‘Leavitt Looked Ashen’: Questions Explode Over Putin’s Message to Trump

It has only been two days since the U.S. President flew back from Alaska empty-handed in a meeting of which Fox News’s Jacqui Heinrich stated that Putin “steamrolled” Trump, and yet questions still linger. Indeed, the more time that has passed, the more the media is asking about why Trump’s closest aides exited the meeting looking scared or “ashen,” as applied to Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary. Inevitably, speculation comes around to whether they are all terrified that Russia’s Vladimir Putin showed something to Trump in front of the U.S. delegation, something “scary.”

To go back, as noted in both the Daily Beast and in Mediaite, several prominent reporters at the summit agreed that the Trump team looked almost lost as they emerged.

MSNBC host Antonia Hilton claimed Saturday that President Donald Trump’s aides appeared “frightened” by their experience at the Alaska summit with Vladimir Putin.

“A lot of the press corps that was there, they reported in the minutes and hours after the presser that they saw members of the administration, like Karoline Leavitt, look ashen, almost frightened after what they had seen behind closed doors. What did that indicate to you?”

The question went to former Russian ambassador Paul McFaul who demurred on what might have been presented and instead went forward to talk about the lack of preparation and specialization at the meeting. But others did speculate, and it is still lighting up social media because Hilton wasn’t the only one to notice.

Peter Alexander: "What struck me was the looks on the faces of a lot of the American, delegation here. Caroline Leavitt, Steve Witkoff, who came into the room, then left quickly. Leavitt appeared to be a bit stressed out, anxious. Their eyes were wide, almost ashen at times."

— Blue Georgia (@bluegeorgia.bsky.social) 2025-08-16T00:44:02.105Z

Right, again – this must have been very noticeable. And that’s exactly why so many on Xitter and Bluesky took off asking the obvious.

Trump left the meeting dejected.
Karoline Leavitt left looking shocked and ashen.
Putin smirking the whole time.

Putin must’ve dropped the Kompromat pee tape from when Trump was forced to work for the KGB right there on the table.

Told him in front of everyone to obey. pic.twitter.com/RRDqrT3k9x

— See you all on BlueSky or TikTok or YouTube. (@EverProactive) August 17, 2025

Though I am a “pee tape” skeptic (More along the lines of illegal loans and money laundering from Russian oligarchs), it is possible that Putin again reminded Trump of various things that Putin holds over him – and it is not impossible that some of those things may include matters pertaining to Epstein. The Russians did once have some of the world’s most notorious intelligence operatives, of whom Putin was one. But it could be something more akin to what is set out below:

She saw an incompetent an underperforming world leader and the other was Putin who was in charge.

MSNBC Host Says Karoline Leavitt Looked ‘Ashen, Almost Frightened’ After Putin Summit #MSNBC #VladimirPutinhttps://t.co/6HiWM4BIRN

— Mike (@Mike31865199) August 17, 2025

I think it is every bit as likely that it was the above. Think about what everyone knows about “MAGA.” Trump goes entire weeks without hearing the slightest pushback; they all bow in his presence, all fighting to be more complimentary of him. Now imagine that you have spent a week preparing to get a peace deal in place for your president’s Nobel Prize, only to find out that Trump immediately becomes the beta in Putin’s presence, and everything you once believed about Trump as the “boss” in every situation goes right out the window when confronted with the truth – Putin owns him. Perhaps, for the first time ever, they saw Trump be wholly deferential to someone else, Putin’s puppy. It is just as likely that nothing needed to be said about any kompromat, they left knowing that it had to be something because they couldn’t process what they just saw.

It could easily be that they were in shock after seeing an almost multiple personality-type of transformation in Trump.

Either way, the meeting that didn’t go well is now playing out like a slow-motion disaster. And it is not over. On Monday, Donald Trump will meet with seemingly all of Europe, when Sir Keir Starmer, Emannuel Macron, and Friedrich Merz, each with an economy far bigger than Putin’s, drop by with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The leaders of the E.U. don’t just drop everything all at once and rush to get here over nothing. Something is going on. They have strong concerns and/or see an opening. If Trump’s staff was “ashen” on Friday night, what does Monday bring?

We will have to wait and see. But something is going on. It is hard to unsee what the American delegation saw, whatever it was. Feel free to speculate.

**** Please follow me now on Bluesky

God Bless: I can be reached at [email protected] and also on X at @JasonMiciak. 

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