'Insane': Moulton slams Witkoff's remark about Putin

A new round of talks over a potential cease fire in Ukraine. U. S.

and Russian negotiators meeting this morning. It comes as Ukraine says Russia launched another wave of deadly attacks on the country overnight. The U.

S. is sitting down with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia a day after meeting there separately with Ukrainian negotiators. The Ukraine foreign ministry calling those talks, quote, productive and focused.

But there are big questions. What would Ukraine have to give up to end the war? And would Vladimir Putin set his sights on Europe next?

CNN's Alex Marquardt joining us now from Washington. This meeting is coming at a crucial time. Trump's foreign envoy is being accused of parroting Kremlin talking points.

Some of the things he's saying is exactly what the Kremlin has been saying about their takeover of territory in Ukraine. What are you hearing? That's right, Sara.

And that is certainly going to worry the Ukrainians as they get into this latest round of talks. This is day two, as you noted, of what are known as these indirect proximity talks. The U.

S. is speaking to each side, but the sides are not together at the table. The U.

S. , of course, eventually hopes to get them to together at the table. This is not at the highest level.

These are what are called technical teams. So what they're trying to do right now is to put the finer points on what both sides have agreed to, which right now is a narrow ceasefire on energy infrastructure. And then these negotiators are going to try to expand that cease fire, to include the fighting in the Black Sea.

And then all along the front before they finally try to hammer out a peace deal. And that's where things are going to get very complicated, Sara, particularly over the question of territory. And there was this remarkable interview with top Trump envoy Steve Wyckoff, who was a main mediator in these talks, who talked about the territorial concessions that Ukraine might have to make.

And he said that the critical issue here is several, territories in the eastern and southern part of Ukraine that Russia wants. And he says that this is all that Russia wants. But of course, the general perception is that Russia would like to take over Ukraine completely.

Here's what Wycoff told Tucker Carlson. There is a view within, within the country of Russia that, that these are Russian territories, that there are referendums, within these territory, that that justify these actions. I simply have said that I just don't see that he wants to take all of Europe.

This is a much different situation than it was in World two and World War two. There was no NATO. so I just you have countries that are armed there.

To me, it just it just I take him at his word in this sense. So that, was Woodcock speaking actually with Fox News. And what is remarkable is he was actually agreeing, Sarah, with, the Russian talking point that these are Russian territories because they speak Russian, because there was this referendum that took place, those referenda and these four areas where it was generally, perceived to be a sham.

It was done during an occupation. It was, you know, obviously there can be a lot of people who felt pressure to vote or didn't vote, at all. and so here, essentially, you have the top Trump envoy agreeing with the position of the, of the Russians that they should take over not just Crimea, but these four, other territories as well.

Now, in an in the other interview that he gave with Tucker Carlson, Wycoff spoke quite glowingly, about Putin saying that he did trust him, that he believes that he does want to work towards peace. He said that he was graciously welcomed by the Russian president, and he actually told a story about how Putin had, commissioned a painting by a top Russian artist of Trump that was then given as a gift to the American president, Sarah Putin, former KGB tends to play the field pretty darn well. Alex Marquardt, thank you so much.

Okay. Joining us right now is a Democratic congressman from Massachusetts, Seth Moulton, who sits on the Armed Services Committee. Congressman, thanks for coming in.

Let's continue with what Alex Marcotte was just talking about and how Trump's, top envoy, kind of envoy to Vladimir Putin personally and what he's just been saying in these new interviews, more with Tucker Carlson and Fox News. Wycoff echoing Kremlin talking points around these referendum votes held by Russian forces occupying parts of Ukraine taken by military force. Let me play this.

There have been referendums where the overwhelming majority of the people have indicated that they want to be under Russian rule. The Russians are de facto in control of these territories. The question is, will they be, will the world acknowledge that those are Russian territories?

Will it end up, can Zelensky survive politically if he acknowledges this? there's this is this is the central issue in the conflict. What's your reaction to that?

If this is the now the stated U. S. position of these talks?

I mean, it's just insane. I mean, I think we've known for a while that Tucker Carlson is on the Kremlin's side and has been for some time, but now the lead negotiator for the United States is taking the Tucker Carlson Putin position on these negotiations. He's literally negotiating for the other side, negotiating for the aggressor, negotiating for the violator of international law.

And what does he say? He says, oh, I take Putin at his word. Is this guy a total idiot?

Is he just completely naive? I mean, I can't figure out where he's coming from. Why on earth would a U.

S. negotiator take our adversary's side? I mean, Reagan must be rolling over in his grave here.

The Republican Party has become subservient to Russia. The Republican Party has become completely weak on national security. I mean, this is like a repeat of Chamberlain going to Munich and appeasing, trying to get peace through appeasement.

That's the opposite of peace through strength. And it doesn't work. It doesn't work.

We're just giving in to our enemy. Let me add in to this time magazine actually just posted an exclusive interview with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky. I want to read a portion that seems significant to this exact point.

He says he sees the white House beginning to take Putin at his word, the way it's written in time, even when their own intelligence contradicted him. The quote from Zelensky I believe Russia has managed to influence some people on the white House team through information, Zelensky told Times Simon Schuster. Their signal to the Americans was that the Ukrainians do not want to end the war, and something should be done to force them.

I saw that in terms of Zelensky speaking out and saying that, and I'm wondering, given the troubled, traumatic and fraught relationship that has become the relationship between Zelensky and Donald Trump, having Zelensky say that in the middle of this, is it going to add what to these talks to try to reach a ceasefire, an end to this war? Well, whiskey is just trying to introduce some reality here that the Trump team apparently can't figure out because Vladimir Putin is a KGB agent who is playing Trump like a violin, playing him like a violin. And now, apparently, he and the Kremlin are doing the same to Wyckoff, who I thought was a smart negotiator but apparently is following the Trump playbook of giving all your concessions away up front.

I mean, this is this is how not to win a negotiation unless you're trying to win for the other side, which increasingly seems to be what Trump is trying to do. The Trump administration is taking the side of Russia and Vladimir Putin in this conflict, and they're so naive. They're so idiotic to actually believe Putin when he says, oh, yeah, no, don't worry, everything's just going to be fine.

Just trust me. I mean, how dumb do you have to be, Kate? I just don't figure it out.

I want to also turn our focus, because you've also been outspoken in telling the Democratic Party that they need to get their act together. And that seems to be coming to a head right now as well. big questions around Democratic leadership right now.

Axios this morning, the way they put it is top Democrats say their party is in its deepest hole in nearly 50 years, and they fear that could actually get worse. And then there was this from fellow Democrat Ro Khanna speaking to Dana Bash this weekend. Listen to this.

The American people are fed up with the old guard. There needs to be a renewal. you know, in in Silicon Valley, when a company isn't doing well, you don't keep the same team.

And I think there is going to be a new generation in this country. They want to see a more compelling economic message. He was criticizing Chuck Schumer and his moves in the on the GOP spending bill there.

Do you think the Democratic Party is in such disarray? How do you describe it? Yeah, I mean, look, it's pretty clear that people are upset.

of course, everyone on the right doesn't like Democrats. That's why they voted against this in the last election, a majority of Americans chose a party led by an indicted criminal, a convicted criminal, sorry, a convicted felon. but, on the other hand, Democrats, the base, are really fed up with the fact that we're not being very effective at standing up to Trump.

And a lot of Democrats are not speaking out. They're not just telling it how it is. I mean, they're not using such strong language to condemn the Trump team and all the things that they're doing.

So on both sides, people are upset with Democrats. But Kate, you're also right. This is a tremendous opportunity for the Democratic Party.

We do need a new generation of leadership. I've been calling for that since I was first elected in 2014. And, you know, sometimes it's gotten me into some hot water.

But over time, I think people have said, yeah, that's right. We do need some new leaders. And new leaders can reassert our position on national security because Democrat votes are proving that we are the party of a strong country, of a strong national security, because we're not appeasing Russia.

We're also the party of a strong economy. Trump is wrecking our economy. You know, China's stock is up, Russia's stock is up.

But American stocks are cratering. because of Trump's tariffs. His is complete.

you know, all over the place, economic policy where people can't even know what he's going to do in the next 24 hours. It's wrecking the economy. And Democrats are trying to hold the line.

so forget Republicans being strong on the economy. Democrats are strong on the economy. But it's obvious that we need new leaders to come out and make this point.

because the old tired leaders of the Democratic Party just can't prove to America that we're going to change, and we need to change if we want to be a majority party, if we want to win, we've got to listen to the voters who told us in the last election that we're out of touch and start winning again, show that we can change so that we can embrace these new issues. And there's a bright future for the Democratic Party. You know what that new leadership looks like, I think, is where the big questions remain right now.

Congressman, thank you so much for coming in. Appreciate your time.