Tommy Vitor

Yeah, the sound of champagne corks popping must be deafening.

Yeah, the sound of champagne corks popping must be deafening.

wild okay well here's the backstory in all this so uh last week president trump called putin to discuss the war in ukraine they then announced via like twitter readouts that the us and russia are going to hold a series of bilateral peace talks about the war trump said this could ultimately include a putin visit to the us and maybe trump going to moscow but the call itself effectively ended you know three years of western isolation of putin and the russians after the full-scale invasion of ukraine in 2022

wild okay well here's the backstory in all this so uh last week president trump called putin to discuss the war in ukraine they then announced via like twitter readouts that the us and russia are going to hold a series of bilateral peace talks about the war trump said this could ultimately include a putin visit to the us and maybe trump going to moscow but the call itself effectively ended you know three years of western isolation of putin and the russians after the full-scale invasion of ukraine in 2022

wild okay well here's the backstory in all this so uh last week president trump called putin to discuss the war in ukraine they then announced via like twitter readouts that the us and russia are going to hold a series of bilateral peace talks about the war trump said this could ultimately include a putin visit to the us and maybe trump going to moscow but the call itself effectively ended you know three years of western isolation of putin and the russians after the full-scale invasion of ukraine in 2022

And neither this call nor the diplomatic process that Trump and Putin agreed to included a role for Ukraine or for the Europeans. Earlier today, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, held the first round of these talks in Saudi Arabia.

And neither this call nor the diplomatic process that Trump and Putin agreed to included a role for Ukraine or for the Europeans. Earlier today, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, held the first round of these talks in Saudi Arabia.

And neither this call nor the diplomatic process that Trump and Putin agreed to included a role for Ukraine or for the Europeans. Earlier today, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, held the first round of these talks in Saudi Arabia.

And Ben, I do want to plant a flag right here now and say that that is too many senior people and big egos for one set of negotiations. I think they are going to knife each other.

And Ben, I do want to plant a flag right here now and say that that is too many senior people and big egos for one set of negotiations. I think they are going to knife each other.

And Ben, I do want to plant a flag right here now and say that that is too many senior people and big egos for one set of negotiations. I think they are going to knife each other.

That's a really good point. And not there was Keith Kellogg, who was supposed to be in charge of... diplomacy around this war.

That's a really good point. And not there was Keith Kellogg, who was supposed to be in charge of... diplomacy around this war.

That's a really good point. And not there was Keith Kellogg, who was supposed to be in charge of... diplomacy around this war.

No. So Rubio, Waltz, Wyckoff, they met in Saudi Arabia with Sergei Lavrov and Yuri Ushakov to top like foreign policy officials with Putin. Here's a quick clip of Rubio speaking in Riyadh about these talks.

No. So Rubio, Waltz, Wyckoff, they met in Saudi Arabia with Sergei Lavrov and Yuri Ushakov to top like foreign policy officials with Putin. Here's a quick clip of Rubio speaking in Riyadh about these talks.

No. So Rubio, Waltz, Wyckoff, they met in Saudi Arabia with Sergei Lavrov and Yuri Ushakov to top like foreign policy officials with Putin. Here's a quick clip of Rubio speaking in Riyadh about these talks.

He almost says bring the two parties together, but then he realizes, no, they didn't even try to do that. It's just the U.S. and Russia in the room. So this is obviously the beginning of a long process, and Russia I don't think is really incentivized to move quickly because they can just bleed Ukraine dry at this point.

He almost says bring the two parties together, but then he realizes, no, they didn't even try to do that. It's just the U.S. and Russia in the room. So this is obviously the beginning of a long process, and Russia I don't think is really incentivized to move quickly because they can just bleed Ukraine dry at this point.

He almost says bring the two parties together, but then he realizes, no, they didn't even try to do that. It's just the U.S. and Russia in the room. So this is obviously the beginning of a long process, and Russia I don't think is really incentivized to move quickly because they can just bleed Ukraine dry at this point.