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

Lawmaker from Estonia says photo celebrates ‘the greatest war criminal of the 21st century’

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.