House Democrat: Trump, Hegseth 'literally appear to be negotiating on behalf of Putin'

Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) on Wednesday said President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are negotiating on behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin and argued the commander in chief has already handed the Kremlin “victories” before the official talks have even started. 

“I mean, Trump and Hegseth literally appeared to be negotiating on behalf of Putin. They’re trying to sell us on the things the Kremlin wants, and it is everything wrong with running a good negotiation. I mean, it violates every principle of negotiation you can imagine,” Moulton said during his Wednesday night appearance on CNN’s “AC360.” 

“I mean, first of all, he’s saying he’s desperate for a deal. Putin knows that Trump is desperate for a deal. He promised the end of the war on day one, and he’s already broken that promise. So now he’s scrambling to get a peace deal, and he’s selling the house before he — or he’s giving away the house, I should say, before he even puts it on the market.”

“I mean, it’s just crazy negotiating tactics, unless you understand that Trump is literally trying to sell us on what Putin wants," said the House Democrat, who visited Ukraine during the war at the end of 2022.

Trump spoke with Putin and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday. The president highlighted in both conversations his desire to put an end to the war. Trump also said he will meet with Putin in Saudi Arabia, but it is unclear when. 

Hegseth stated on Wednesday he does not think Ukraine being inserted into the NATO alliance is a “realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement.” 

Moulton argued the peace negotiations involving Russia and Ukraine are not just about putting a halt to a deadly war, but sending a message to dictators around the world, including China’s Xi Jinping, that democracies are “going to stand up to authoritarian regimes who try to take over foreign countries.” 

“And we all know that if China decides to take over Taiwan it would literally start World War III. You could see tens of thousands of American troops die in that kind of a conflict, so there’s a lot at stake with what’s going on here,” Moulton said on Wednesday.

“Negotiations really matter. We can’t come out of these negotiations with Putin thinking he has a win and Trump is already literally handing him victories before the negotiations has even really started.” 

Trump also said on Wednesday that Kyiv’s return to its pre-2014 borders is unlikely, and Ukraine’s president will “have to do what he has to do.”

Moulton, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, said Europe has stepped up defense spending, and he wants it to keep investing more. However, he added the “whole principle behind NATO is that America has Europeans’ backs. That’s the way it’s worked for 75 years, that’s the way we deterred conflict in Europe for 75 years.” 

“The problem is that it’s very dangerous for the future stability of Europe and because we do have NATO commitments because that has been the bedrock of how NATO works, the next time Putin decides to start a war because he said, ‘Hey I got a win out of Ukraine, let’s go to Poland next, let’s go Latvia next,’ American troops are going to be on the line,” he said.