Is Trump now funding Putin’s war machine?

SPEAKER_1 (0:02)

This is a Global Production.

Christiane Amanpour (0:04)

This is a naked political ploy for the midterms because the American people are furious and blaming now the Republican Party and President Trump for the war on Iran, for jacking up all oil prices and therefore the cost of living.

Hello, everyone. It is the latest episode of The Ex Files with me, Christiane Amanpour, in a hospital in London. I will explain. And Jamie?

James Rubin (0:35)

In New York City, not in a hospital, in my apartment.

Christiane Amanpour (0:39)

Right. So I'm in a hospital because I'm getting treatment for a big infection and I've got antibiotic, IV drip and all the rest of it. They're taking exceptionally good care of me, but we can't really put the video on A, because the signal isn't strong enough and B, because I know nobody's going to want to see me sprawled all over a hospital bed with an IV going in. But everything's under control and we're going to get on with this now. So Jamie, questions for us?

James Rubin (1:06)

Let's just repeat that. Everybody should know that you're safe and sound.

Christiane Amanpour (1:10)

Thank you. Let's just repeat that. Now, President Trump says he's done a deal with Russia and brokered a ceasefire. This involves essentially busting his own sanctions against Russia. We're going to talk about that. It has caused a huge amount, as you can imagine, of shock, anger, and just stunning Ukraine and European allies. And we're also going to talk, Jamie, given this time of very, very, very uncertain and capricious global leadership, reverting back to 40 years ago when the leader of the Soviet Union, as it was then, Mikhail Gorbachev, and the president of the United States, Ronald Reagan, met in Reykjavik, Iceland, to talk about reducing and maybe even eliminating nuclear weapons. I was in Reykjavik this weekend, and we're going to talk about it. But first, Jamie, let's talk about this horror, this shocker.

Is there anything positive that you can even think of as to why the president of the United States would unilaterally, apparently not consulting anybody at home or abroad, say to Russia that he was going to lift the sanctions on diesel and purchase some four billion US dollars worth of Russian diesel right now?

James Rubin (2:28)

Right. The positive is that the president cares about diesel oil prices and the diesel prices that are affecting the American people. And when he says he's putting America first, he's putting his version of what is good for America first. So that's the best you can say about it. But the problem is that if you want to stop this war, and I think everyone should want to stop this war, it's one of the worst things that's happened in the modern era in my lifetime.

For Russia to have invaded its neighbor with hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and wounded on the Russian side and many on the Ukrainian side as well. I don't even know the numbers precisely, but I just know that millions of people have been affected by this terrible war. The only way to stop it is for Russia to see that it can't win. When you lift a sanction like diesel oil sanctions like the president has done, you will be providing Russia with billions of dollars worth of hard currency, which they desperately need once that oil is sold on the market.

And since I don't think it's going to get on the market in time to really make a difference here at home in terms of the elections, I'm not sure it will even serve the purposes the president has laid out. But it's obviously a big blow for Ukraine, for Europe, for all of us who want to see pressure on Russia rise rather than soften.

Christiane Amanpour (4:00)

So obviously President Zelensky has said this is just a gift to Russia and a gift to Russia's war machine. The Europeans, including the British, have said they are going to continue their policy of supporting Ukraine and keeping the pressure on Russia.

But the other situation is, Jamie, even though he says President Trump that he wants to do it for the, basically for the midterms, I mean, this is a naked political ploy for the midterms because the American people are furious and blaming now the Republican Party and President Trump for the war on Iran for jacking up all oil prices and therefore the cost of living. This is a naked political ploy that goes against his own signing last month of the so-called Lindsey Graham sanctions on Russia. Lindsey Graham, who died, was a big, big backer of Ukraine and knew that you had to keep the pressure on Russia.