August 20, 2025 • 13 mins
During this Briefing, Jon Decker unpacks the latest developments in America’s involvement in the war in Ukraine, with a focus on security guarantees, the U.S. military presence, and potential high-level bilateral meetings. Decker explores the delicate balance of peace negotiations, the challenges of diplomacy, and the far-reaching political consequences of Washington’s continued support for Kyiv. The White House Briefing Room airs daily on the iHeartRadio App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to the White House Briefing Room for Wednesday, August twentieth,
John Dekker. A day after President Trump's historic meeting in
the Oval Office with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenski and his
expanded meeting with seven European leaders in the East Room,
the White House is providing further details about the security
(00:27):
guarantees that it will provide to Ukraine if and when
a peace deal with Russia is ultimately reached.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
He has directed his team to come up with a
framework for these security guarantees that can be acceptable to
help insure a lasting piece and end this world.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
That was White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt in the
briefing room on Tuesday, and she was peppered with many
questions during Tuesday's briefing about whether a bilateral summit between
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Zelenski will actually
take place. Let's listen to what Caroline Levitt had to
(01:02):
say in response to that question.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
I can assure you that the United States government and
the Trump administration is working with both Russia and Ukraine
to make that bilateral happen.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
As we speak. We begin this Wednesday with the focus
on security guarantees and what the US might offer Ukraine
to maintain the peace after a peace deal is signed
by Russia and Ukraine. This is something that the Europeans
are insisting upon. It's something that President Zelenski is insisting upon,
(01:33):
the idea that even if a peace deal is signed,
there needs to be assurances that at some point in
the future, whether it's a few weeks after the peace deal,
a few months after the peace deal, or even a
few years after the peace deal, that Russia doesn't try
to enter into Ukraine's sovereign territory once again and take
(01:57):
over its territory. And so that's why the issue of
security guarantees is so important now as part of any
peace deal to end the war in Ukraine, European leaders
and President Zelenski they're seeking these security guarantees from the
US and they're aimed at preventing Russia from another Ukraine invasion.
(02:18):
The President on Tuesday, in an interview that he did
on Fox News, ruled out the positioning of any US
troops on Ukrainian soil as part of a post peace
deal security force. Let's listen to what Caroline Levitt, the
White House Press secretary had to say in regards to
(02:38):
what the President said on Fox earlier in the day.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
The President has definitively stated US boots will not be
on the ground in Ukraine, but we can certainly help
in the coordination and perhaps provide other means of security
guarantees to our European allies.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt has acknowledged that security
guarantees are a necessary, very component to any peace deal.
Let's listen to her on that point. In the briefing
room on Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
The President understands security guarantees are crucially important to ensure
a lasting piece, and he has directed his national security
team to coordinate with our friends in Europe and also
to continue to cooperate and discuss these matters with Ukraine
and Russian as well.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
But one thing that Levitt did not rule out during
Tuesday's briefing a US air presence as a form of
security to maintain the peace in Ukraine. Let's listen to
Caroline Levitt here.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
It is an option and a possibility. I won't certainly
rule out anything as far as military options that the
President has at his disposal. I'll let him do that.
I can tell you he's definitively ruled out boots on
the ground now.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
One reason for President Trump's insistence that there will be
no boots on the ground is a promise that he's
made while campaigning for president and a promise that he
generally kept while well being president in the first term,
and that is not to entangle the US militarily in
foreign wars. So the President Austin speaks of this idea
(04:10):
of forever wars, and some of the President's Republican allies
are putting pressure on him not to entangle the US
militarily in Ukraine. One of the President's biggest supporters in
the Senate is Senator Tommy Tuberville, and he was asked
how big of an ask it would be of his
(04:31):
constituents if he signed off on ground forces American ground
forces on the ground in Ukraine, and Tuberville, in response
to questions that he took on Capitol Hill on Tuesday,
said it would be an impossible sell. He said the
American people aren't going to go for it, and he
said the people in Alabama would be definitely against it.
(04:54):
So the Magabase is very much against boots on the ground.
American boots on the g and that's the reason why
there needs to be a focus, from the administration's point
of view, of other ways to assist a security force
that may be in place in Ukraine after a peace
deal is signed, and that security force would be made
(05:16):
up of Europeans. Already, the UK, France, and Germany have
committed to providing forces on the ground to maintain the peace,
numbering in the thousands if and when a peace deal
is ultimately reached in Ukraine. Now, President Trump has said
that he expects Russian President Putin to accept the presence
(05:38):
of Western troops European troops in Ukraine, but Russia has
already objected to this idea of sending troops to Ukraine
from members of NATO. In fact, a Russian government Foreign
Ministry spokesman on Tuesday said such a step could lead
to an uncontrollable sque of the conflict with unpredictable consequences,
(06:04):
So Russia right now is against it, even though the
President says they could be seen down the road of
being for this idea if there is not an American
presence on Ukraine soil. Now, the President did not specify
the role that the US military might have in providing
(06:24):
air support to a European ground force, whether it would
include warplanes for instance, or air defense systems or even
surveillance drons. Now, the Pentagon could deploy aircraft outside of
Ukraine to protect those European troops, including jet fighters. The
US could also fly European troops and equipment on its
(06:47):
cargo planes, or provide ground based air defense systems to
those European forces, and also contribute military intelligence. So those
are all ideas that the US could provide in terms
of assisting in the effort to provide those security guarantees
to Ukraine without having boots on the ground. Now, over
(07:11):
the past few days, Steve Witkoff, he's the special envoy
to President Trump, he suggested that President Putin would agree
to European troop deployments in Ukraine as part of this
post war security arrangement, so long as Ukraine does not
join NATO and the ground forces are not actually organized
(07:33):
by NATO. So we know that that's what mister Wikoff
has said, but Russia once again has denounced this idea
of international troops patrolling Ukraine. So this is a big
roadblock as things stand. Right now, as German Chancellor Mertz
said in the East Room on Monday, the difficult part
(07:55):
now begins. Even though there was unity expressed in that
meeting in the East Room with President Zelensky with President
Trump on Monday, the hard part now begins in terms
of figuring out the details for everything regarding those security guarantees.
Also on Tuesday, in the briefing, Caroline Levitt was asked
what comes next in the near term after the President's
(08:19):
meeting on Friday with President Putin and his meeting in
the White House on Monday with President Zelenski. Let's listen
to what Caroline Levitt had to say in regards to
that question.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
And he's understanding what both sides want, what both sides
are going to have to give up, and he has
always said, in order to get a good deal, both
sides are going to have to walk away a little
bit unhappy.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Since Monday's meeting in the East Room with those European leaders,
the President has settled on this idea of having a
bilateral meeting first, a meeting between President Zelenski and President Putin,
before what the President calls a trilad, a trilateral meeting
in which he would be involved as a meeting. White
(09:01):
House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt explained the genesis for this
idea of a bilateral meeting.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Well, look, the President has spoken to both leaders about this,
and both leaders have expressed a willingness to sit down
with each other, and so our national security team will
help both countries do that. Ultimately, the President has always
said that there are areas of disagreement in this war
that will have to be discussed and decided upon by
these two countries, and so he wants these two countries
(09:29):
to engage in direct diplomacy. He said that from the
very beginning, which is why he's agreeable to the idea
of having President Zelensky and President Putin get together. And
I understand accommodations for that meeting are underway. As soon
as we hear more details, we'll be sure to.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Let all of And she was also asked during the
briefing why this bilateral meeting, why this bilateral summit versus
a trilateral summit involving President Trump, and she gave an
answer to that question as well during the course of
the briefing.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
It was an idea that evolved in the course of
the pre conversations with both President Putin, President Zelenski and
the European leaders yesterday.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
So it's still not clear when and where a bilateral
meeting would actually take place. There have been reports of
possibly in Hungary or possibly in Switzerland, but nothing firm
just yet, and we also don't know the timing of
such a meeting. The President wants to see such a
meeting take place sooner rather than later, but you can
(10:28):
see there are a lot of issues that still need
to be worked out before a meeting can actually take place,
and of course that meeting needs to take place, according
to the President before he gets involved in the process.
He's in the room when President Zelensky is meeting with
President Putin. It seems very far off at this point,
(10:50):
but things have moved very quickly. Think about the fact
that on Friday the President was in Alaska meeting with
President Putin, and on Monday he's back at the White
House meeting with President Zelenski, and according to all the
participants in that meeting on Wednesday, it went very well.
There is unity among America's European allies. There is unity
(11:15):
between President Trump and President Zelenski, so that's a good start.
But as the President often says, it takes two to tango.
And there we're talking about President Putin. And as we know,
President Putin essentially rejected the idea of a ceasefire, and again,
you can't have a ceasefire if he's not for it.
(11:35):
And right now he seems to be rejecting the idea
of an immediate bilateral meeting with President Zelenski of Ukraine.
And if one party doesn't want to have the meeting,
the meeting won't happen. The President is optimistic, one of
his traits is optimism, and he believes that this particular
meeting can happen and will happen. And we heard that
(11:58):
also from White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt a few
times during Tuesday's briefing. So a lot still needs to
be worked out as it relates to next steps, a
worked out as far as security guarantees are concerned, worked
out as far as where this next meeting will happen,
where it will happen, and what the focus of that
(12:20):
meeting will be. In the meantime, on Wednesday, there will
be one event on the President's schedule. He is participating
in the swearing in ceremony for the new US Ambassador
to the European Union, Andrew Puster. He's a former fast
food chain CEO. He was confirmed just two weeks ago
(12:41):
by the US Senate fifty three forty four, and he
will be confirmed in this very important role. When you
factor in how important the EU is on military issues,
national security issues, trade issues, this is an important role
and I have no doubt that when the President participate
and the swearing in ceremony on Wednesday afternoon at four pm,
(13:04):
he will likely take questions regarding the latest that he
can offer about whether we can get to a peace
deal and whether or not that would be in the
near future. That's the White House briefing room for Wednesday,
August the twentieth. I'm John Decker. Have a good one.
Welcome to the White House Briefing Room for Wednesday, August twentieth,
John Dekker. A day after President Trump's historic meeting in
the Oval Office with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenski and his
expanded meeting with seven European leaders in the East Room,
the White House is providing further details about the security
(00:27):
guarantees that it will provide to Ukraine if and when
a peace deal with Russia is ultimately reached.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
He has directed his team to come up with a
framework for these security guarantees that can be acceptable to
help insure a lasting piece and end this world.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
That was White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt in the
briefing room on Tuesday, and she was peppered with many
questions during Tuesday's briefing about whether a bilateral summit between
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Zelenski will actually
take place. Let's listen to what Caroline Levitt had to
(01:02):
say in response to that question.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
I can assure you that the United States government and
the Trump administration is working with both Russia and Ukraine
to make that bilateral happen.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
As we speak. We begin this Wednesday with the focus
on security guarantees and what the US might offer Ukraine
to maintain the peace after a peace deal is signed
by Russia and Ukraine. This is something that the Europeans
are insisting upon. It's something that President Zelenski is insisting upon,
(01:33):
the idea that even if a peace deal is signed,
there needs to be assurances that at some point in
the future, whether it's a few weeks after the peace deal,
a few months after the peace deal, or even a
few years after the peace deal, that Russia doesn't try
to enter into Ukraine's sovereign territory once again and take
(01:57):
over its territory. And so that's why the issue of
security guarantees is so important now as part of any
peace deal to end the war in Ukraine, European leaders
and President Zelenski they're seeking these security guarantees from the
US and they're aimed at preventing Russia from another Ukraine invasion.
(02:18):
The President on Tuesday, in an interview that he did
on Fox News, ruled out the positioning of any US
troops on Ukrainian soil as part of a post peace
deal security force. Let's listen to what Caroline Levitt, the
White House Press secretary had to say in regards to
(02:38):
what the President said on Fox earlier in the day.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
The President has definitively stated US boots will not be
on the ground in Ukraine, but we can certainly help
in the coordination and perhaps provide other means of security
guarantees to our European allies.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt has acknowledged that security
guarantees are a necessary, very component to any peace deal.
Let's listen to her on that point. In the briefing
room on Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
The President understands security guarantees are crucially important to ensure
a lasting piece, and he has directed his national security
team to coordinate with our friends in Europe and also
to continue to cooperate and discuss these matters with Ukraine
and Russian as well.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
But one thing that Levitt did not rule out during
Tuesday's briefing a US air presence as a form of
security to maintain the peace in Ukraine. Let's listen to
Caroline Levitt here.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
It is an option and a possibility. I won't certainly
rule out anything as far as military options that the
President has at his disposal. I'll let him do that.
I can tell you he's definitively ruled out boots on
the ground now.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
One reason for President Trump's insistence that there will be
no boots on the ground is a promise that he's
made while campaigning for president and a promise that he
generally kept while well being president in the first term,
and that is not to entangle the US militarily in
foreign wars. So the President Austin speaks of this idea
(04:10):
of forever wars, and some of the President's Republican allies
are putting pressure on him not to entangle the US
militarily in Ukraine. One of the President's biggest supporters in
the Senate is Senator Tommy Tuberville, and he was asked
how big of an ask it would be of his
(04:31):
constituents if he signed off on ground forces American ground
forces on the ground in Ukraine, and Tuberville, in response
to questions that he took on Capitol Hill on Tuesday,
said it would be an impossible sell. He said the
American people aren't going to go for it, and he
said the people in Alabama would be definitely against it.
(04:54):
So the Magabase is very much against boots on the ground.
American boots on the g and that's the reason why
there needs to be a focus, from the administration's point
of view, of other ways to assist a security force
that may be in place in Ukraine after a peace
deal is signed, and that security force would be made
(05:16):
up of Europeans. Already, the UK, France, and Germany have
committed to providing forces on the ground to maintain the peace,
numbering in the thousands if and when a peace deal
is ultimately reached in Ukraine. Now, President Trump has said
that he expects Russian President Putin to accept the presence
(05:38):
of Western troops European troops in Ukraine, but Russia has
already objected to this idea of sending troops to Ukraine
from members of NATO. In fact, a Russian government Foreign
Ministry spokesman on Tuesday said such a step could lead
to an uncontrollable sque of the conflict with unpredictable consequences,
(06:04):
So Russia right now is against it, even though the
President says they could be seen down the road of
being for this idea if there is not an American
presence on Ukraine soil. Now, the President did not specify
the role that the US military might have in providing
(06:24):
air support to a European ground force, whether it would
include warplanes for instance, or air defense systems or even
surveillance drons. Now, the Pentagon could deploy aircraft outside of
Ukraine to protect those European troops, including jet fighters. The
US could also fly European troops and equipment on its
(06:47):
cargo planes, or provide ground based air defense systems to
those European forces, and also contribute military intelligence. So those
are all ideas that the US could provide in terms
of assisting in the effort to provide those security guarantees
to Ukraine without having boots on the ground. Now, over
(07:11):
the past few days, Steve Witkoff, he's the special envoy
to President Trump, he suggested that President Putin would agree
to European troop deployments in Ukraine as part of this
post war security arrangement, so long as Ukraine does not
join NATO and the ground forces are not actually organized
(07:33):
by NATO. So we know that that's what mister Wikoff
has said, but Russia once again has denounced this idea
of international troops patrolling Ukraine. So this is a big
roadblock as things stand. Right now, as German Chancellor Mertz
said in the East Room on Monday, the difficult part
(07:55):
now begins. Even though there was unity expressed in that
meeting in the East Room with President Zelensky with President
Trump on Monday, the hard part now begins in terms
of figuring out the details for everything regarding those security guarantees.
Also on Tuesday, in the briefing, Caroline Levitt was asked
what comes next in the near term after the President's
(08:19):
meeting on Friday with President Putin and his meeting in
the White House on Monday with President Zelenski. Let's listen
to what Caroline Levitt had to say in regards to
that question.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
And he's understanding what both sides want, what both sides
are going to have to give up, and he has
always said, in order to get a good deal, both
sides are going to have to walk away a little
bit unhappy.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Since Monday's meeting in the East Room with those European leaders,
the President has settled on this idea of having a
bilateral meeting first, a meeting between President Zelenski and President Putin,
before what the President calls a trilad, a trilateral meeting
in which he would be involved as a meeting. White
(09:01):
House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt explained the genesis for this
idea of a bilateral meeting.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Well, look, the President has spoken to both leaders about this,
and both leaders have expressed a willingness to sit down
with each other, and so our national security team will
help both countries do that. Ultimately, the President has always
said that there are areas of disagreement in this war
that will have to be discussed and decided upon by
these two countries, and so he wants these two countries
(09:29):
to engage in direct diplomacy. He said that from the
very beginning, which is why he's agreeable to the idea
of having President Zelensky and President Putin get together. And
I understand accommodations for that meeting are underway. As soon
as we hear more details, we'll be sure to.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Let all of And she was also asked during the
briefing why this bilateral meeting, why this bilateral summit versus
a trilateral summit involving President Trump, and she gave an
answer to that question as well during the course of
the briefing.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
It was an idea that evolved in the course of
the pre conversations with both President Putin, President Zelenski and
the European leaders yesterday.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
So it's still not clear when and where a bilateral
meeting would actually take place. There have been reports of
possibly in Hungary or possibly in Switzerland, but nothing firm
just yet, and we also don't know the timing of
such a meeting. The President wants to see such a
meeting take place sooner rather than later, but you can
(10:28):
see there are a lot of issues that still need
to be worked out before a meeting can actually take place,
and of course that meeting needs to take place, according
to the President before he gets involved in the process.
He's in the room when President Zelensky is meeting with
President Putin. It seems very far off at this point,
(10:50):
but things have moved very quickly. Think about the fact
that on Friday the President was in Alaska meeting with
President Putin, and on Monday he's back at the White
House meeting with President Zelenski, and according to all the
participants in that meeting on Wednesday, it went very well.
There is unity among America's European allies. There is unity
(11:15):
between President Trump and President Zelenski, so that's a good start.
But as the President often says, it takes two to tango.
And there we're talking about President Putin. And as we know,
President Putin essentially rejected the idea of a ceasefire, and again,
you can't have a ceasefire if he's not for it.
(11:35):
And right now he seems to be rejecting the idea
of an immediate bilateral meeting with President Zelenski of Ukraine.
And if one party doesn't want to have the meeting,
the meeting won't happen. The President is optimistic, one of
his traits is optimism, and he believes that this particular
meeting can happen and will happen. And we heard that
(11:58):
also from White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt a few
times during Tuesday's briefing. So a lot still needs to
be worked out as it relates to next steps, a
worked out as far as security guarantees are concerned, worked
out as far as where this next meeting will happen,
where it will happen, and what the focus of that
(12:20):
meeting will be. In the meantime, on Wednesday, there will
be one event on the President's schedule. He is participating
in the swearing in ceremony for the new US Ambassador
to the European Union, Andrew Puster. He's a former fast
food chain CEO. He was confirmed just two weeks ago
(12:41):
by the US Senate fifty three forty four, and he
will be confirmed in this very important role. When you
factor in how important the EU is on military issues,
national security issues, trade issues, this is an important role
and I have no doubt that when the President participate
and the swearing in ceremony on Wednesday afternoon at four pm,
(13:04):
he will likely take questions regarding the latest that he
can offer about whether we can get to a peace
deal and whether or not that would be in the
near future. That's the White House briefing room for Wednesday,
August the twentieth. I'm John Decker. Have a good one.
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