Steve Witkoff sat across from Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg early Wednesday and told him, “You are a humanitarian also, sir.” The same day, Hillary Clinton released the second episode of her podcast with Kara Swisher and said she still believes Putin is holding photos or videos of Donald Trump, which is why, in her telling, Trump keeps giving Moscow what it wants.
Trump Said Two Things About the Price
Russia freed Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old retired teacher from Michigan, and that is good news for him and his family. The terms are the story. Here is what has been said on the record so far:
| Who | What was said | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Steve Witkoff, to Putin | “You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian. You are a humanitarian also, sir.” | NBC News |
| Trump, on Truth Social | The U.S. “was not required to give anything in return.” | NBC News |
| Trump, on the sanctions waiver | Talks over Hubbard “would have come to a complete and total halt” without it. | NBC News |
| Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov | Putin chose to free Hubbard for “humanitarian considerations.” | PBS NewsHour |
Rows two and three come from one man and pull in opposite directions. If the talks would have collapsed without the waiver, the waiver was what Moscow was paid. “Nothing in return” holds only if sanctions relief does not count as something. We asked what Moscow got earlier Wednesday, and Trump’s own sentences now supply the answer.
Clinton’s Third Reason
On the episode, Swisher asked why Trump is easing pressure on Russia now. Clinton gave three reasons. He is enamored of strongmen. He wants oil, gas and mineral deals, and she pointed to Wall Street Journal reporting on his family’s interest. The third was the one that will travel.
I continue to believe that Putin has things on Trump.
She went on to say she believes he is “holding photos, videos, whatever it might be,” and that the evidence is “how strongly Trump has fought against the release of the Epstein files.” Her summary: “Let’s keep Putin happy so he doesn’t dump what he has.” Swisher supplied the word “compromat.”
She Offered a Belief, Not a Document
Clinton did not name a source, a document or a witness. Her inference rests on how hard Trump has fought over the Epstein files, and she frames it as belief both times. That is the right word. A belief about a hidden file is not a finding, and we are not reporting it as one.
The Record Already Does the Work
Here is the part Clinton did not need. She described the Senate’s bipartisan Russia sanctions bill, named for Lindsey Graham, as carrying a national-security waiver, and said Trump used it to lift pressure just as it was starting to take hold. NBC reports he did lift it this month, signing a diesel deal and waiving new sanctions, and bipartisan criticism followed.
Then an American envoy called Putin a humanitarian to his face. We think that is the more damaging fact, because it needs no theory. The president’s own envoy flattered the man whose war the sanctions were meant to squeeze, and the president says the sanctions relief kept the talks alive. Clinton’s first two reasons, the admiration and the money, explain every row in the table. The third adds a story the record has not asked for.
Ten years after she said from a debate stage that Putin would rather have a puppet as president, the strongest case for the word is already public. It does not depend on anything Putin may or may not be sitting on.
Next Wednesday
The next episode of High Stakes arrives October 28. The question for the Hubbard release is simpler than Clinton’s: what else changed hands in St. Petersburg? Trump has now told us the waiver mattered. He has not told us what Moscow does with it.