By Molly Claire Goddard
12:00pm PDT, May 20, 2025
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Karoline Leavitt is steering clear of making bold statements about one world leader.
During a Monday, May 19, media briefing, the current White House Press Secretary was questioned about whether or not she believes Russian President
Vladimir Putin is "the bad guy" after the strongman reportedly ditched peace talks with Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelensky. Her response seemed to leave people puzzled.
Keep reading to see what Leavitt said about Putin…MORE:
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During the first press conference of the week, Karoline Leavitt was asked by Fox News'
Peter Doocy if Vladimir Putin is the "good guy or the bad guy" in the war between
Russia and Ukraine as Donald Trump tries to get peace talks in motion.
"Putin ghosted everybody at these peace talks last week. As President Trump phones him to try to figure out an end to the Ukraine war, does he think Putin is the good guy or the bad guy?" Doocy asked.
Replied Leavitt without offering a direct answer, "I will let the president speak on that conversation later. He's made his feelings about both sides of this war quite clear throughout it. He wants to see it end."
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The avoidant response from Karoline Leavitt comes as Secretary of State
Marco Rubio recently admitted he believes the only way for an agreement to be reached to end the war is to have Donald Trump sit down with Vladimir Putin.
"I think that's the only chance we have at peace at this point, given everything we've seen over the last few weeks," he said during a Thursday, May 15, interview with Fox News host
Sean Hannity. "There's been talks, there's been
negotiations, there's been trips and meetings — but in the end, I think we've reached the conclusion, rightfully so, as the president has, that the only way this is going to happen, if it has a chance to happen, the only way it happens is if the president directly engages with Vladimir Putin."
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While aboard Air Force One on Thursday, May 15, Donald Trump echoed Marco Rubio's sentiment about having a candid conversation with Vladimir Putin to try to put an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine.
"Nothing is going to happen until Putin and I get together," the Republican leader claimed. "He wasn't going if I wasn't there. I don't believe anything's going to happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together. But we're going to have to get it solved cause too many people are dying."
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Although Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky got off to a rocky start with Donald Trump, the foreign leader is working alongside the right-winger to get peace talks underway.
Zelensky reportedly visited Turkey to speak with Vladimir Putin. However, according to Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, Putin ditched the meeting: "After we understood the level of the Russian delegation, we saw that they unfortunately are very unserious about real negotiations," he said of the failed meeting.
