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Trump’s Luncheon Was “In Honor of His Excellency Vladimir Putin,” State Department Documents Left in Alaska Hotel Reveal

by in Daily Edition | August 16, 2025 3 min read

Monica Crowley

Monica Crowley (Official White House Photo by Molly Riley) The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

After U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin left their meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, NPR investigative reporter Chiara Eisner reported on social media that “a state department staffer seems to have left behind 8 pages of info on a hotel printer about the Trump-Putin summit. We published each of them. See what they say for yourself: Trump-Putin documents left on hotel printer.”

Eisner shared photos of the eight pages which include an agenda, a seating chart, and lunch and dinner menus. One document also mentions “gifts” and lists, under “POTUS to President Putin” an “American Bald Eagle Desk Statue.”

Trump’s delegation included State Secretary Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and Special Envoy Steven Witkoff.

As seen on the bottom of some of the pages, the documents were produced by the Office of the Chief of Protocol, which is led by former Fox News star Monica Crowley, who is responsible for advising President, the Vice President (who wasn’t there), and Secretary of State (Rubio) on matters of national and international diplomatic protocol.

Part of that protocol includes referring to Putin as “his excellency” — with the “luncheon” being given “in honor of his excellency Vladimir Putin.” It is an honorarium that many people strongly believe that Putin — who has been charged as a war criminal by the International Criminal Court — does not deserve.

Representative Jim McGovern (D-MA) called Putin’s reception in the U.S. “shameful and embarrassing,” lamenting on X that Trump “rolls out the red carpet for a war criminal. On American soil. The U.S. government should be arresting Putin, not hosting him.”

Crowley shared the photo below of her traveling on Air Force One to Alaska.

Crowley also shared a photo of her “bidding farewell” to Putin (below) after the summit.