ABC host Martha Raddatz called out Secretary of State Marco Rubio after he claimed President Donald Trump had made "progress" on stopping Russia's war in Ukraine.
August 17, 2025

ABC host Martha Raddatz called out Secretary of State Marco Rubio after he claimed President Donald Trump had made "progress" on stopping Russia's war in Ukraine.

"President Trump has touted this summit as a huge success," Raddatz told Rubio in a Sunday morning interview. "But the president, going into that, said he wanted a ceasefire. He wanted the killing to stop. And there would be consequences."

"So, Mr. Secretary, the fighting hasn't stopped, the killing hasn't stopped, and there is no ceasefire," she noted. "What changed President Trump's mind?"

"Well, I don't think his mind has changed at all," the secretary of state insisted. "We made progress in the sense that we identified potential areas of agreement, but there remained some big areas of disagreement. So we're still a long ways off... But I do think progress was made."

Raddatz interrupted: "Secretary Rubio, we don't know what any of that progress is."

"And you're not going to," Rubio replied.

"The president went into that meeting, okay, the president went into that meeting saying he wanted a ceasefire and there would be consequences if that — if they didn't agree on a ceasefire in that meeting and they didn't agree to a ceasefire, so where are the consequences?" the ABC host pressed.

"Yeah, but you're not going to reach a ceasefire or peace agreement in a meeting in which only one side is represented," Rubio remarked.

Can you help us out?

For over 20 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but social media is limiting our ability to attract new readers. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon