August 15, 2025 • 29 mins
In this episode, we cover the highly anticipated summit between President Trump and Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. As Air Force One lands, both leaders prepare for a crucial meeting that could reshape U.S.-Russia relations amidst ongoing tensions in Ukraine. Trump’s strategic approach, including energy tariffs and NATO commitments, aims to pressure Putin while maintaining a strong stance for American interests. Tune in for exclusive insights and analysis on this pivotal moment in international diplomacy.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
All right, Thanks Scott Shannon, and thanks to all of
you for being with us. Right down our toll free
telephone number, it's eight hundred and ninety four to one,
Sean if you want to be a part of the program.
If you are not near a television, let me describe
the scene. Oh maybe about twenty thirty minutes ago President Trump,
air Force one landed. Here. We are broadcasting this radio
(00:23):
program from Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. This
is where the summit has taken place between President Trump
and Vladimir Putin, and in the last six seven minutes
or so of Vladimir Putin has touchdown. Let me give
you a quick rundown of what we expect the day
to be like. Is Air Force one arrived, And sure enough,
(00:50):
Vladimir Putin has arrived. President Trump has not come off
Air Force One. He's but that I have the whole schedule.
This is all planned out, literally to the minute, so
you know what the day's going to be like. Now,
there are many unpredictable things that can happen. They'll guarantee
this meeting will last more than five minutes. Remember President
(01:11):
Trump said, I think I'll know in two minutes if
he's serious. I don't think Putin would be here if
there's not some level desire interest in coming to some agreement.
And President Trump has been very smart about how he's
managed expectations about all of this and how this is
a first step and that the next step if in
(01:33):
fact Putin is really willing he's going to make that determination.
He says he may know within two minutes. That's that's
that's being able to read a room. I'll tell you
that part. I wonder what he thinks of me when
he sees me, you know, before the interview that I'm
about to do with him tonight, He'll size me up
in a minute and a half. I'm like, that's it, Handedy,
you're out anyway. I'll go through the itinerary for you,
(01:55):
just so you know. Between they're both going to come
off with the plane. Here's President Trump. As a matter
of fact, now again this is all planned, all orchestrated.
President Trump is making his descent down Air Force one.
And you know, I would not be surprised any second
(02:17):
now if you saw Vladimir Putin do the same thing.
And I can tell you right now, I'm in an
airport hangar. If I were to walk out this door
and hit the hangar and walk to the end of
the hangar, I'd be watching this live. That's how close
we are to what was actually happening here. Vladimir Putin
(02:40):
now is coming down. I think that's Vladimir, comrade, how
are you vodka? Again? All of this predetermined, all of
this orchestrated. So this is what they call a spray
where the two men will meet, and what they'll immediately
do is and they both have a red carpet that
(03:01):
they're walking on, and they will then have a private
meeting as I understand that, it'll be the two of
them alone, probably with interpreters, although Putin does speak English,
is my understanding, and then they will have a series
of breakout meetings that will take us to about I
(03:23):
don't know, anywhere between you know, five six o'clock. Then
they're going to have at some point in between, they're
expected to have lunch together. And when all is said
and done, and this is maybe scheduled for about seven
point thirty tonight this evening, they would have a joint
(03:44):
press conference. We don't know for sure. I mean again,
that's going to be fluid as well. And at that point,
immediately after that press conference, I will go up live.
It might be a little few minutes earlier before nine,
so you might want to, you know, be watching like
a five or eight fifty. I will have the first
(04:04):
exclusive sit down interview with President Trump to find out
how this whole day works out. You could see President Trump.
He's greeting the troops. He's clapping to some group of
people I'm not sure who. Probably I would assume the troops.
I had the great honor opportunity to meet a lot
of people that are here serving our country at Joint
(04:25):
Base Almendroth Richardson. There's the handshake and a flyover with
what sounds like some fighter jet, and they're smiling, looks friendly,
shaking hands, walking down the red carpet together. And President
Trump is significantly taller than Vladimir Putin. I don't know
(04:47):
if that means anything. I remember one time I was
mad at President Trump over something that was during his
first campaign. I said, all just sit down. As soon
as he sat down, I stood up because I did
because I wanted to get as a tension. I was
telling them something that was I felt was important in
the moment. But optics matter. If I were to give
you an overall, if you read the room, body language
(05:12):
very relaxed, both sides, a lot of smiles, so maybe
not a bad indication. They they add, it's it's actually
on a delay, which just so you know the feed
because they both looked up in the air. They're now standing.
It says Alaska twenty twenty five. I don't know if
they're f thirty fives behind them. I don't it is
(05:34):
f thirty fives, Okay, there are two f thirty fives
behind them. And last time, I don't know. Did you
see the shot where we had the the a wax
plane behind me? How cool was that on TV? And
it says Alaska twenty twenty five. And I believe ones
is one American. No, they're both. They're all American. They're
(05:55):
all American. I met kids that were that are surving
here from all over the country. All right, So they
had the quick photo op. The Beast is there, that
is the presidential limousine, and it looks like Vladimir is
getting inside the Beast. When I was in the Ghost States,
(06:18):
I got to go in the Beast as part of
my you know interview and experience with President Trump. The
doors are thicker than anything you've ever seen in your
entire life. And I will not reveal secrets I may
or may not have learned about that. What's interesting is
I guess because it's I guess because it's on American terrorists.
(06:41):
It's in Alaska. That's why they're doing that. And so
you know, again all of this is orchestrated. The spray
is over Trump and Putin now will go into a meeting.
The breakout sessions will then follow up with that. I'm
sure a lot of the breakout sessions will result in First,
(07:02):
let's queue you into what we discussed, and then let's
take it a step further in a best case scenario. Now,
how do we define success here? There's so much to
tell you about the lead up to all of this.
There's some rays of hope and then there's some dose
of reality in the lead up to today. For example,
(07:26):
you know, we know Ukraine attacked multiple cities in Russia
just yesterday, and we know that the Russians had also attacked.
You know, the Ukrainians also hit a Russian oil refinery
last night in air strikes, and similarly, we know that
(07:46):
the Russians have been pounding Ukraine, and so, you know,
both sides I think doing it for some type of advantage.
Maybe they think it's some type of negotiating advantage. I
don't really know about Ukraine. Last night struck an oil
refinery in Russian's Samara region in an overnight attack. Ukrainian
(08:08):
forces also hit a Caspian seaport cargo vessel. You know,
the war is ongoing, there's not a ceasefire, so both
sides are doing the same thing. In Alaska, it was interesting.
I saw two contingencies. One is a bunch of leftists
that were protesting and another group several hundred people gathering
(08:29):
for a pro Ukraine rally here in Anchorage where the
president is and with hundreds of Russian soldiers. I mean
both sides, both Ukraine and Russia. Both sides have you know,
they have been fighting, you know now for going on
three years. And if anyone would have told me Ukraine
(08:52):
would still even be in the game, I wouldn't have
believed it. Now, for the most part, it became a
proxy war between Joe Biden's administration and Russia. Now, there
are certain things that have happened that I think really
got Putin's attention. First of all, I think there is
a genuine relationship between the two of them. I don't
(09:14):
think this is like a lot of other summits where
there's a predetermined outcome. I don't really see that here.
But if you look at, for example, the fact that
the President kind of has gotten fed up with Putin
and him dragging his feet, and he's trying to push
this thing along, and he's put a lot of political
capital into this, I think finally said okay, fine, if
(09:37):
you're going to be difficult and you're going to continue
to attack innocent women and children, we're going back. We're
going to arm Ukraine. Although President Trump is doing it
differently than Joe Biden did is he's selling the weapons.
The second thing that I'm certain got Russia and Putin's
attention is the EU trade deal, where close to a
(09:59):
troph million dollars Europe is now committing to purchasing American energy.
That's money coming directly out of Putin's pocket. The heart
and soul of Russia's economy is energy. The fact that
the European Union has been purchasing so much energy from
(10:21):
Vladimir Putin has actually worked against them because they're funding
his war machine in the process. Another big part of
this is the tariffs the President Trump put on India
if they continue to buy Russian oil, and when the
President says over and over again, there will be severe
consequences if Putin doesn't make a deal. Here not talking
(10:44):
about going to war with Russia. He is basically saying
he's going to do everything in his power to prevent
Russia from being able to sell their energy, which will
just devastate their economy. The last thing that I'm sure
got Putin's attention is President Trump was able to get
NATO to double their commitments. So all of this is
(11:07):
happening simultaneously. As we continue our coverage, it's going to
be an interesting day for me. I mean, the show's
going to be a little bit more fluid than normal,
and we'll get some expert analysis, but for the most part,
for the next two hours, they're disappearing in a room
and I'll try to work some sources and find out, yeah,
your name and see if you know I can get
(11:28):
any indication. But Russia's paid a very dear price too.
Radio Free Europe had a peace out after mounting losses
in Ukraine, the Russian government appears to be intensifying their
coercive recruitment tactics. They're now having to target prisoners as
conscripts and ethnic minorities from remote regions, as well as
(11:50):
Central Asian migrant communities. Remember, they've also been importing fighters
from North Korea, and, according to testimonies collected by Radio
pre Europe, mail inmates and prisons and parts of Siberia
describe routine beating, psychological torture threats aim to force them
into military service. And then on the other hand, then
(12:12):
you have reports that there might be you know, President
Zelenski is taking guys that are over sixty years old
to go fight this conflict. I mean, nobody's doing great here,
nobody's winning in this There's no winners and have been
no winners here. Fortune magazine pointed out Russia's coming financial
crunch could derail Putin's war machine. Yeah, well, okay. The
(12:36):
Kremlins oil and gas revenue, their main source of revenue,
tumble twenty seven percent in July from a year ago
to seven hundred and eighty seven point three billion rubles
to about nine point eight billion, or about down nine
point eight billion. That's a lot of money, especially if
you're trying to fight a war, and it's probably about
(12:56):
to go down significantly more. Now, what is the endgame?
What it all right? More important? Let me let me
give you what the reality is. All right, let me
be very let me let me keep it real here,
because the best, the best case scenario coming out of
today would be they have a good meeting, they agree
(13:18):
to the meeting that Donald Trump has called for, and
adds Zelensky uh the idea that European countries that have
enriched Putin are trying to tell Donald Trump how to
negotiate as a joke to me, because they themselves have
compromised their own security. So if that in fact happens
and the and President Trump has said he wants that
next meeting very quickly. Okay, at that point, then what
(13:42):
are we really dealing with? Okay, Well, Putin's going to
retreat and he's going to go back to run. That's
not going to happen. It's going to be a very
complicated needle to thread that will involve land swaps. But also,
well Putin doesn't want to get of Ukraine, which is
security guarantees so they won't be a third invasion. What's
(14:05):
the point of doing this? And what you get a
democratic president in next time and you get another conflict.
That's not a win to me. All Right, I'll give
you what the most likely outcoming scenario is here in
a second. Anyway, we continue. We are at Joint Base
Elmendorf Richardson. We're in Anchorage, Alaska. We're literally feet away
(14:28):
from where Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump are. I do
have the first interview with President Trump tonight, Hannity, Fox News.
Hope you'll tune in and watch that. That's going to
be very interesting. I love knowing what's going on behind
the scenes. What happened, tell me the real secret? What
did did Vladimir eat anything? One of the more interesting
things in one of the Kim Jong un summits was
(14:48):
to find out that nobody in the delegation of North
Korea ate a bite of food. They must have thought
it was poisoned. And at the time, Tucker Carlson went
in and started grabbing the desserts and handing them out.
True story. There's there's a lot happening here that I
want to get into. I want to start with this
(15:10):
is this is not Donald Trump's fault. You look at
the timeline we have talked extensively about. You know, Joe Biden,
Joe Biden couldn't even pick up a phone and call Vladimir.
He Vladimir, why do you have two hundred thousand troops
and all this military equipment on the on the border
(15:31):
with Ukraine And you know, maybe we could talk this out,
Maybe we could talk this through. And Joe Biden never
bothered to lift a finger. So you know, Joe Biden
just didn't care. And this is the point. You know,
if you look at Crimea when it was annexed in
twenty fourteen, Hello, Instagram, how are you good to see you?
(15:55):
By the way, we here at the Sean Hannity Show
support David Sunflower. I prefer the ranch flavor. But this
all happened Crimea happened under Obama. And in the case
of this military build up that you know, weaponry and
troops along the Ukrainian border, it was so obvious. And
(16:16):
Joe's answer don't and Kamala's answer don't. What is don't mean?
And oh it depends if it's a minor incursion. What
does a minor incursion. Mean, this is madness, this is insane.
So because President Trump now again a lot of negotiation
is an art, it's not a science. And then what's
(16:37):
fascinating is is President Trump saying I'll know within two
minutes whether or not he's serious. Well, two minutes is
coming gone. Because where you are right here, you know,
literally we're not. I honestly, I'm sure I could probably
throw a football to whatever room they're in at Joint
Base Almendorff Richardson. It's a beautiful place. Wonderful people by
the way that work here. I I've met these young,
(16:58):
you know, soldiers from all around the country. They're just
phenomenal people. But because President Trump, what happened because of
Biden and his weakness and the minor incursion became a
full on, blown out war in Europe. What the end
result is is that Joe Biden ended up providing all
(17:19):
of the weaponry and funding it. So it evolved into
what was nothing short of a US proxy war with Russia.
Well that's never going to end well. And President Trump
has a whole different strategy, and he said to put
he said in the lead up to today, there will
be severe consequences they're going to spell out what that
(17:40):
will mean. But if you go back just a number
of months ago and you look at the polling data,
the polling data was clear Americans they want no part
of these forever wars and they don't think we should
be involved in foreign conflicts. So I got pinned by
these these Russia media people sticking cell phones in my face.
(18:01):
I'm like, how do you even know who I am?
And I said, you got to understand Donald Trump will
walk away in five minutes. Five minutes has passed, so okay,
he can't walk away now. But when I said that
to them, it was a reality. And Donald Trump, probably
the United States, on paper, gets the least out of
this deal. There's not one European leader that could possibly
(18:25):
pull this meeting off, not one, not one that would
even expend the political capital to try. But they don't
have the strength to do it. But Donald Trump got
them to commit to more than twice of what they
were paying for NATO. So many nations weren't paying their
fair share. And Donald Trump did a trade deal with
Europe which resulted in a trillion dollars and committed money
(18:46):
for energies that they're going to buy from US that
stops funding Putin's war machine. That's a smart thing to do.
President Trump said to India, you keep importing Russian oil
at We're going to slapping you with a fifty percent
terror Guess what. India now has to think twice about
whether or not they're going to take on any more
Russian energy, which would not be a good idea for
(19:07):
them anyway. But in the case of Europe, it's more
infuriating because they're paying all this money for national defense
and at NATO alliance well against two against the possibility
of Vladimir Putin or hostile regimes coming in. It's insane.
But because Donald Trump has been very, very skillful in
(19:30):
making sure both sides have something to lose here. You
see the polls have now reversed and reversed quickly and
rather dramatically, and it shows sixty two percent of Americans
overall support sending military assistance to Ukraine. Now, one of
the reasons for that is that President Trump is not
(19:51):
giving them the equipment it is, but he is recognizing
that Russia's handling of this and their lack of a conscience,
a heart, and a soul when it comes to you know,
just taking out innocent women and children, which they have
been targeting, has got to stop. And that is in
(20:11):
the world's best interest. It is in the world's best interest.
You know, if countries would focus more on economic partnerships
over you know, geopolitical conflicts, do you think, just think
how much better off the world would be. It's like
some of these people that come up with the most
sophisticated criminal schemes, You wonder what might they accomplish if
(20:32):
they ever put all of that energy, all of that thought,
all of that creativity into something productive. But they don't
do that. So the one thing that Trump wants it
he wants a lot of things out of this meeting.
And but one of the things, if you want to
look at the big picture, what do we expect? What
(20:54):
is the realistic outcome here? I don't want to play
games with all of you out there. Donald Trump's been
clear that this is a first step. Donald Trump's been
clear that if this goes well, he wants phase two
to come very quickly and expeditiously. Phase two would include
Zelenski then, of course, but then we're talking about a ceasefire.
(21:17):
Then we're talking about an end to the hopefully the hostilities.
Then we're talking about a negotiated settlement. That's that would
be the ultimate goal. That is not what's that's not
in the cards today. President Trump's been clear that's not
in the cards. If you want to know what I
think the realistic outcome is, and maybe some of you
(21:38):
like this, maybe some of you won't like to hear
the reality I can. I can sit here and BSU
and tell you things that just aren't true. But the
reality is, if this war goes on for a protracted
period of time, I don't see the odds of Ukraine
ever winning back any of the territory they currently have lost.
(22:02):
Ukraine is completely dependent on other countries to fight this conflict.
The Russians are not. If the Russians find other avenues
where they can sell their oil, they will be able
to continue to fund their war machine. Now do I
think they are foolish enough to want the entire land
(22:23):
mass of Ukraine and need an occupying force, Because that's
what it would take, and it would they would have
their own problems in terms of they would constantly Russian
soldiers would constantly be killed constantly. You'd be a resistance
that would go on for decades and decades and decades.
I don't think that's what it is. But you know,
(22:45):
Putin would argue that the Dambas region eighty percent Russian
national if you gave people a vote, they would go
with Russia. So what is the likely outcome? And again,
don't shoot the messenger. I'm giving you just a straight
up analysis on this. I would imagine a landswap is
probably going to be part of it. What does that mean?
It probably means at this point because Ukraine has lost
(23:09):
the territory in a war, right or wrong, historical precedents, whatever,
it doesn't matter, and that's going to be what Russia wants.
Now what does Ukraine want? Ukraine is going to want security,
and by the way, they will. There's no deal worth
(23:30):
having for Ukraine if now they're not going to have
NATO security, that's a non starter. But they're going to
want security guarantees and other European leaders Macron for example,
said Trump was supportive of continued security guarantees for Ukraine.
Putin's not going to like that part of the equation.
Putin would like to have the ability or the option
(23:52):
to go back in any time. He damn well pleases,
and that would mean the possibility of a third invasion,
And what's the point of even starting this process if
that's going to be the end result. Bad bad idea,
bad consequence. So, you know, the hope is coming out
of today is that Vladimir comes in with the right
attitude and he understands that he's not going to get
(24:15):
everything he wants. The President has spoken to Zolensky many,
many times. The President is now funding uh Zolensky in
terms of you know, it's American weaponry that he's buying
that is keeping him in the game. You know. So
it's uh, you know one other thing I think strategically
(24:35):
for the president's very smart too, because you have the
you know, how close does does Donald Trump want China
to Russia? And don't think that Vladimir Putin's not competitive
with President she because he is now. Putin has praised
Trump's sincere desire for peace and the lead up to today,
(24:55):
I thought this was pretty interesting comments that he made
late yesterday praising the US for making sincere efforts to
end the war between Russia and Ukraine, which is raged
on now for over three years. And he said on
TV that the US was making, in my opinion, quite
energetic and his sincere efforts to stop the hostilities and
stop the crisis and reach agreements that are of interest
(25:18):
to all parties involved in the conflict. It doesn't sound
like somebody that is against a deal. That sounds like
somebody that is recognizing that this might be my off ramp.
That's why it's going to be so fascinating to interview
President Trump tonight. I want to know what you all
want to know. I want to know what goes on.
I mean, if I could be a fly on the
(25:39):
wall in another room at this airbase we're at, I
would love to be a fly on the wall. I'd
like to know what's really going on. You know, there's
been talk and there's been a lot of speculation about, well,
what what might this all look like? You know, US
and Russia possible peace deal that would include a West
Bank style Locke patient. I think what most people are
(26:03):
not factoring in is probably the most the most obvious
answer is everything comes down to money. Everything comes down
to money. You know, how can they benefit financially? That's
what a lot of these, you know, deals end up
being about. In the end, they end up being about
(26:25):
money and how much money they might be able to
extract or how much, you know, does it provide what
they need? What are the things that they need? Now
if you're making a business deal, what are the things
that people need in life? Fortune magazine has put pointing
out that Russia's, you know, fiscal crunch is that bad
that it can, in the end derail Putin's war machine.
(26:46):
And it's about to get worse. And I think that's
where the severe consequences are coming in. Also, we talk
a lot about the price that Ukraine has paid militarily.
The Russians have paid a price militarily. They paid a
huge price militarily. And you know, but you know what
form manifestation this takes on. I don't know. I just
(27:07):
know that it really is nobody else in the world
that's capable of pulling this off than Donald Trump. You know,
Trump said his game plan. He said, well, it's kind
of like chess. He's not wrong. And if it's chess,
that means that Donald Trump has ten steps ahead, because
it's not checkers. And this is not for the faint hearted.
(27:28):
And if you read the Art of the Deal, go
back to Trump in his early career He's always said
to be a good businessman, you have to be able
to walk away from any deal up until the last seconds.
So the last words that Trump said publicly on the
way to this summit was that he threatened very severe
(27:52):
consequences if Russia doesn't agree to end this war. Couple
that with what Treasury Secretary Scott Besson said, which was
the warning that tariffs on any major purchaser of Russian
oil could go through the roof if in fact these
talks fail. So what did I just say? I said
(28:13):
it all comes down to money, didn't I? In the end,
it's always going to come down to money, you know,
And you know, at some point, do I think it's
the issue of civilian casualties in Ukraine that Vladimir Putin's
going to be motivated by a don't you know? Ukraine
is now targeting Russian oil facilities with drawn attacks. They
did it last night, you know. Ukrainian media reported that
(28:36):
two days ago, nine hundred and ninety Russian soldiers were
killed or wounded in the last thirty six hours, not
that long, and the Russian economy. Bloomberg got an interesting
piece about this is faltering under the strain and now
President Trump may have taken away too of Putin's biggest
energy company customers, the European Union and India if India
(29:02):
goes along with the tariffs, and they might not have
any choice because India needs access to American markets just
like China does, and China is another big customer. So anyway,
it's it's interesting. The Telegram had an interesting article. Trump
to offer Putin minerals. That's that's already kind of been
part of the deal. Eight nine. If you want to
(29:26):
be a part of the program, we continue our coverage.
We're live President Trump and Vladimir Putin. The summit is
officially underway. We are at Joint Base Elmendorf, Richardson. They
will have not only a lunch, a meeting and then
breakout sessions and then we expect a joint presser and
then the most important part of the day for President
(29:48):
Trump is seeing me. What just saying
All right, Thanks Scott Shannon, and thanks to all of
you for being with us. Right down our toll free
telephone number, it's eight hundred and ninety four to one,
Sean if you want to be a part of the program.
If you are not near a television, let me describe
the scene. Oh maybe about twenty thirty minutes ago President Trump,
air Force one landed. Here. We are broadcasting this radio
(00:23):
program from Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. This
is where the summit has taken place between President Trump
and Vladimir Putin, and in the last six seven minutes
or so of Vladimir Putin has touchdown. Let me give
you a quick rundown of what we expect the day
to be like. Is Air Force one arrived, And sure enough,
(00:50):
Vladimir Putin has arrived. President Trump has not come off
Air Force One. He's but that I have the whole schedule.
This is all planned out, literally to the minute, so
you know what the day's going to be like. Now,
there are many unpredictable things that can happen. They'll guarantee
this meeting will last more than five minutes. Remember President
(01:11):
Trump said, I think I'll know in two minutes if
he's serious. I don't think Putin would be here if
there's not some level desire interest in coming to some agreement.
And President Trump has been very smart about how he's
managed expectations about all of this and how this is
a first step and that the next step if in
(01:33):
fact Putin is really willing he's going to make that determination.
He says he may know within two minutes. That's that's
that's being able to read a room. I'll tell you
that part. I wonder what he thinks of me when
he sees me, you know, before the interview that I'm
about to do with him tonight, He'll size me up
in a minute and a half. I'm like, that's it, Handedy,
you're out anyway. I'll go through the itinerary for you,
(01:55):
just so you know. Between they're both going to come
off with the plane. Here's President Trump. As a matter
of fact, now again this is all planned, all orchestrated.
President Trump is making his descent down Air Force one.
And you know, I would not be surprised any second
(02:17):
now if you saw Vladimir Putin do the same thing.
And I can tell you right now, I'm in an
airport hangar. If I were to walk out this door
and hit the hangar and walk to the end of
the hangar, I'd be watching this live. That's how close
we are to what was actually happening here. Vladimir Putin
(02:40):
now is coming down. I think that's Vladimir, comrade, how
are you vodka? Again? All of this predetermined, all of
this orchestrated. So this is what they call a spray
where the two men will meet, and what they'll immediately
do is and they both have a red carpet that
(03:01):
they're walking on, and they will then have a private
meeting as I understand that, it'll be the two of
them alone, probably with interpreters, although Putin does speak English,
is my understanding, and then they will have a series
of breakout meetings that will take us to about I
(03:23):
don't know, anywhere between you know, five six o'clock. Then
they're going to have at some point in between, they're
expected to have lunch together. And when all is said
and done, and this is maybe scheduled for about seven
point thirty tonight this evening, they would have a joint
(03:44):
press conference. We don't know for sure. I mean again,
that's going to be fluid as well. And at that point,
immediately after that press conference, I will go up live.
It might be a little few minutes earlier before nine,
so you might want to, you know, be watching like
a five or eight fifty. I will have the first
(04:04):
exclusive sit down interview with President Trump to find out
how this whole day works out. You could see President Trump.
He's greeting the troops. He's clapping to some group of
people I'm not sure who. Probably I would assume the troops.
I had the great honor opportunity to meet a lot
of people that are here serving our country at Joint
(04:25):
Base Almendroth Richardson. There's the handshake and a flyover with
what sounds like some fighter jet, and they're smiling, looks friendly,
shaking hands, walking down the red carpet together. And President
Trump is significantly taller than Vladimir Putin. I don't know
(04:47):
if that means anything. I remember one time I was
mad at President Trump over something that was during his
first campaign. I said, all just sit down. As soon
as he sat down, I stood up because I did
because I wanted to get as a tension. I was
telling them something that was I felt was important in
the moment. But optics matter. If I were to give
you an overall, if you read the room, body language
(05:12):
very relaxed, both sides, a lot of smiles, so maybe
not a bad indication. They they add, it's it's actually
on a delay, which just so you know the feed
because they both looked up in the air. They're now standing.
It says Alaska twenty twenty five. I don't know if
they're f thirty fives behind them. I don't it is
(05:34):
f thirty fives, Okay, there are two f thirty fives
behind them. And last time, I don't know. Did you
see the shot where we had the the a wax
plane behind me? How cool was that on TV? And
it says Alaska twenty twenty five. And I believe ones
is one American. No, they're both. They're all American. They're
(05:55):
all American. I met kids that were that are surving
here from all over the country. All right, So they
had the quick photo op. The Beast is there, that
is the presidential limousine, and it looks like Vladimir is
getting inside the Beast. When I was in the Ghost States,
(06:18):
I got to go in the Beast as part of
my you know interview and experience with President Trump. The
doors are thicker than anything you've ever seen in your
entire life. And I will not reveal secrets I may
or may not have learned about that. What's interesting is
I guess because it's I guess because it's on American terrorists.
(06:41):
It's in Alaska. That's why they're doing that. And so
you know, again all of this is orchestrated. The spray
is over Trump and Putin now will go into a meeting.
The breakout sessions will then follow up with that. I'm
sure a lot of the breakout sessions will result in First,
(07:02):
let's queue you into what we discussed, and then let's
take it a step further in a best case scenario. Now,
how do we define success here? There's so much to
tell you about the lead up to all of this.
There's some rays of hope and then there's some dose
of reality in the lead up to today. For example,
(07:26):
you know, we know Ukraine attacked multiple cities in Russia
just yesterday, and we know that the Russians had also attacked.
You know, the Ukrainians also hit a Russian oil refinery
last night in air strikes, and similarly, we know that
(07:46):
the Russians have been pounding Ukraine, and so, you know,
both sides I think doing it for some type of advantage.
Maybe they think it's some type of negotiating advantage. I
don't really know about Ukraine. Last night struck an oil
refinery in Russian's Samara region in an overnight attack. Ukrainian
(08:08):
forces also hit a Caspian seaport cargo vessel. You know,
the war is ongoing, there's not a ceasefire, so both
sides are doing the same thing. In Alaska, it was interesting.
I saw two contingencies. One is a bunch of leftists
that were protesting and another group several hundred people gathering
(08:29):
for a pro Ukraine rally here in Anchorage where the
president is and with hundreds of Russian soldiers. I mean
both sides, both Ukraine and Russia. Both sides have you know,
they have been fighting, you know now for going on
three years. And if anyone would have told me Ukraine
(08:52):
would still even be in the game, I wouldn't have
believed it. Now, for the most part, it became a
proxy war between Joe Biden's administration and Russia. Now, there
are certain things that have happened that I think really
got Putin's attention. First of all, I think there is
a genuine relationship between the two of them. I don't
(09:14):
think this is like a lot of other summits where
there's a predetermined outcome. I don't really see that here.
But if you look at, for example, the fact that
the President kind of has gotten fed up with Putin
and him dragging his feet, and he's trying to push
this thing along, and he's put a lot of political
capital into this, I think finally said okay, fine, if
(09:37):
you're going to be difficult and you're going to continue
to attack innocent women and children, we're going back. We're
going to arm Ukraine. Although President Trump is doing it
differently than Joe Biden did is he's selling the weapons.
The second thing that I'm certain got Russia and Putin's
attention is the EU trade deal, where close to a
(09:59):
troph million dollars Europe is now committing to purchasing American energy.
That's money coming directly out of Putin's pocket. The heart
and soul of Russia's economy is energy. The fact that
the European Union has been purchasing so much energy from
(10:21):
Vladimir Putin has actually worked against them because they're funding
his war machine in the process. Another big part of
this is the tariffs the President Trump put on India
if they continue to buy Russian oil, and when the
President says over and over again, there will be severe
consequences if Putin doesn't make a deal. Here not talking
(10:44):
about going to war with Russia. He is basically saying
he's going to do everything in his power to prevent
Russia from being able to sell their energy, which will
just devastate their economy. The last thing that I'm sure
got Putin's attention is President Trump was able to get
NATO to double their commitments. So all of this is
(11:07):
happening simultaneously. As we continue our coverage, it's going to
be an interesting day for me. I mean, the show's
going to be a little bit more fluid than normal,
and we'll get some expert analysis, but for the most part,
for the next two hours, they're disappearing in a room
and I'll try to work some sources and find out, yeah,
your name and see if you know I can get
(11:28):
any indication. But Russia's paid a very dear price too.
Radio Free Europe had a peace out after mounting losses
in Ukraine, the Russian government appears to be intensifying their
coercive recruitment tactics. They're now having to target prisoners as
conscripts and ethnic minorities from remote regions, as well as
(11:50):
Central Asian migrant communities. Remember, they've also been importing fighters
from North Korea, and, according to testimonies collected by Radio
pre Europe, mail inmates and prisons and parts of Siberia
describe routine beating, psychological torture threats aim to force them
into military service. And then on the other hand, then
(12:12):
you have reports that there might be you know, President
Zelenski is taking guys that are over sixty years old
to go fight this conflict. I mean, nobody's doing great here,
nobody's winning in this There's no winners and have been
no winners here. Fortune magazine pointed out Russia's coming financial
crunch could derail Putin's war machine. Yeah, well, okay. The
(12:36):
Kremlins oil and gas revenue, their main source of revenue,
tumble twenty seven percent in July from a year ago
to seven hundred and eighty seven point three billion rubles
to about nine point eight billion, or about down nine
point eight billion. That's a lot of money, especially if
you're trying to fight a war, and it's probably about
(12:56):
to go down significantly more. Now, what is the endgame?
What it all right? More important? Let me let me
give you what the reality is. All right, let me
be very let me let me keep it real here,
because the best, the best case scenario coming out of
today would be they have a good meeting, they agree
(13:18):
to the meeting that Donald Trump has called for, and
adds Zelensky uh the idea that European countries that have
enriched Putin are trying to tell Donald Trump how to
negotiate as a joke to me, because they themselves have
compromised their own security. So if that in fact happens
and the and President Trump has said he wants that
next meeting very quickly. Okay, at that point, then what
(13:42):
are we really dealing with? Okay, Well, Putin's going to
retreat and he's going to go back to run. That's
not going to happen. It's going to be a very
complicated needle to thread that will involve land swaps. But also,
well Putin doesn't want to get of Ukraine, which is
security guarantees so they won't be a third invasion. What's
(14:05):
the point of doing this? And what you get a
democratic president in next time and you get another conflict.
That's not a win to me. All Right, I'll give
you what the most likely outcoming scenario is here in
a second. Anyway, we continue. We are at Joint Base
Elmendorf Richardson. We're in Anchorage, Alaska. We're literally feet away
(14:28):
from where Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump are. I do
have the first interview with President Trump tonight, Hannity, Fox News.
Hope you'll tune in and watch that. That's going to
be very interesting. I love knowing what's going on behind
the scenes. What happened, tell me the real secret? What
did did Vladimir eat anything? One of the more interesting
things in one of the Kim Jong un summits was
(14:48):
to find out that nobody in the delegation of North
Korea ate a bite of food. They must have thought
it was poisoned. And at the time, Tucker Carlson went
in and started grabbing the desserts and handing them out.
True story. There's there's a lot happening here that I
want to get into. I want to start with this
(15:10):
is this is not Donald Trump's fault. You look at
the timeline we have talked extensively about. You know, Joe Biden,
Joe Biden couldn't even pick up a phone and call Vladimir.
He Vladimir, why do you have two hundred thousand troops
and all this military equipment on the on the border
(15:31):
with Ukraine And you know, maybe we could talk this out,
Maybe we could talk this through. And Joe Biden never
bothered to lift a finger. So you know, Joe Biden
just didn't care. And this is the point. You know,
if you look at Crimea when it was annexed in
twenty fourteen, Hello, Instagram, how are you good to see you?
(15:55):
By the way, we here at the Sean Hannity Show
support David Sunflower. I prefer the ranch flavor. But this
all happened Crimea happened under Obama. And in the case
of this military build up that you know, weaponry and
troops along the Ukrainian border, it was so obvious. And
(16:16):
Joe's answer don't and Kamala's answer don't. What is don't mean?
And oh it depends if it's a minor incursion. What
does a minor incursion. Mean, this is madness, this is insane.
So because President Trump now again a lot of negotiation
is an art, it's not a science. And then what's
(16:37):
fascinating is is President Trump saying I'll know within two
minutes whether or not he's serious. Well, two minutes is
coming gone. Because where you are right here, you know,
literally we're not. I honestly, I'm sure I could probably
throw a football to whatever room they're in at Joint
Base Almendorff Richardson. It's a beautiful place. Wonderful people by
the way that work here. I I've met these young,
(16:58):
you know, soldiers from all around the country. They're just
phenomenal people. But because President Trump, what happened because of
Biden and his weakness and the minor incursion became a
full on, blown out war in Europe. What the end
result is is that Joe Biden ended up providing all
(17:19):
of the weaponry and funding it. So it evolved into
what was nothing short of a US proxy war with Russia.
Well that's never going to end well. And President Trump
has a whole different strategy, and he said to put
he said in the lead up to today, there will
be severe consequences they're going to spell out what that
(17:40):
will mean. But if you go back just a number
of months ago and you look at the polling data,
the polling data was clear Americans they want no part
of these forever wars and they don't think we should
be involved in foreign conflicts. So I got pinned by
these these Russia media people sticking cell phones in my face.
(18:01):
I'm like, how do you even know who I am?
And I said, you got to understand Donald Trump will
walk away in five minutes. Five minutes has passed, so okay,
he can't walk away now. But when I said that
to them, it was a reality. And Donald Trump, probably
the United States, on paper, gets the least out of
this deal. There's not one European leader that could possibly
(18:25):
pull this meeting off, not one, not one that would
even expend the political capital to try. But they don't
have the strength to do it. But Donald Trump got
them to commit to more than twice of what they
were paying for NATO. So many nations weren't paying their
fair share. And Donald Trump did a trade deal with
Europe which resulted in a trillion dollars and committed money
(18:46):
for energies that they're going to buy from US that
stops funding Putin's war machine. That's a smart thing to do.
President Trump said to India, you keep importing Russian oil
at We're going to slapping you with a fifty percent
terror Guess what. India now has to think twice about
whether or not they're going to take on any more
Russian energy, which would not be a good idea for
(19:07):
them anyway. But in the case of Europe, it's more
infuriating because they're paying all this money for national defense
and at NATO alliance well against two against the possibility
of Vladimir Putin or hostile regimes coming in. It's insane.
But because Donald Trump has been very, very skillful in
(19:30):
making sure both sides have something to lose here. You
see the polls have now reversed and reversed quickly and
rather dramatically, and it shows sixty two percent of Americans
overall support sending military assistance to Ukraine. Now, one of
the reasons for that is that President Trump is not
(19:51):
giving them the equipment it is, but he is recognizing
that Russia's handling of this and their lack of a conscience,
a heart, and a soul when it comes to you know,
just taking out innocent women and children, which they have
been targeting, has got to stop. And that is in
(20:11):
the world's best interest. It is in the world's best interest.
You know, if countries would focus more on economic partnerships
over you know, geopolitical conflicts, do you think, just think
how much better off the world would be. It's like
some of these people that come up with the most
sophisticated criminal schemes, You wonder what might they accomplish if
(20:32):
they ever put all of that energy, all of that thought,
all of that creativity into something productive. But they don't
do that. So the one thing that Trump wants it
he wants a lot of things out of this meeting.
And but one of the things, if you want to
look at the big picture, what do we expect? What
(20:54):
is the realistic outcome here? I don't want to play
games with all of you out there. Donald Trump's been
clear that this is a first step. Donald Trump's been
clear that if this goes well, he wants phase two
to come very quickly and expeditiously. Phase two would include
Zelenski then, of course, but then we're talking about a ceasefire.
(21:17):
Then we're talking about an end to the hopefully the hostilities.
Then we're talking about a negotiated settlement. That's that would
be the ultimate goal. That is not what's that's not
in the cards today. President Trump's been clear that's not
in the cards. If you want to know what I
think the realistic outcome is, and maybe some of you
(21:38):
like this, maybe some of you won't like to hear
the reality I can. I can sit here and BSU
and tell you things that just aren't true. But the
reality is, if this war goes on for a protracted
period of time, I don't see the odds of Ukraine
ever winning back any of the territory they currently have lost.
(22:02):
Ukraine is completely dependent on other countries to fight this conflict.
The Russians are not. If the Russians find other avenues
where they can sell their oil, they will be able
to continue to fund their war machine. Now do I
think they are foolish enough to want the entire land
(22:23):
mass of Ukraine and need an occupying force, Because that's
what it would take, and it would they would have
their own problems in terms of they would constantly Russian
soldiers would constantly be killed constantly. You'd be a resistance
that would go on for decades and decades and decades.
I don't think that's what it is. But you know,
(22:45):
Putin would argue that the Dambas region eighty percent Russian
national if you gave people a vote, they would go
with Russia. So what is the likely outcome? And again,
don't shoot the messenger. I'm giving you just a straight
up analysis on this. I would imagine a landswap is
probably going to be part of it. What does that mean?
It probably means at this point because Ukraine has lost
(23:09):
the territory in a war, right or wrong, historical precedents, whatever,
it doesn't matter, and that's going to be what Russia wants.
Now what does Ukraine want? Ukraine is going to want security,
and by the way, they will. There's no deal worth
(23:30):
having for Ukraine if now they're not going to have
NATO security, that's a non starter. But they're going to
want security guarantees and other European leaders Macron for example,
said Trump was supportive of continued security guarantees for Ukraine.
Putin's not going to like that part of the equation.
Putin would like to have the ability or the option
(23:52):
to go back in any time. He damn well pleases,
and that would mean the possibility of a third invasion,
And what's the point of even starting this process if
that's going to be the end result. Bad bad idea,
bad consequence. So, you know, the hope is coming out
of today is that Vladimir comes in with the right
attitude and he understands that he's not going to get
(24:15):
everything he wants. The President has spoken to Zolensky many,
many times. The President is now funding uh Zolensky in
terms of you know, it's American weaponry that he's buying
that is keeping him in the game. You know. So
it's uh, you know one other thing I think strategically
(24:35):
for the president's very smart too, because you have the
you know, how close does does Donald Trump want China
to Russia? And don't think that Vladimir Putin's not competitive
with President she because he is now. Putin has praised
Trump's sincere desire for peace and the lead up to today,
(24:55):
I thought this was pretty interesting comments that he made
late yesterday praising the US for making sincere efforts to
end the war between Russia and Ukraine, which is raged
on now for over three years. And he said on
TV that the US was making, in my opinion, quite
energetic and his sincere efforts to stop the hostilities and
stop the crisis and reach agreements that are of interest
(25:18):
to all parties involved in the conflict. It doesn't sound
like somebody that is against a deal. That sounds like
somebody that is recognizing that this might be my off ramp.
That's why it's going to be so fascinating to interview
President Trump tonight. I want to know what you all
want to know. I want to know what goes on.
I mean, if I could be a fly on the
(25:39):
wall in another room at this airbase we're at, I
would love to be a fly on the wall. I'd
like to know what's really going on. You know, there's
been talk and there's been a lot of speculation about, well,
what what might this all look like? You know, US
and Russia possible peace deal that would include a West
Bank style Locke patient. I think what most people are
(26:03):
not factoring in is probably the most the most obvious
answer is everything comes down to money. Everything comes down
to money. You know, how can they benefit financially? That's
what a lot of these, you know, deals end up
being about. In the end, they end up being about
(26:25):
money and how much money they might be able to
extract or how much, you know, does it provide what
they need? What are the things that they need? Now
if you're making a business deal, what are the things
that people need in life? Fortune magazine has put pointing
out that Russia's, you know, fiscal crunch is that bad
that it can, in the end derail Putin's war machine.
(26:46):
And it's about to get worse. And I think that's
where the severe consequences are coming in. Also, we talk
a lot about the price that Ukraine has paid militarily.
The Russians have paid a price militarily. They paid a
huge price militarily. And you know, but you know what
form manifestation this takes on. I don't know. I just
(27:07):
know that it really is nobody else in the world
that's capable of pulling this off than Donald Trump. You know,
Trump said his game plan. He said, well, it's kind
of like chess. He's not wrong. And if it's chess,
that means that Donald Trump has ten steps ahead, because
it's not checkers. And this is not for the faint hearted.
(27:28):
And if you read the Art of the Deal, go
back to Trump in his early career He's always said
to be a good businessman, you have to be able
to walk away from any deal up until the last seconds.
So the last words that Trump said publicly on the
way to this summit was that he threatened very severe
(27:52):
consequences if Russia doesn't agree to end this war. Couple
that with what Treasury Secretary Scott Besson said, which was
the warning that tariffs on any major purchaser of Russian
oil could go through the roof if in fact these
talks fail. So what did I just say? I said
(28:13):
it all comes down to money, didn't I? In the end,
it's always going to come down to money, you know,
And you know, at some point, do I think it's
the issue of civilian casualties in Ukraine that Vladimir Putin's
going to be motivated by a don't you know? Ukraine
is now targeting Russian oil facilities with drawn attacks. They
did it last night, you know. Ukrainian media reported that
(28:36):
two days ago, nine hundred and ninety Russian soldiers were
killed or wounded in the last thirty six hours, not
that long, and the Russian economy. Bloomberg got an interesting
piece about this is faltering under the strain and now
President Trump may have taken away too of Putin's biggest
energy company customers, the European Union and India if India
(29:02):
goes along with the tariffs, and they might not have
any choice because India needs access to American markets just
like China does, and China is another big customer. So anyway,
it's it's interesting. The Telegram had an interesting article. Trump
to offer Putin minerals. That's that's already kind of been
part of the deal. Eight nine. If you want to
(29:26):
be a part of the program, we continue our coverage.
We're live President Trump and Vladimir Putin. The summit is
officially underway. We are at Joint Base Elmendorf, Richardson. They
will have not only a lunch, a meeting and then
breakout sessions and then we expect a joint presser and
then the most important part of the day for President
(29:48):
Trump is seeing me. What just saying
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