Former Aide Reveals How Vladimir Putin Played Donald Trump Like A Fiddle On Phone Call

[Emrys]

Last edited Tue Mar 18, 2025, 08:48 AM - Edit history (1)

And the U.S. president didn't even know it, recalled Russia expert Fiona Hill.

Fiona Hill, a former senior National Security Council official and expert on European and Russian affairs, has revealed new insights into President Donald Trump’s previous interactions with Russian President Vladimir Putin — and how she believes Putin actually mocked Trump during their exchanges.

In a lengthy interview with Foreign Affairs released Thursday, Hill described Trump as unprepared for meetings with his Russian counterpart and overly fixated on personal interactions rather than diplomatic strategy.
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“The very first time I was in one of the phone calls with Putin, I was listening very carefully to the Russian, because the interpreters don’t always capture everything, they don’t capture the nuances, particularly when it’s the Russian interpreter who’s translating into a language that’s also not their native language, all kinds of things are missing,” she remembered.
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“There was all kinds of menace in what Putin had said, he chooses his words very carefully,” she explained.

“Many times when Putin and Trump are interacting, Putin’s actually making fun of him,” she continued. “It’s just it’s completely lost in the translation. I can give lots of episodes of this, or he’s goading him and urging him on to something, because he’s trying to see how he’ll react and the translation smooths over all that. That context is absolutely missing. And he doesn’t do a readout afterwards.”

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/fiona-hill-donald-trump-putin_n_67d3d4d0e4b0c55eb8c0bcf0

Here's the full interview with Fiona Hill for Foreign Affairs:

Accompanying text: "What Does Trump See in Putin? A Conversation With Fiona Hill" - https://www.foreignaffairs.com/podcasts/what-does-trump-see-putin

(Now X-posted in General Discussion - https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220150938 )