WASHINGTON — An eight-page printout containing non-public information such as President Trump’s gift for Vladimir Putin and their anticipated lunch menu was allegedly left at an Anchorage hotel printer hours before the high-profile Ukraine peace summit.
The embarrassing snafu revealed little if any sensitive security information — as most scheduled items on the agenda for the summit on the military’s Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson already were public information — but immediately became a media sensation after being reported by NPR.
The formerly publicly funded news outlet reported that three guests at the four-star Hotel Captain Cook found the papers in a public printer.
Two pages contained the menu for an ultimately aborted lunch, which was to include filet mignon with brandy peppercorn sauce and a salad with champaign vinaigrette, and a third included a seating chart with the two presidents centered around a board room-style table.
Two additional pages contained the names, photos and participants of an anticipated expanded meeting between Russian and US officials — with aides instructed that the Russian leader’s name is pronounced “POO-tihn.”
It also revealed Trump intended to gift Putin was an American bald eagle desk statue, and listed three phone numbers of advance staffers who help set up the events.
The White House had already published most of the scheduled events listed in the document, though much ultimately didn’t happen or were abbreviated as Trump ditched his plan to seek an immediate cease-fire and instead returned to Washington optimist about brokering a full peace deal.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is due at the White House Monday to discuss Putin’s request that he relinquish the remainder of Donetsk province in exchange for a robust international peacekeeping force including British and French troops to shield against further Russian aggression.
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