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Aug. 16, 2025 - Sean Hannity Show
28:25
Why Is Putin Talking? - August 15th, Hour 2
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This is an iHeart Podcast.
All right.
Thank you, Scott Shannon, and thanks to all of you for being with us.
Write down our toll-free telephone number.
If you want to be a part of the program, it's 800-941 Sean if you want to join us.
We are in Alaska.
We're in Anchorage.
We are at Joint Base Elmondorf Richardson.
If I were to walk, it would may take me about two minutes and 50 bullets to the body, probably starting with a head shot if I wanted to walk in the room where the meeting with Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump is ongoing.
I know Scott Besett was there, Marco Rubio was there, Steve Witkoff was there, Pete Heggs was there.
I didn't get everybody.
And one when Putin and Trump met on the tarmac, um, both landing here at Joint Base Elmendorf.
And then another when they initially sat down.
The way the afternoon is going to unfold, you're not gonna hear a lot on this program about what the outcome of this is.
Um, because it's it's really not until about 7:30 Eastern that we'll get maybe the first indication unless something bad happens.
So we'll be on standby for that.
Um anyway, uh, and then I'll have my one-on-one interview with President Trump, and we're just gonna go deep into you know what what happened.
I want him to walk us through it.
But my first questions, I can tell you what they are.
I don't really care.
Um you said you'd know in two minutes.
What did you learn in two minutes?
I want to ask him, you know, what are the severe consequences?
What do you when you negotiate, you say it's like chess.
You know, explain how you view a negotiation like a chess game.
Uh the flyover was uh what, three stealth bombers?
Well, that was pretty that was pretty cool.
As soon as Putin and him met and shook hands.
They timed it perfectly.
I'm sure that was not on the itinerary.
I'm just guessing on that part though.
Uh we have tape.
There was audio.
A question from a reporter that was yelled to Putin before they were rushed out was will you agree to stop blowing up civilians and why should Trump trust you?
We have the question.
Obviously, there was no answer.
Listen.
Will you agree to a deep fire?
Mr. Putin, will you commit to not telling any more civilians?
Come on, guys.
President Putin, why should President Trump trust your word now?
Oh my gosh, those people give me a headache.
That was what it was like walking into my hotel with all the Russians there yet uh there yesterday.
I mean, they're all in my grill with their phones, and I just said, sure, I'll answer a couple of questions.
I didn't care.
Um whatever.
It is what it is.
Anyway, joining us now, Ambassador Nathan Sales.
He served in the first Trump administration as ambassador at large for counterterrorism, acting uh under Secretary of State.
He played a key role in the maximum pressure campaign against the Iranian regime and its terror proxies in 2022.
He was sanctioned by Iran.
Well, we do have something in common.
Uh I had an Iranian mullah put a fatwa once on my head, and I was told I I got a warning, I got a call from the MYPD and other law enforcement that the Fatwa was real and that I had to take it seriously, and I never had more security in my life than at that point.
I assume you probably had the same thing.
Hey, Sean, uh, great to be back, and it's nice to know that we're fellow members of the FAFLA Club.
Yeah.
There's all there's a whole interesting side note to all that that one day when we're together, I'll tell you.
All right, so high stakes.
The president going into this.
I think that the president has been very clear in managing everyone's expectations.
This is what this is how he will define success.
If in fact this meeting goes well, the next phase of this would be a three-way meeting between Putin and Zelensky.
Uh I think people have to be realistic in how this ultimately would play out.
There's no way that Putin has given back all the territory that he has accumulated, but there are signs that Russia, like Ukraine, is getting war weary, running out of soldiers and running out of equipment,
and certainly the sanctions and Donald Trump putting pressure on the ability of the Russians to sell oil, I think, played a big role in bringing him to the table and getting NATO to pay more than twice what they were paying and to pay their fair share.
Uh what are your thoughts?
Well Sean, I think that's exactly right.
Why is Putin prepared to talk now when he refused for for the entirety of the Trump administration and and the Biden administration as well?
And I think it's because of pressure.
When President Trump said there's going to be economic consequences.
Well what what do you mean the entirety of the Trump administration?
He's only been in office, you know, this is eight months.
Well that's right.
That's right.
Only eight months but during seven seven months, yeah.
Yeah, um but but during those eight months Trump said look we want to talk we want to resolve this we want peace and Putin gave him the stiff arm.
But he's not doing that anymore and I think you put your your finger right on the button Sean it's because Trump threatened to crater the Russian economy serious economic consequences through sanctions that we got his attention and so that helps explain how we got where we are today and it also is a roadmap for what we'll have to do if Trump takes the the the Putin's temperature and we realize he's not actually serious.
He's not prepared to sit down and negotiate in good faith.
We're gonna have to turn up the the economic heat just like we did on the Iranians I agree with you as well.
All right so a couple of very specific things.
One, if you look at the European Union and the trade deal that we made there's nearly a trillion dollars in committed monies that they will spend on American energy money that we all know otherwise would have been spent to buy energy the lifeblood of every economy from Vladimir Putin that I'm certain had to get Putin's attention.
the 50% tariff on India, if they continue to buy Russian oil, that had to get Putin's attention.
Supplying the Ukrainians because he's been stubborn and unwilling to make a deal, and he's gotten more grossly aggressive targeting civilians, I think it absolutely was a sign that, okay, we're not going to do what Joe Biden did and buy the weapons for you, but we will sell you what you need so you can fight back and fight your war and and there are plenty of natural resources for the Ukrainians that they would be able to have the monies to do so.
I think that caught their attention getting NATO to pay more than twice what they were already committed to paying I think that had to be a factor thoughts on on all of this?
A hundred percent Sean I I think Vladimir Putin's approach to geopolitics is the same as Vladimir Lenin's and Lenin said we we probe with bayonets if you encounter mush you push if you encounter steel you withdraw.
And I think what Putin has been finding these past couple of months is that the United States is made of steel.
We have through diplomacy encouraged harangued uh twisted the arms of our European allies to spend more on their own defense and that's an investment not just in European security it's an investment in deterrence because the stronger NATO is on the Eastern Front the less likely Putin is going to be to try and uh try something against us.
So a more prepared more capable NATO alliance is an investment in stability in Europe which means that the United States doesn't have to spend so much time and attention and money policing the continent.
The economic sanctions that you've talked about as well are absolutely critical.
Putin's economy is a house of cards he's propped it up these past two and a half years um with a sugar rush of wartime spending but that only gets you so far.
And so interest rates are rising unemployment is rising he knows he doesn't have that much play left in the joints he's basically greased the system as much as he can and it only would take a little bit more economic pressure from the United States in order for his economy to face the bad old days of the 1990s where you've got bread Lines in Moscow.
And at that point, the the the war becomes a political liability for Putin.
That's what he wants to avoid.
We got his attention by threatening the use of coercive economic statecraft, which we can do, sanctioning their oil, sanctioning their banks, closing the loopholes that the Biden administration unfortunately left open all these months and years.
That's why I think Putin is prepared to talk now.
Now, is he prepared to make hard concessions?
We'll see.
President Trump said he'll know within two minutes as to whether or not Vladimir Putin is serious about ending the war.
Look forward to seeing the readouts uh from the meetings that are happening right now.
Well, we're not getting a lot of information right now.
What is your take?
I think the longer this goes on, probably the better it is for the long-term plan, strategic plan of the president, which is a second meeting.
And and obviously the pres if if the look, if the president assessed at this point that Putin wasn't serious, I think this thing would be over.
I've known Donald Trump for 30 years.
I know him.
If he thinks he's wasting his time, he's leaving.
Yeah, yeah.
And uh that wouldn't be great for Putin.
Um nobody wants to get on a plane and fly all the way to Alaska to waste to waste a day.
So I I think we we'll have a better sense in a couple of hours what the way forward is.
T today is just the first meeting.
Um if it goes well enough, we could expect to see future meetings like this.
And then we have to ask the question, you know, what does success look like?
What is a good outcome for Ukraine uh and Europe and the United States?
And I think it means first of all, ceasefire.
Um you've got to stop the killing.
Putin's gotta stop targeting innocent Ukrainian civilians, hospitals, maternity wards, kindergartens.
That's gotta stop.
And then thinking long term, we need an arrangement that's going to prevent Putin from using a ceasefire to do what he always does, and that's re-arm, rebuild his military, and prepare to take yet another shot at Ukraine.
Or even worse, if he's emboldened, maybe take some kind of shot against NATO territory.
So deterrence is absolutely the key to the game.
And that means, as you said, continuing to sell top of the line American military equipment to the Ukrainians, not charity.
This is going to be paid for by the Ukrainians or by our European allies.
And maybe we need to see European boots on the ground in Ukraine as well.
NATO membership is the gold standard when it comes to deterrence.
Probably not going to happen in the near future.
But as a second best, it would be great to see European boots on the ground there on the front lines to deter Russia from taking another bite at the apple after this phase of the conflict ends.
Let's talk about China for just a minute here, because the president did put a pause on tariffs with China.
Why do I suspect that part of that negotiation is including whether or not China continues to buy Russian oil?
Yeah, I think that's a huge part of it.
And let's be clear.
China has benefited enormously from Russia's war in Ukraine because what they have done is by cut rate uh Russian energy um that that they would have to pay a much larger price for if they got it on the open market.
So China has an interest in Russia winning this war, or at least this war prolonging itself uh for its own economic reasons.
Um they've been supplying dual-use equipment to the Russian military to enable it to fight more effectively.
So, you know, Putin and Xi Jinping have talked about their no limits partnership.
That's largely rhetoric, but the fact remains, you know, we have seen China make substantial investments in Russian success.
And I I think you've got to break that axis.
Um, and and part of the way you do that is by threatening to target Chinese imports of Russian energy.
Break that dependency, make China look someplace else, make them conclude that the price of doing business with Russia is simply too high.
Well, I think that's that's all a good strategy.
Uh the one thing that you have to know, and I know President Trump knows this better than anybody going into this is that the only thing that Russia and Putin will ever respect is strength.
And I think President Trump has shown strength.
President Trump tried to go the nice route.
He did the same thing with Iran.
He tried to be nice, he gave him fifty days or whatever the time period was, they wouldn't listen.
And he allowed Israel to do what what they needed to do, and then he followed up and he took out you know the nuclear sites.
At the end of the day, it's going to be different.
The severe consequences he's talking about here are economic.
And that means the engine of the Russian economy, which is oil, uh, will be disrupted and disrupted severely, and there won't be anything they really can do to stop it because all the economic might, uh, in my view, is is in the hands of the U.S. A hundred percent, Sean.
I think it wasn't w President Trump's approach to Iran, the Chinese were watching very closely, or the Russians were watching very closely.
And what they saw was that this man isn't bluffing.
He'll play nice with you, he'll give diplomacy a chance, he'll also set guy dead deadlines.
If you break the deadlines and if he promises there's going to be consequences, there's going to be consequences.
So I think um the approach the president took with respect to the Iranian nuclear weapons program showed the rest of the world that when he says he wants to talk, and if you don't, there's consequences, that he was deadly serious.
Let's hope that produces some momentum here in Alaska, with Putin realizing that the days of his war are numbered, and it would be in his own best interest economically to call off the dogs, accept a ceasefire, uh last question.
Do you agree with me at the end of the day, he's gonna gain territory?
There'll be a land swap in some regards, and that whether he likes it or not, even though it won't be NATO, there are going to be massive security guarantees for Ukraine.
Is that how it ends?
I think that's how it ends.
Yeah.
The details, those are going to be worked out, but it's basically a land for peace type arrangement where the land that Ukraine keeps is adequate to defend itself against any future Russian aggression.
I'm telling people that.
People are like, I don't want to hear that's gonna be the end.
I'm just telling you how it's gonna end, not what I w I wish we don't reward people that do this.
Ambassador Nathan Sales, thank you, sir.
Appreciate it.
800 941 to be a part of the program.
All right, we continue.
Sean Hannity show.
We are at the summit with uh President Trump and Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmondorf Richardson, beautiful Anchorage, Alaska.
And when we come back, we're also gonna get to a lot of your phone calls coming up in the course of the program today.
800 941, if you want to join us.
And uh we did put on Instagram this radio show today.
I want to check it out.
We'll continue.
And my interview with President Trump tonight, nine Eastern on Fox.
Robert, right here in the great state of Alaska.
Robert, what a beautiful state you have.
The people are wonderful, and even the reindeer tasted okay.
Thank you, sir.
Hey, try the beer battle halibut before you leave too.
That's that's the best.
But um thank you and President Trump and hopefully the President Putin for coming here to find peace in our world.
And uh especially since we're so close to Russia, we want to make sure that we're at peace with Russia.
Well, listen, I understand why.
There's actually, I think a fifty mile, one of the islands, the Alaskan Islands, I think is fifty feet off the shore of of Russia.
Did you know that?
Yes, yes.
I'm sorry, fifty fifty miles.
Yes.
Yeah, we're very close.
Fifty feet would be a little too close.
That's a little too close for comfort.
Yeah.
Well, we have we still have a lot of Russians here.
We have Russian uh little pockets, and uh they're very nice people, and we all get along, and I hope uh, you know, uh President uh Trump and Putin can get along and uh we leave with a nice uh deal and uh no more war in the Well you I but I don't want you to get your hopes too high.
The deal would be that we go forward and that there's a real true commitment towards uh lasting peace.
That's what that would be the goal of today.
Yes.
Yeah.
Well, um we uh you know we we we oh we had the biggest protest I've ever seen here in my 30 years in Alaska.
I'm from the East Coast Brentwood.
You know Brentman, right?
Long Island.
Yeah.
I do.
So we have I don't know, I don't know what brought you from Brentwood, Long Island to Anchorage, Alaska.
The the fishing and by the way, I want to say thanks to our local affiliate K E and I for all their help, AM six fifty.
They're amazing.
So we're having the biggest salmon run on you get this, the Russian River down the highway where it's sunny today.
It's cloudy in anchorage today, but look south and you'll see a blue sky.
Yeah, thanks a lot, because I'm in a room that's like twenty degrees below zero right now, freezing.
There's no chance I'm falling asleep on the air today, I can tell you that.
Listen, I'm with you.
I would um it was when I was walking in my hotel, and I mean, when I say it's full of Russians, I'm not joking.
It's full of Russians.
And I think I'm the only American in the hotel.
And so, you know, the I'm getting the fact that they knew me surprised me, number one.
Number two, you know, asking me, and I'm like, well, when do you do you want the killing to stop?
How many more Russian soldiers dead do you want?
You know, how many more dead women and children do we have to have here?
What to satisfy Putin's, you know, geopolitical territorial ambitions, no, thank you.
And the fact that President Trump is willing to expend political capital that in the end would could potentially benefit everybody.
You know, European leaders can't do this.
Now, if you really want to take it to the next, next, next best level, why not?
Why doesn't Europe start on their own, and maybe President Trump will get the ball rolling to develop better relationships with Russia.
Maybe that would reduce their their contributions that are necessary to NATO.
Um, you know, there's all sorts of possibilities.
If you are if you're open and you really want peace in your life, and you really're all sorts of things, but it takes two to tango.
You can't make people do things they don't want to do.
And there's a certain part of of Putin from my perspective that is just evil, and I don't think he's moved an inch.
I don't think he's I don't think his heart, his soul, his conscience is moved in the least.
You know, if he sees pictures, he doesn't even probably see them of dead women and children.
I don't think he cares.
You know, it's just not how he's his mind is configured.
So anyway, we can hope, but that's why pressure matters.
When when you go at somebody's the heart of a country's economy, which is what the severe consequences will be if Putin does not rise to the occasion and take the opportunity President Trump is giving him today, then I think that's the inevitable result.
Uh I cannot believe we're gonna stay in Alaska.
I can't believe all our friends in Alaska are calling in.
We have Drew in Alaska.
Drew, how are you?
Glad you called, and thanks for listening in Alaska.
I thank you for having me, Sean.
Um, this is a great day for Alaska and for the whole world to see our great state and for President Trump to put this together.
And like I was telling Katie, I was um a prop Democrat at one point until they did their bull crap against the president and tried to trump up charges against him, and I was like, No, it's not gonna happen.
And he got the black and brown vote plus the white uh boat vote too.
So um, and I think he's doing a great job for our for our country of the United States.
And with Putin coming here, he's gonna just you know, we won't know what he says, but basically um, he's just gonna say it has to stop.
And Putin realizes that it needs to stop because the money's running up and he has countrymen that are saying, hey, it was fine before, and I can't believe they would tell him that, but it is Russia, and I'm hoping uh Zelensky will um come.
But like I was telling Katie, I don't see Putin in the Russian um giving back any land.
They wanted that they wanted that um waterway, and I don't think they're gonna give it back.
So that that's not up to us.
That's between Russia and the Ukraine and um I just the the shift in in attitude, I think, is so much it's been very great because of President Trump's leadership.
And that is he's given Putin every opportunity and a lot of time to come to the table.
He hasn't.
So President Trump then said, okay, well, now we're gonna start arming Ukraine, but we're not gonna do it the way Joe Biden do it.
We'll sell them the weapons.
All right, Putin's taken note of that.
Poop Putin's taking note of a 50% tariff if India buys Russian oil.
Uh Putin's taken note of the fact that the European Union just did a deal nearly a trillion dollars and committed monies to buy American energy.
He's taking note of that because that's money right out of his pocket.
What has been funding his war machine is the heart and soul of the Russian economy, which is oil and energy, period and the sentence, and if they don't have it or they don't have enough customers, especially if if President Trump can peel away India and maybe even China.
Wouldn't surprise me.
We're dealing with talking about Donald Trump here, right?
Yep.
And um Yeah, Sean, I just can't uh say enough that you you spread the word of the truth.
And um I just I'm glad I've listened to you for the last three years and um yeah, and I watch your uh TV show at and when I get home from work, I watch it for a whole hour.
And uh yeah, you had a great show yesterday.
I just wish that uh um I I told Katie that I want to give you some salmon and some uh homemade jelly.
It's raspberry, I'm going leaving today to go out in the middle of uh Fairbanks to go berry picking.
So um I'll watch your show have internet.
You know, it's funny when farmers call this program sometimes and they're even on their tractors, or when people like yourself, I have a friend of mine that picks blueberries in upstate New York, and you tell me you're gonna go fishing, and you tell me you're gonna pick raspberries and you're gonna tell me you're gonna make jelly and you know,
when I'm having some really crappy days because I'm in the public eye, I'm like dreaming of doing you know, having anonymity and doing just that.
It sounds like the most appealing thing in the world.
And you know, sometimes I question myself and in terms of man, why am I why am I killing myself?
I could be living on a on a ranch and raising cattle and doing fishing and doing a little bit of hunting and making a little bit of jelly.
Kind of sounds cold to me.
Those would be the most politically informed cows in all of the world.
Did you hear what she said?
No, those would be the most politically informed cows in the world and fish and raspberries.
No, but I mean, and and it really does I you know, I'm gonna tell you something.
One of the worst things, if you grow up in suburbia and the only thing you know is to buy everything at a grocery store.
I have no idea.
Well, you know, people raise the chickens, they raise you know, the the pigs, they raise the cattle, they ra they go fishing, uh, they you know, they do the farming, uh they do the harvesting, they do all the hard work, they feed the entire world, and I don't know.
I just admire people that that do all these great things.
That's why I'm so obsessed with these shows in Alaska.
I'm obsessed with them.
Um I can't imagine myself though living off the grid.
I couldn't.
Linda doesn't even know what living off the grid means.
No, but I admit that I just said that this morning.
We have this great driver, Tom Gaffney, and and Tom and Blair and I were talking about it, and and I was like, he's like, Oh yeah, Sean loves live off the grid.
And I was like, bro, I didn't even know what that actually meant till yesterday.
I thought it meant you had like nothing, but it turns out I was wrong.
Turns out you're wrong.
Say it again.
Oh, I you want to make you want to make a rejoiner out of that one.
Uh Drew, listen, uh, you're very kind, God bless you, and thank you for your hospitality.
I've really enjoyed my time here in Alaska.
I can't believe Alaska is the fiftieth state I've been to.
And and I will tell you, I'm coming back, God willing, if God lets me live long enough, I'm coming back just to have fun.
Uh 800 nine four one Sean, if you want to be a part of the program.
Scott, he's holding down the fort in my free state of Florida.
What's up, Scott?
How are you?
I'm good, Mr. Sean.
How are you?
I'm good, sir.
What's going on?
I was wondering get your opinion and your thoughts on if this doesn't go good today with Trump and Putin.
If Trump recalls soldiers that aren't with out of the army within six years that have not been medically discharged or dishonorably discharged if he recalls them.
I I didn't quite understand the question.
Ask me again.
Um I was just wondering your thoughts and opinions on if this goes sideways, the meet uh summit today.
If Trump recalls soldiers that haven't been out of the military within six years to send them overseas to try to combat what Putin's doing over there and put feet on I don't I don't think those are the severe consequences at all.
You know, I d the Trump doctrine, I'm gonna ask the president about this tonight because there's a lot of misunderstanding about the Trump doctrine.
Um the big part of it is no forever wars.
The last thing America wants or needs is a war with Russia.
We don't need that crap.
And I think what no forever war means is it doesn't mean isolationism as some quote so-called conservatives are are describing it to people.
You know, because he did take out Solomonny and Baghdadi, dropped the mother of all bombs in Afghanistan, and he did take out the ISIS Caliphate, and he did take out Iranian nuclear sites.
That's not isolationism.
And here we are in Alaska, and he's trying to make peace in Europe.
You know what?
God bless him, and I I pray that we are successful here.
We'll know more when I interview President Trump uh for uh Fox tonight on the Fox News channel, Hannity Nine Easter.
We'll continue.
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