Hillary Clinton: If Trump Were The Architect Of A Deal With Putin, I’d Nominate Him For The Nobel Peace Prize
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in an interview with “Raging Moderates” host Jessica Tarlov: “Honestly, if he could bring about the end to this terrible war, if he could end it without putting Ukraine in a position where it had to concede its territory to the aggressor, could really stand up to Putin – something we haven’t seen, but maybe this is the opportunity – if President Trump were the architect of that, I’d nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize.”
JESSICA TARLOV, HOST: Yeah, he pretends-or maybe he does actually enjoy how much his staff loves Scott-free August. But our Slack channel is celebrating the time away from Scott. And we get to talk to incredible people like you. And like I said, I’m just so thrilled that you’re joining me. And when we scheduled this, I was thinking back, like, not that I would not have enough things to say to you, but what would possibly be going on in the news cycle and with Donald Trump as president. You never know. There’s no summer Fridays at all that are possible. But this actually feels like such perfect timing to be having this conversation with you, as we are on the precipice of a meeting between President Trump and President Putin in Alaska. We’re recording this on Wednesday. Drawing on your experience as secretary of state, if you were en route to Alaska, what would you be looking to get? What does an acceptable deal look like? Or would you frankly not be going to Alaska at all? FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON: I would not be. But I think we have to deal with the reality that we have. And President Trump has decided to go to Alaska to meet with Putin on our territory, in our state, on a military base. So I would be focused on trying to persuade him that he gains nothing by capitulating to Putin. I understand from everything I’ve read, he very much would like to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. And honestly, if he could bring about the end to this terrible war where Putin is the aggressor invading a neighbor country, trying to change the borders, if he could end it without putting Ukraine in a position where it had to concede its territory to the aggressor, had to, in a way, validate Putin’s vision of greater Russia, but instead could really stand up to Putin, something we haven’t seen, but maybe this is the opportunity, to make it clear that there must be a ceasefire, there will be no exchange of territory, and that over a period of time, Putin should be actually withdrawing from the territory he seized in order to demonstrate his good faith efforts, let us say, not to threaten European security. If we could pull that off, if President Trump were the architect of that, I’d nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize. Because my goal here is to not allow capitulation to Putin, aided and abetted by the United States. I think that’s a terrible, terrible precedent. And I think it would make our country less safe. I think it would reward Putin’s aggression. And he will not stop. We know that. You know, you can dream, Jessica, you can dream. And I’m dreaming that for whatever combination of reasons, including the elusive Nobel Peace Prize, President Trump may actually stand up to Putin on behalf of not just Ukraine and its democracy and its very brave people, but frankly, on behalf of our own security and interests.
