Transcript: Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan"
The following is the transcript of an interview with Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan, taped Aug. 14, 2025, in Anchorage, Alaska, and airing on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Aug. 17, 2025.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Senator.
SEN. DAN SULLIVAN: Margaret.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Thank you for joining us in your home state.
SEN. SULLIVAN: Welcome to Alaska. The father of the U.S. Air Force called Alaska the most strategic place in the world. That's a quote by Billy Mitchell that I use a lot. And now you see why.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well — very strategic. And I want to talk to you about a lot of things specific to the state--
SEN. SULLIVAN: Good.
MARGARET BRENNAN: —but this is the focus of the world right now—
SEN. SULLIVAN: It is.
MARGARET BRENNAN: —because of who's coming here.
SEN. SULLIVAN: Yes.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So from your perspective, you're a supporter of Ukraine—
SEN. SULLIVAN: I have been.
MARGARET BRENNAN: —what does a successful Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, summit look like?
SEN. SULLIVAN: Well, look, I think the President and his team need to be commended. You know, they have put a lot of effort and energy in peace, with regard to Ukraine and Russia, like they're doing all around the world, you know, they're they're making a lot of headway on peace, whether it's the Azerbaijan-Armenia issues, Iran-Israel, Pakistan-India, they're putting a lot of energy into bringing peace to different parts of the world, but they put the most energy into this.
So, look, I think a successful outcome would be, as you know, a com- negotiating peace is very complex, very difficult. Even this kind of high level diplomacy has risks for everybody, including the president and his team. The different elements of a peace agreement, starting with the ceasefire, then you would have territorial issues, concessions or not, then you have security guarantees. But I think this is a place-setting exercise that the administration believes that if they can get a ceasefire, then you would do the other elements that I talked about, the much more complex elements, with Zelenskyy, with our European and NATO allies. So I think the President is going to assess Putin's seriousness on a ceasefire. And if he assesses that, that he's serious, and Putin agrees to a ceasefire, then I think that would be success. Then you move on to the other elements for round two. So this is really preliminary, and I would call it, you know, an exercise in place-setting for the real negotiations.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So, watch for the ceasefire, and judge success based off of that. Well, the Kremlin has announced there's going to be this joint press conference. The White House says, we'll see, the president said maybe, maybe not. Vladimir Putin is being brought in from the cold. He's been isolated by the world for a reason. Do you think that this is rewarding bad behavior, by giving him this spotlight on the American soil?
SEN. SULLIVAN: Look, two things on that. Vladimir Putin is coming to negotiate with Trump because of the sanctions. I mean, don't take it from me. Listen to our European allies who are definitive on that. The reason Putin is even doing this is because of the threat of serious secondary sanctions. So I think that that is important. And, you know, in terms of American soil, look, I actually think Alaska is the appropriate place. Putin understands one thing, as you know, Margaret, strength and power. And my state exudes strength and power with a huge military here. By the way, we're having a giant military exercise going on right now. I hope Vladimir Putin sees a lot of that military power in the next couple of days. Unleashing American energy, which the President is doing. That's the weapon that Putin fears probably more than anything, when we can compete with them.
And then this is also, you know, a place that demonstrates a huge element of American power and strength, which is our allies. We have allies doing military exercises up here as we speak, the president has been doing a great job with our European allies. Gotten NATO to get to 5%, coordinating with them all week. So I think those are really important. And then finally, you know, as an Alaskan. I think it's important, from the perspective of reminding the Russians that we are quite good negotiators, including the president of the United States. You know, last time we had a big deal with Russia in America, about my state, we got this great state for two cents an acre, $7.2 million, probably the deal of the century. And I think the Russians- I think the Russians probably have to remember that too.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, exactly. Don't you think for Vladimir Putin, who, you know, allegedly wants to reconstitute the Russian Empire, that maybe has a little bit of a different meaning for him, arriving here?
SEN. SULLIVAN: Well, look, I think he has no- I mean, who knows what they think about Alaska, but I know what Alaskans think about Russia. And you know, we're a strong state, like I said. We have enormous power right here. And so again, I think for all these reasons, this is going to be a really important summit.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So- he is an indicted war criminal, for a very specific crime of kidnapping Ukrainian children. He's bombed hospitals in Syria. He's massacred people, ordered them at least, he's- he's murdered many of his own people. He's used chemical weapons on British soil. That's why he's under this kind of pressure and U.S. sanctions. Really, are you pleased that he's this close to home?
SEN. SULLIVAN: Look, like I said, I mean the- the part about—
MARGARET BRENNAN: You don't think it normalizes that, that it forgives that, that it brings him back into the fold by giving him that photo op that makes him look so powerful?
SEN. SULLIVAN: You know, peace is difficult, right? We've had high level discussions with Reagan in Gorbachev, with Stalin, with Mao Zedong. I mean, this is what diplomacy is about, when you try to end wars. And it's- the way you end wars is, you discuss them with the leaders of these countries. Look, I'm no fan of Vladimir Putin. I don't trust anything he says. The key is, when I think what the president has done when you're dealing with a dictator, is show up with strength, and that's what the president's done. Putin is coming to the negotiating tables because he's threatened by these sanctions. The president is rebuilding our military, rebuilding our energy sector, which is critical, critical to my state, and very importantly, as I already mentioned, coordinating really closely with one of the greatest strengths we have, and that's our allies. We are an ally rich nation. Putin is ally poor, and that's a huge strength of ours.
So all of these things, I think, you focus on the strength, get Putin to a ceasefire, and move forward with Ukraine, Zelenskyy, our European allies, in terms of the more complicated elements of a peace negotiation. But it starts with this. Starts with a ceasefire. And look, if President Trump assesses Putin is not being honest, you've seen, you know, a lot of frustration from the president recently saying, hey, I have these good discussions with Putin, then he's out bombing, you know, hospitals and nursing homes. If he assesses that he's not serious, then, as the president said, there'll be severe consequences. And I think that's the kind of pressure we need to keep on to try to get to what everybody wants, which is an end of this war.
END PART ONE RUSH TRANSCRIPT