Critics aghast as White House displays framed photo of Trump with Putin

Donald Trump has apparently added a framed photo of himself standing with Vladimir Putin to the White House decor, prompting criticism from a senator, members of the media and beyond.

Newly surfaced photos from the Palm Room, which connects the West Wing to the executive residence, show a framed image of the US president and the Russian president at their summit in Alaska last August. Notably, that event marked the first in-person meeting between US and Russian leaders since Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022. The meeting drew complaints from Democrats who accused him of “cozying up” to Putin, and rolling out “the red carpet” for the Russian leader “instead of “standing with Ukraine and our allies”.

The recently added framed photo was first noted by the PBS White House correspondent Elizabeth Landers on Tuesday, who shared two images of the photo hanging in the Palm Room, positioned right above a photo of Trump with one of his grandchildren. A Bloomberg photographer also captured the display on Tuesday.

The Palm Room typically serves as a lobby for visitors. Trump posted images of the renovated Palm Room in late December.

In a statement to the Guardian when asked why this particular photo was selected for display at this time, a White House spokesperson said that “the Alaska Summit was a historic moment that helped bring Ukraine and Russia, whose brutal war was brought on by Joe Biden’s incompetence, closer to a deal”.

“This is one of many accomplishments that President Trump chooses to feature at the White House, where photographs are rotated frequently to highlight Presidential travel,” they added.

A White House official also said that it was not unusual for the administration to hang up photos around the complex of the president’s public meetings and events. They also said that there were photos of several other instances when Trump met with world leaders, and that the photos around the complex were frequently updated and rotated.

The display drew a reaction from Moscow, with Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s special envoy, responding to the framed photo on X, saying: “Good. A picture is worth a thousand words,” followed by several emojis, including a dove, a Russian flag, a handshake and an American flag.

Others were quick to criticize the decision to display the image.

“Putting Putin above the American people and his own family,” the Virginia senator Mark Warner, a Democrat, said on social media. “Almost a little too on the nose.”

Marko Mihkelson, the chair of Estonia’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee, said of the photo: “If it is true that the US president considers it appropriate to hang on the White House wall a photo of the greatest war criminal of the 21st century, then a just and sustainable peace will have to wait. Unfortunately.”

The CNN broadcaster Jake Tapper called it an “interesting moment to commemorate”.

“Before the summit, Trump threatened ‘severe consequences’ if Putin didn’t agree to a ceasefire. A red carpet was literally rolled out for Putin on US soil but still he didn’t agree to one and Russia’s war on Ukraine continues to this day,” Tapper said.

The newly added photo comes as Trump has worked to renovate different parts of the White House since retaking office last year, including demolishing the East Wing in order to build a $300m ballroom.