Rep. McCormick to Newsmax: 'United' Europe to Address Trump on Putin Negotiations

Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., said on Newsmax that a "united" contingent of European leaders will meet with President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., on Monday to discuss his negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Trump posted a pair of conditions on Truth Social Sunday under which he said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy can end the war with Russia, including "no getting back [former President Barack] Obama given Crimea" and "NO GOING INTO NATO BY UKRAINE."

"I think those two are the easy, low-hanging fruit," McCormick told "Wake Up America" on Monday. "The hard thing is that Putin has literally asked for more than what he already has. As a negotiator, of course, that makes sense because the compromise would be with what he has now. But remember, he took over all this land illegally.

"Russia invaded, both during the Obama and the Biden administration, because of our weakness. As a matter of fact, he even admitted that if Trump were president, he would have never invaded to begin with."

"That's why weakness results in war, and strength equals peace," McCormick said. "But I don't think that this is in good faith. Putin is basically delaying while he continues his attacks. To ask more than what he already has is not a serious negotiation. I think Europe will bring it. They're going to come united.

"They're going to talk about the history of these negotiations, what it means internationally to China and other countries who would want to do the same thing. I hope President Trump does not give Putin what he wants."

The Georgia congressman, who is also a NATO parliamentary alternate, stressed that the European leaders "understand what's at stake here."

"They understand that Russia is the bad guy," McCormick said. "They're the invader. They're the ones that want to get a step closer to NATO origin countries. That's why Finland and Sweden just joined NATO. Because they don't trust Russia. They've been at war with Russia before. This is not a man that we can trust."

He added, "In your previous segment, you talked about how [Putin is] talking about the previous Russian Empire. He quotes Peter the Great, he quotes Catherine the Great, who said, 'I can only secure my borders by expanding them.' This guy is not to be trusted. Like I said, he has a horrible track record."

Monday's meeting will be the first time Zelenskyy returns to the White House after the infamous clash the Ukrainian head of state had with Trump and Vice President JD Vance in February. McCormick said he doesn't expect a repeat episode this time around.

"I think lesson learned," he said. "Know your personality, know your audience. Europe has a lot of experience with Russia, too. And realize that one of the people that's going to be coming is the president of Finland, who has a very good relationship with President Trump, who, I believe, he's gone golfing with him.

"This will be a resolute Europe/NATO/Ukraine summit with President Trump. I think they'll show that they have unity in support of Ukraine and what they're trying to achieve to grab back some of that land, which would be a compromise."

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