President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday reportedly delivered a sharp rebuke of the press over its portrayal of his forthcoming meeting with Russian President Vladimir V. Putin, accusing the media of spreading distortions, relying on discredited sources, and harboring hostility toward the United States.
“Very unfair media is at work on my meeting with Putin,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social early in the day. “Constantly quoting fired losers and really dumb people like John Bolton, who just said that, even though the meeting is on American soil, ‘Putin has already won.’ What’s that all about? We are winning on EVERYTHING.”
Mr. Trump, whose second administration has taken a more assertive stance toward Moscow in recent months, argued that the press is working “overtime” to undermine what he described as a strategic negotiation. In a jab at reporters, he added parenthetically, “No tax on overtime!”
Offering a hypothetical to underscore what he sees as the media’s bias, the president said, “If I got Moscow and Leningrad free, as part of the deal with Russia, the Fake News would say that I made a bad deal! But now they’ve been caught.”
He concluded his post with a blistering critique of the press corps: “Look at all of the real news that’s coming out about their CORRUPTION. They are sick and dishonest people, who probably hate our Country. But it doesn’t matter because we are winning on everything!!! MAGA.”
The president’s comments came as several outlets amplified remarks from John Bolton, his former national security adviser, who has become one of his most outspoken detractors. Speaking to The Atlantic’s Jonathan Lemire, Mr. Bolton criticized the decision to meet with Mr. Putin in Alaska, calling it a mistake that benefits the Russian leader.
“Putin has already won,” Mr. Bolton claimed. “He is the leader of a rogue state, and he’ll get a picture on U.S. soil with the president of the United States. Trump wants a deal. And if he can’t get one now, he may walk away from it entirely.”
Mr. Bolton alleged that Mr. Putin had maneuvered Mr. Trump into agreeing to the summit after a period of tension. “Putin kept pushing Trump and eventually went further than Trump was willing to be pushed. He got mad, so Putin gave him this summit. Now he wants to work his KGB magic on Trump and get him back in line,” he said.
While Mr. Trump began his second term with a conciliatory tone toward Moscow and skepticism toward Ukraine, he has grown more critical of the Kremlin as the war in Ukraine has dragged on.
“I’ve been disappointed,” Mr. Trump said Monday. “Because I’d have, like, a great call with him [Putin], and then missiles would be lobbed into Kiev or some other place. And you’d have 60 people laying on a road dying. I said, ‘That’s cold. That’s cold!’”
With the Alaska summit approaching, the president has framed his outreach to Mr. Putin as part of a strategy to achieve American objectives while holding Russia accountable — a position his allies say the media refuses to acknowledge.
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