Hungarian President Orban to meet Trump after attending NATO summit with Biden

Orbán, who attended the NATO summit this week, has pursued a Russia-friendly foreign policy that has put him out of step with the Biden administration and other European allies. Within NATO, he has slowed moves to bolster defenses against Moscow. Within the European Union, which handles economic policy, he has watered down sanctions against Russia.

Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has long praised Orbán, who has worked to undermine key democratic institutions in Hungary since coming to power in 2010. The Hungarian leader is a self-described proponent of “illiberal” Christian democracy and has championed restrictions on LGBTQ+ rights and immigration while cracking down on the country’s judiciary and press. He has also won praise from conservative populists and conservative establishments in the United States, reinterpreting Trump’s long-standing slogan and frequently asserting “Make Europe Great Again” in his public remarks.

Last week, the Hungarian president sparked a storm of criticism by making a whirlwind tour of kyiv, Moscow and Beijing as part of what he billed as an effort to revive a peace process to end the war in Ukraine. Orban’s visit to Russia was only the second meeting by a European leader on Putin’s home turf since the Russian leader invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Orban has also met Putin outside Russia.

The Moscow visit runs counter to Western efforts to isolate the Kremlin since the start of the war, lending political legitimacy to Putin’s demands, critics said, and infuriating other leaders who felt Orbán had been pursuing independent diplomacy since taking over the rotating presidency of the European Union on July 1.

Officials familiar with Orban’s communications with European policymakers after his visit to Moscow say he appears to endorse Putin’s view of the conflict, which blames Ukraine for the war and would award large swathes of kyiv’s territory to Russia.

With Ukraine being the country under attack, not the aggressor, the Biden administration and most other NATO countries have said they will defer to kyiv to decide whether the time is right for negotiations. Orban’s efforts undermine that position, some policymakers say.

Orbán’s visit was “counterproductive to promoting Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence,” White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said last week.

In this context, the meeting between Orbán and Trump was bound to set off alarm bells in other capitals. While it is not uncommon for foreign officials to meet with opposition leaders in the run-up to elections, Trump has already said that if elected, he would end the war in Ukraine before he even takes office. According to people familiar with his plans, Trump has privately said that he could end Russia’s war in Ukraine by pressuring Ukraine to give up some of its territory.

Orbán, who has not had any high-level meetings with Biden administration officials while in Washington outside of the summit, has Putin’s vision for Ukraine’s future in mind and will be able to present it to Trump. Trump, in turn, will likely share with Orbán his own thoughts on how to handle the conflict.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday rejected Orban’s efforts.

“I don’t know where he’s going to go tomorrow,” Zelensky told reporters after meeting with NATO leaders at the summit. “Between ourselves, with all due respect to everyone, with all due respect to all countries, big and small, we said that not all leaders can negotiate. You have to have some power for that.”

The meeting between Orbán and Trump comes amid concerns among world leaders about whether Trump will win a second term, especially as Biden faces questions about his competence after a difficult performance in the June 27 debate. The long-planned NATO summit comes at a time of extraordinary political peril for Biden, as Democrats debate whether he should remain their presidential nominee.

As The Washington Post reported Wednesday, at the summit, world leaders debated these questions among themselves, asking their American counterparts what they should think about the ongoing political crisis and closely analyzing Biden’s public and private interactions to determine whether he appears up to another brutal campaign and another presidential term, according to several people familiar with the leaders’ reactions, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private dynamics.

At an event in North Carolina on Thursday, Vice President Harris sought to use Trump’s meeting with Orbán to draw a contrast between the likely Republican nominee and Biden.

“By bowing to dictators, Trump is weakening America and it’s disqualifying someone who wants to be commander in chief of the United States of America,” Harris said. “It’s disqualifying.”

Earlier this year, Orbán traveled to Washington not to meet with Biden, but to deliver a speech at the conservative Heritage Foundation and meet with Trump. Orbán has said he supports Trump’s presidential bid, saying in March that the world needs “respected leaders who can bring peace. He is one of them! Come back and bring us peace, Mr. President!”

Josh Dawsey and Maegan Vazquez contributed to this report.