White House mocks 'hilarious' report of Alaska summit papers left at hotel: 'No one takes them seriously'
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA: The White House is brushing off an NPR report that government papers from President Donald Trump’s Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska were left on a hotel printer, calling the story “hilarious.”
Deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said Saturday, August 16, that the eight pages — which included meeting schedules, staff contacts, and a canceled lunch menu — posed no security risk.
White House downplays document discovery
According to NPR, three hotel guests at the Captain Cook in Anchorage found the papers hours before the summit. The documents listed Trump’s schedule, a note about presenting Putin with a gift, names of senior US and Russian officials, and phone numbers of three US advance staffers.
Other pages showed a planned three-course lunch of green salad, filet mignon or halibut Olympia, mashed potatoes, and asparagus, along with seating charts and phonetic guides for Russian names. The lunch was later scrapped.
Kelly dismissed the incident as trivial, mocking NPR for framing it as a security lapse.
“It’s hilarious that NPR is publishing a multi-page lunch menu and calling it a ‘security breach,’” she said. “This type of self-proclaimed ‘investigative journalism’ is why no one takes them seriously and they are no longer taxpayer-funded thanks to President Trump.”
Trump and Putin meet to discuss Ukraine war
At Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Trump and Putin held high-stakes talks on ending the war in Ukraine but announced no breakthrough. Both leaders delivered prepared remarks and avoided unscripted questions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, excluded from the Alaska summit, will meet Trump in Washington to press for firm security guarantees. “Now it is really up to President Zelensky to get it done,” Trump said afterward, adding that Europe must also “get involved a little bit.”
Oleksandr Merezhko, head of Ukraine’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee, told The New York Times that Putin used the summit to signal he isn’t isolated and gained an advantage in shaping the narrative during joint remarks.
Meanwhile, Kremlin forces continued attacks in Ukraine as Putin prepared for the meeting, highlighting the gulf between the two sides. Putin is demanding Ukraine abandon NATO ambitions and cede four occupied territories, while Zelensky insists on security guarantees before any ceasefire deal.
