Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she would gladly nominate President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize if he can end the Russia-Ukraine war without Kyiv being required to "concede its territory to the aggressor."
Trump traveled to Alaska on Friday, where he was planning to meet face-to-face with President Vladimir Putin to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.
Appearing on the "Raging Moderates" podcast, Clinton was asked what would "an acceptable deal look like" for Trump.
"I understand, from everything I've read, he very much would like to receive the Nobel Peace Prize," Clinton told host Jessica Tarlov in the interview released Friday.
"And honestly, if he could bring about the end to this terrible war, where Putin is the aggressor, invading a neighbor country, try to change the borders, if he could end it without putting Ukraine in a position where it had to concede its territory to the aggressor, had to in a way validate Putin’s vision of greater Russia, but instead could really stand up to Putin, something we haven’t seen, but maybe this is the opportunity to make it clear there must be a ceasefire, there will be no exchange of territory and that over a period of time, Putin should be actually withdrawing from the territory he seized in order to demonstrate his good faith efforts, let us say, not to threaten European security.
"Look, if we could pull that off, if President Trump were the architect of that, I'd nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize. Because my goal here is to not allow capitulation to Putin, aided and abetted by the United States."
Clinton urged the president not to be "a [former British Prime Minister] Neville Chamberlain peacemaker [but] a 'Donald Trump Tough' peacemaker."
The 2016 Democratic Party presidential nominee, who lost to Trump, said capitulation to the Russian leader would set a "terrible, terrible precedent," make the U.S. "less safe" and "reward Putin's aggression."
"And he will not stop. We know that," she said before adding, "You can dream, Jessica, you can dream.
"And I’m dreaming that, for whatever combination of reasons, including the elusive Nobel Peace Prize, President Trump may actually stand up to Putin on behalf of not just Ukraine and its democracy and its very brave people but frankly on behalf of our own security and interests."
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.