Adam Schiff Struggles Live on CNN When Asked About Trump’s Peace Efforts [WATCH]

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) was pressed Friday on CNN over whether President Donald Trump deserves credit for working to achieve peace between Russia and Ukraine following Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska.

Appearing on CNN’s The Lead, Schiff was asked by host Jake Tapper about the significance of Trump’s summit with Putin and whether his efforts represented progress compared to Joe Biden’s approach.

Tapper noted that Biden’s strategy on Ukraine had failed to stop the war despite providing billions in aid to Kyiv.

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Schiff was reluctant to give Trump credit, instead emphasizing his preference for expanded U.S. military support to Ukraine.

“Look, I’m all for any attempt to bring an end to the bloodshed, but what would have been, I think, a far more successful strategy for the President was to have Ukraine’s back, to be leaning into providing material and military support to Ukraine, to give Ukraine the resources it needed to take out the trains carrying fuel going to the front, which have continued to feed the war,” Schiff said.

The Anchorage summit marked Trump’s latest attempt to broker peace in Eastern Europe.

While no official agreement was announced, Trump has consistently called for a permanent resolution to the conflict and warned Putin that sanctions could follow if negotiations did not begin.

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Schiff, however, argued that Trump has weakened Ukraine’s position in the war.

“So I agree, the Biden approach didn’t succeed, and I think because it was too slow to provide enough material support to Ukraine to give Ukraine that military advantage it needed,” Schiff continued.

“But what the President has done since taking office has been to undercut that. We have a bipartisan bill, as you know, strongly bipartisan, to sanction Russia. The President hasn’t allowed that legislation to move forward, and the President’s own threat of imposing sanctions he withdrew on, at least until now. So I don’t think this is the successful negotiating posture Ukraine deserves.”

The Russia-Ukraine conflict has spanned three administrations.

Fighting initially erupted under the Obama administration following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.

A full-scale war broke out in 2022 under Biden, who pledged billions in U.S. assistance to Ukraine.

Despite the flow of aid, Ukrainian forces were unable to secure decisive victories, and the war has continued into 2025.

During Biden’s presidency, the U.S. government issued sanctions on Russian banks and debt, barred American investment in separatist-controlled regions of Ukraine, and later reimposed sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

Biden promised additional action if Russia escalated further, stating that the United States and its allies would respond “in a united and decisive way.”

“The world will hold Russia accountable,” Biden said in February 2022, shortly before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The same people saying Trump was steamrolled by Putin said nothing when Jo(K)e Biden publicly gave Putin the green light for a “MINOR INCURSION”

“RUSSIA WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE IF IT INVADES. AND IT DEPENDS ON WHAT IT DOES. IT’S ONE THING IF IT’S A MINOR INCURSION” – joe Biden pic.twitter.com/mSJWvibyRO

— Clyp Keeper (@DGrayTexas45) August 16, 2025

Russian President Vladimir Putin responded at the time with warnings that any attempts to obstruct Moscow would result in “consequences you have never seen in history.”

Since returning to the White House, Trump has framed his approach around direct negotiations and long-term peace agreements rather than open-ended aid packages or temporary ceasefires.

The Anchorage meeting with Putin is expected to be followed by discussions with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is scheduled to visit the White House on Monday.

Trump has emphasized that his administration’s goal is to end the war permanently, contrasting his strategy with the Biden-Harris administration’s reliance on sanctions and military aid.

The president has argued that only a negotiated settlement between Moscow and Kyiv can bring an end to the conflict and restore stability in the region.