On CNN's "State of the Union," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) spoke about President Trump's approach to the Russia-Ukraine war.
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00:00to get to. I do want to start with developments with regard to Russia and Ukraine. The president
00:06met one-on-one with President Zelensky. Both sides called that meeting productive. Afterwards,
00:12President Trump criticized Vladimir Putin's attacks on Ukraine and said, quote,
00:17maybe he doesn't want to stop the war. He's just tapping me along and has to be dealt with
00:22differently. As the Democratic leader in the Senate, you're a member of the so-called Gang
00:27of Eight. You see intelligence about how the war is going. Are you supportive of these negotiations?
00:36Well, look, my great fear, Dana, is that Trump will just cave into Putin. That's been the overall
00:43indications all along. And of course, the bottom line is very simple, that if we cave to Putin,
00:51if Trump caves into Putin, it's bad in three very bad ways. Number one, to just abandon Ukraine after
01:00all the sacrifice that they made, after so much loss of life and with the rallying of the whole West
01:08against Putin, it would just be a moral tragedy to undercut Zelensky, which I believe Trump is headed
01:15in that direction. Second, it asunders our, tears asunder our alliances with Europe. The Europeans
01:23have stood up for us. The whole West has stood up for us. They put in money. They've used all kinds of
01:29diplomatic and economic tools to back us. And how is Europe going to trust us ever again if Trump backs
01:36out? But third, and maybe worst of all, it's a sign that the United States is weak. It sends a signal
01:42to every dictator in China, in North Korea, in Iran, that if you stand up and bully Trump,
01:48you're going to get your way. So I am very worried about where he is headed. I think that he is in a
01:56position where he feels he can sell out Zelensky. He's sort of saying yes one day, no the next day.
02:03But overall, the trend is very...