An eight-page document containing details of a private summit between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin was accidentally left in a public printer at a hotel in Anchorage, Alaska. The papers, found just hours before the Ukraine peace summit, included non-sensitive but previously undisclosed information such as a planned gift and a canceled lunch menu.
Guests at the Hotel Captain Cook discovered the documents, which included a seating chart placing Trump and Putin at the center of the table, along with a lunch menu featuring filet mignon and salad. The summit, scheduled at Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson, had many of its public agenda items already known, but the printer mishap went viral after being reported by NPR.
Among the details in the printout were the names and photos of expected attendees, pronunciation notes for Putin’s name, and three phone numbers belonging to advance staffers. It also revealed that Trump had planned to gift Putin a bald eagle desk statue, symbolizing diplomacy and unity between the two nations.
Despite the leak, the summit did not go entirely as planned. Several events were canceled or shortened after Trump abandoned a push for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine. Instead, he returned to Washington with a broader aim of negotiating a long-term peace agreement.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to meet with Trump in Washington to discuss Putin’s controversial proposal: Ukraine surrendering the rest of Donetsk in exchange for international peacekeepers. Trump expressed optimism in a social media post, calling the summit a “great and very successful day.”
At a joint press conference, Putin echoed Trump’s long-held claim that the war in Ukraine would not have occurred if Trump had won the 2020 election. Trump has received criticism for these statements and for implying that the Biden administration failed to prevent the conflict.