TrumpPutin documents left on hotel printer NPR
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Chiara Eisner
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President Donald Trump right Russias President Vladimir Putin arrive for a joint press conference at Joint Base ElmendorfRichardson Alaska Friday Aug 15 2025 AP PhotoJae C Hong
Jae C HongAP
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ppPapers with US State Department markings found Friday morning in the business center of an Alaskan hotel revealed previously undisclosed and potentially sensitive details about the Aug 15 meetings between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir V Putin in AnchorageppEight pages that appear to have been produced by US staff and left behind accidentally shared precise locations and meeting times of the summit and phone numbers of US government employeesppAt around 9 am on Friday three guests at Hotel Captain Cook a fourstar hotel located 20 minutes from the Joint Base ElmendorfRichardson in Anchorage where leaders from the US and Russia convened found the documents left behind in one of the hotels public printers NPR reviewed photos of the documents taken by one of the guests who NPR agreed not to identify because the guest said they feared retaliationpp
Pictures of two documents about the TrumpPutin meeting in Alaska that were found in a public hotel printer in Anchorage
NPR
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ppThe first page in the printed packet disclosed the sequence of meetings for August 15 including the specific names of the rooms inside the base in Anchorage where they would take place It also revealed that Trump intended to give Putin a ceremonial presentppPOTUS to President Putin the document states American Bald Eagle Desk StatueppOn Saturday White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly dismissed the papers as a multipage lunch menu and suggested leaving the information on a public printer was not a security breach The US Department of State did not respond to requests for commentppPages 2 through 5 of the documents listed the names and phone numbers of three US staff members as well as the names of 13 US and Russian state leaders The list provided phonetic pronouncers for all the Russian men expected at the summit including Mr President POOtihnppPages 6 and 7 in the packet described how lunch at the summit would be served and for whom A menu included in the documents indicated that the luncheon was to be held in honor of his excellency Vladimir PutinppA seating chart shows that Putin and Trump were supposed to sit across from each other during the luncheon Trump would be flanked by six officials Secretary of State Marco Rubio Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles to his right and Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and Special Envoy for Peace Missions Steve Witkoff to his left Putin would be seated immediately next to his Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov and his Aide to the President for Foreign Policy Yuri UshakovppDuring the summit Friday lunch was apparently cancelled But it was intended to be a simple threecourse meal the documents showed After a green salad the world leaders would dine on filet mignon and halibut olympia Crème brûlée would be served for dessertppJon Michaels a professor of law at UCLA who lectures about national security said that the documents found in the printer of the Alaskan hotel reveal a lapse in professional judgment in preparation for a highstakes meetingppIt strikes me as further evidence of the sloppiness and the incompetence of the administration said Michaels You just dont leave things in printers Its that simpleppThe printed papers are the latest example of a series of security breaches by officials of the Trump administration Earlier this week members of a law enforcement group chat that included members of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE added a random person to a conversation about an ongoing search for a convicted attempted murderer In March US national security leaders accidentally included a journalist in a group chat about impending military strikes in YemenppIf you have information to share please reach out to the reporter who investigated this story Chiara Eisner You can reach her through encrypted platforms by contacting her on signal at username ceis78 or by email at eisnerchiaraprotonmeppSponsor MessageppBecome an NPR sponsorp
Chiara Eisner
pp
President Donald Trump right Russias President Vladimir Putin arrive for a joint press conference at Joint Base ElmendorfRichardson Alaska Friday Aug 15 2025 AP PhotoJae C Hong
Jae C HongAP
hide caption
ppPapers with US State Department markings found Friday morning in the business center of an Alaskan hotel revealed previously undisclosed and potentially sensitive details about the Aug 15 meetings between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir V Putin in AnchorageppEight pages that appear to have been produced by US staff and left behind accidentally shared precise locations and meeting times of the summit and phone numbers of US government employeesppAt around 9 am on Friday three guests at Hotel Captain Cook a fourstar hotel located 20 minutes from the Joint Base ElmendorfRichardson in Anchorage where leaders from the US and Russia convened found the documents left behind in one of the hotels public printers NPR reviewed photos of the documents taken by one of the guests who NPR agreed not to identify because the guest said they feared retaliationpp
Pictures of two documents about the TrumpPutin meeting in Alaska that were found in a public hotel printer in Anchorage
NPR
hide caption
ppThe first page in the printed packet disclosed the sequence of meetings for August 15 including the specific names of the rooms inside the base in Anchorage where they would take place It also revealed that Trump intended to give Putin a ceremonial presentppPOTUS to President Putin the document states American Bald Eagle Desk StatueppOn Saturday White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly dismissed the papers as a multipage lunch menu and suggested leaving the information on a public printer was not a security breach The US Department of State did not respond to requests for commentppPages 2 through 5 of the documents listed the names and phone numbers of three US staff members as well as the names of 13 US and Russian state leaders The list provided phonetic pronouncers for all the Russian men expected at the summit including Mr President POOtihnppPages 6 and 7 in the packet described how lunch at the summit would be served and for whom A menu included in the documents indicated that the luncheon was to be held in honor of his excellency Vladimir PutinppA seating chart shows that Putin and Trump were supposed to sit across from each other during the luncheon Trump would be flanked by six officials Secretary of State Marco Rubio Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles to his right and Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and Special Envoy for Peace Missions Steve Witkoff to his left Putin would be seated immediately next to his Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov and his Aide to the President for Foreign Policy Yuri UshakovppDuring the summit Friday lunch was apparently cancelled But it was intended to be a simple threecourse meal the documents showed After a green salad the world leaders would dine on filet mignon and halibut olympia Crème brûlée would be served for dessertppJon Michaels a professor of law at UCLA who lectures about national security said that the documents found in the printer of the Alaskan hotel reveal a lapse in professional judgment in preparation for a highstakes meetingppIt strikes me as further evidence of the sloppiness and the incompetence of the administration said Michaels You just dont leave things in printers Its that simpleppThe printed papers are the latest example of a series of security breaches by officials of the Trump administration Earlier this week members of a law enforcement group chat that included members of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE added a random person to a conversation about an ongoing search for a convicted attempted murderer In March US national security leaders accidentally included a journalist in a group chat about impending military strikes in YemenppIf you have information to share please reach out to the reporter who investigated this story Chiara Eisner You can reach her through encrypted platforms by contacting her on signal at username ceis78 or by email at eisnerchiaraprotonmeppSponsor MessageppBecome an NPR sponsorp
