Marco Rubio Doesn’t Let ABC Host Off The Hook As She Attempts To Grill Trump For Putin ‘Red Carpet’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday scoffed at ABC News host Martha Raddatz’s attempt to grill President Donald Trump’s cordial greeting to Russian President Vladimir Putin during their peace talks.

The corporate media became heavily focused on negatively framing Trump’s use of a red carpet when he shook hands with Putin during their summit in Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday. During an interview with Raddatz on ABC’s “This Week,” Rubio called out the host for appearing to ignore the “common sense” fact that the U.S. must negotiate directly with Russia in order to bring an end to its deadly war with Ukraine.

“Critics of President Trump will say that the pomp and circumstances … the red carpet, the warm handshake, that President Trump lost that [and] that Putin gained there just by being on the world stage and walking down a red carpet with the president. Your reaction to that?” Raddatz said.

“Critics of President Trump are always gonna find something to criticize, I don’t even pay attention to it anymore … When I hear people say that, ‘oh, it elevates him.’ Well, all we do is talk about Putin all the time! All the media’s done is talk about Putin all the time for last four, five years” Rubio said. “That doesn’t mean he’s right about the war. That doesn’t mean he’s justified about the war. Put all that aside. It means you’re not going to have a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, you’re not going to end a war between Russia and Ukraine without dealing with Putin. That’s just common sense, I shouldn’t even have to say it.” (RELATED: Special Envoy Suggests Zelenskyy ‘Acknowledged’ Trump’s Peace Talks With Putin As A ‘Win’)

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“At the end of the day, we have to get the Russian side to agree to things that they don’t want to agree to if we’re going to have peace,” Rubio added. “If not, they’ll just be at war and they’ll keep killing each other and life will go on in America and the rest of the world but not for Ukraine.”

Upon landing in Alaska, Trump met with Putin on an L-shaped red carpet, shook hands with him and entered a vehicle en route to where their meeting took place. The two world leaders met for a three hour meeting and then attended a joint press conference where they addressed a potential end to the war in Ukraine.

CNN and ABC News immediately blasted the use of the red carpet, with CNN host Abby Phillip claiming that it sent the wrong message to Ukraine. Raddatz and ABC News’ David Muir claimed that Trump gave Putin a standing ovation through his use of the red carpet.

“It’s hard to believe that this is not what Vladimir Putin at least would want at this moment to be welcomed on American soil,” Muir said.

“Exactly, David,” Raddatz replied. “And with that red carpet rolled out.”

While no official deal has been made, Trump expressed optimism that a deal can be reached in the near future. Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will reportedly meet to discuss possible peace negotiations, Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Friday.

Trump will meet with Zelenskyy and other European leaders at the White House on Monday to discuss a potential end to the war.

Trump announced in May that peace negotiations would begin following a two-hour call with Putin, though the Russian president remained hesitant to engage with Ukraine. In July, Trump threatened to impose “severe” tariffs and sanctions on Russia if it did not come to the table within 50 days, though he later shortened that deadline to 10 days on July 28.

During his 2024 campaign, Trump called for peace between Russia and Ukraine and argued that it “never would have happened” if former President Joe Biden were not in charge.

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