The next is the transcript of an interview with Fiona Hill, former senior director for European and Russian affairs on the Nationwide Safety Council, that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Aug. 17, 2025.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome again to Face the Nation. Fiona Hill served because the Senior Director for Russia and European Affairs on the Nationwide Safety Council throughout President Trump’s first time period. She joins us now from Waterville, Maine. Good morning to you.
FIONA HILL: Good morning, Margaret.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Properly, Fiona, you have been an advisor throughout that notorious Helsinki summit in 2018. You’ve got spoken about that previously. I’m wondering what you concentrate on how this Alaska summit in contrast?
HILL: Properly, clearly fairly completely different in lots of respects. A part of it was the truth that they determined to skip the one-on-one assembly and the lunch. I imply, these are often a part of the form of set of summits like this. And the press convention, clearly, was extra of an announcement, or a set of announcements- displays by each leaders. Far more by President Putin, and extra of a commentary by President Trump. So there wasn’t that free-for-all of press questions, which I am positive was a bit disconcerting for you and others who have been current there, at Alaska. However the optics weren’t precisely nice, as Congressman crow has laid out for the USA and for President Trump, once more, I imply, once more, completely different, however though it was introduced as maybe a present of energy by being at a US Air Pressure base with the combat passing of the B-52s and different fighter jets, it did actually look way more like a present of appreciation for Vladimir Putin. And so, the optics have been actually way more favorable to Putin than they have been to the USA. It actually appeared like Putin had set the agenda there, the narrative and, in lots of respects, the tone for the entire summit assembly.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Properly, saying that, you recognize, the President has a group of advisers round him, and in a conventional administration, these advisers could be setting the coverage, they’d be planning the optics, and they might be considering via that. Do you suppose that the President’s group set him up for achievement right here?
HILL: Properly, look, it might nicely have been that one of many calls for, as a result of we have heard from Secretary Rubio, which I’ve to say, I feel was a very reasonable evaluation of the place issues are. So it might nicely have been that one of many calls for by the Russians to make any progress in shifting additional ahead was to really have that form of present of pomp and pageantry, that principally marks Putin’s re-entry into worldwide affairs. Possibly the Russians stated to them in Moscow, both to Steve Witkoff or to Secretary Rubio, or to anyone else, that principally they wished to have a significant US-Russia, bilateral summit look earlier than they’d transfer on to the nitty-gritty of anything in Ukraine. That is to present them- all of them the good thing about the doubt there. However, all of it now relies on what comes out of this. And I feel once more, Secretary Rubio made it very clear that it is not going to be simple. He was actually downplaying any expectations of a significant breakthrough. However he did say that there was one thing that may be attainable. I feel that is what is going on to be the proof of whether or not this was really value all the hassle that they went to in Alaska or not. And as Congressman Crow stated, there is a fairly excessive bar right here, as a result of what Putin is doing is fairly brutal, and he isn’t displaying, proper now, any indicators in anyway of giving something up.
MARGARET BRENNAN: The UK’s Protection Secretary has stated that they’d be keen to place boots on the bottom in Ukraine to assist oversee a ceasefire. Once you hear these safety ensures being talked about, and the Secretary stated he’s going to barter that tomorrow, what ought to we think- what type is that going to take? What do you suppose that ought to appear to be?
HILL: Properly, look, I feel he really laid this out, and you probably did too in your questions. And I feel Congressman Crow made it very clear as nicely. It needs to be a mix of all the issues that we have already heard mentioned on the present at this time. You will have to have the ability to have some boots on the bottom. Congressman Crow that it does not need to be the USA. That is really the case. However, it really needs to be some dedication from the USA to allow European forces to really maintain that territory and to supply some safety ensures for Ukraine. The USA is vital when it comes to its intelligence, when it comes to enabling gear, and the knowledge and the info that we would want for all of this to make a safety intervention imply one thing. And it is also important when it comes to every kind of different types of gear and defensive weaponry. We have already heard, after all, about Ukraine needing every kind of kit, from javelins prior to now, to patriots, now, when it comes to an built-in missile protection system that Ukraine desperately wants. So there’s loads there that everyone knows must be achieved, and what we actually must see, I feel, in these conferences that may happen on Monday and shifting ahead, is an actual dedication to the USA, to work with Europeans, and to work with Ukraine to make this occur. Look, that is existential, additionally for European safety. So, minimizing the actual function of Europe right here, be it the UK, be it Poland, be it Finland, be it France, be it Germany, just isn’t the way in which to go. Europe has to have an equal say in all of this. That is about Europe’s future and the way forward for European safety, not nearly Ukraine’s.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I wish to ask you in regards to the dynamic between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. You already know each males. You’ve got written biographies of Vladimir Putin, and naturally, you served below Donald Trump. In one of many FOX interviews that President Trump did, he stated that he spoke about mail-in voting in the USA with Vladimir Putin, and through that press deal with, Putin additionally claimed that the conflict would not have occurred in any respect if Donald Trump had been President. I imply, that is a counterfactual, however that one thing Trump usually says on the- on the path, why would these issues be mentioned in any respect if this was about Ukraine?
HILL: Precisely. Properly, look, that is Vladimir Putin, as standard, attempting to govern U.S. home politics. I’ve seen him do that over and over, together with at Helsinki when he set the president off, not within the press convention, however earlier than that, in an entire diatribe towards his political enemies, as a result of Putin intentionally requested him about this. So Putin is aware of that President Trump desires to have an acknowledgement of his self-assertion that the conflict would not have occurred had he not- had he been within the presidency. And so, Putin is giving him one thing that performs nicely for President Trump in his personal home surroundings. It does not play nicely within the worldwide surroundings, the place folks know issues are way more difficult, but it surely’s principally a present and a concession to President Trump himself. And Putin desires to sow chaos within the American electoral system forward of the midterms. So, after all, he is led into this complete concern of mail-in voting. And President Trump asserted in his Fox Information interview that there aren’t any international locations on the planet that permit mail-in voting. Properly, Russia permits mail-in voting, and if everyone desires to exit and look, they’ll search for themselves. In 2020, President Vladimir Putin signed into regulation Russians having the ability to vote by mail and in addition on the web. And greater than 30 different international locations additionally permit some types of mail-in voting. So, it is simply not true that different international locations, together with Russia, do not use this. It is a pure, blatant piece of manipulation, and that is the form of factor that Putin likes to do.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And, after all, I do not suppose you’ll endorse the end result of that voting system and that these elections are rigged in Russia. Right?
HILL: In fact. And I imply, principally, Putin desires to see us tie ourselves up in knots between now and the midterms. He is attempting to sow chaos, and he is simply principally used his time with President Trump to push that alongside. It is, once more, it is a diversion, it is a distraction, actually, from the negotiations on Ukraine, as a result of Putin does not actually wish to give something up, so he offers up, principally, one thing that performs nicely within the political area for President Trump and one thing that truly performs very badly for the USA in its personal political area, which is the mail-in voting level that he made.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Fiona Hill, all the time recognize your evaluation. Thanks for becoming a member of us at this time. We’ll be proper again.
