At President Donald Trump's meeting with European leaders on Monday, he was caught by reporters on a hot microphone making a boldly optimistic claim about Russia's Vladimir Putin regarding the invasion of Ukraine.
The comment came as European leaders seek to gently nudge the president toward working in the interest of the NATO alliance and make stronger commitments on behalf of the Ukrainians, as the Russians continue to throw everything they can at forcing submission.
"I think he wants to make a deal for me," Trump said. "Do you understand? As crazy as it sounds."
This comes after last week's meeting between Trump and Putin in Alaska, from which no significant deal appears to have emerged, and from which Trump came out less hawkish on Russia than he had sounded in recent weeks.
Some experts have warned that Trump's summit only emboldened Putin to press on with no ceasefire or serious peace talks.
