Government documents with sensitive details about the recent Trump–Putin summit were accidentally left on a public hotel printer in Alaska. The papers were discovered by hotel guests and have since been made public by NPR.
The eight-page document set contained classified information about the August 15, 2025, meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Three guests at the Hotel Captain Cook found the papers on Friday morning in the hotel’s business center printer.
The papers revealed meeting schedules, room locations at the military base, and contact information for government staff. The documents have all now been published, exposing details that were meant to stay private. NPR reviewed photos of the documents taken by one of the guests, who asked not to be identified because they feared retaliation.
Security breach raises concerns about administration practices
The leaked documents showed that Trump planned to give Putin a ceremonial American Bald Eagle Desk Statue as a gift. Pages two through five listed names and phone numbers of three U.S. staff members and 13 U.S. and Russian state leaders.
The papers even included phonetic pronunciations for Russian officials, including “Mr. President POO-tihn” for Putin. The documents also contained detailed lunch plans for the summit that was later cancelled during the actual meeting.
A seating chart showed Trump and Putin were supposed to sit across from each other during the planned meal. Trump would have been flanked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. This security breach follows other recent incidents involving leaked information from the Trump administration.
The planned three-course meal was to include green salad, filet mignon or halibut olympia, and crème brûlée for dessert. The documents indicated the luncheon was to be held “in honor of his excellency Vladimir Putin.” However, this lunch was cancelled during the actual summit.
Jon Michaels, a professor of law at UCLA who lectures about national security, called the incident a clear security failure. “It strikes me as further evidence of the sloppiness and the incompetence of the administration,” he said. Trump has been trying to negotiate an end to the Ukraine conflict through these high-level meetings.
The White House tried to downplay the situation. Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly dismissed the papers as a “multi-page lunch menu” and said leaving the information on a public printer was not a security breach. Document handling practices have been a recurring concern with this administration.
The Trump-Putin summit took place at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. The meeting focused on discussing the ongoing war in Ukraine, though it ended without any concrete agreements. Hotel Captain Cook is located about 20 minutes from the military base where the summit took place. Trump has faced scrutiny over handling of sensitive information in the past, making this latest breach particularly concerning.
Published: Aug 18, 2025 07:30 am