks very much for joining us this morning. You can always keep up with us on social media @WolfBlitzer, @PamelaBrownCNN. We will see you back here Monday morning, every weekday morning 10:00 a.m. Eastern.

CNN's special coverage of the Trump-Putin summit continues next with Jake Tapper.