Karoline Leavitt forced to clarify glaring Trump gaffe as White House nails down final details of Putin summit

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt played cleanup for President Donald Trump on Tuesday after the president said twice that he was preparing to go to Russia to visit Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Leavitt clarified to the Daily Mail during the White House press briefing on Monday that the meeting would take place in Alaska, despite the president’s comments.

‘Perhaps there are plans in the future to travel to Russia and on Friday the president will be meeting with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in Alaska, as you know,’ she said.

Trump, however, specifically mentioned that Friday he was going to Russia during his press conference on Monday.

‘You know, I’m going to see Putin. I’m going to Russia on Friday,’ Trump said in what was widely assumed to be a verbal slip.

Then he did it again.

‘We’re going to Russia. That’s going to be a big deal,’ he said later in the press conference.

Trump’s comments about Russia triggered his critics who called out the president for his rhetorical mishaps.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt clarified that President Trump’s meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin would take place in Alaska

President Donald Trump at a press conference in the White House Press Briefing Room

Others speculated whether Trump was intentionally referring to Alaska as Russia as a nod to Russia. The state of Alaska was initially Russian territory before the United States purchased it in 1867 for $7.2 million.

But Leavitt’s response indicates there’s no current plan for Trump to go to Russia.

The high-stakes Trump-Putin summit is scheduled for Friday afternoon in Anchorage, Alaska.

The last time Putin met with an American president was in 2021 at a summit with then-President Joe Biden. Trump last met Putin in 2019 on the sidelines of the G20 in Osaka, Japan.

Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine in 2022 after meeting with Biden and Biden refused to meet with Putin after the war began.

Friday’s summit will be the first time Putin has visited the United States since 2015, when the Russian leader met with then-President Barack Obama at the United Nations General Assembly Meeting in New York City on September 28, 2015.