Trump's Odd Present For Putin Proves His Gift-Giving Skills Are As Bad As His Oval Office Decor

When President Donald Trump welcomed his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to the United States in August 2025, he rolled out the red carpet (literally), clapped for Putin as he deplaned, and even planned on giving the controversial leader a gift. It's not clear if it ever made it into Putin's hands, though. What is this mysterious gift, you ask? Well, documents pertaining to the proceedings of the two leaders' meeting that were left behind in a printer at an Alaskan hotel (security breach, much?) detailed that Trump was set to hand Putin an "American Bald Eagle Desk Statue" (via NPR). One cannot imagine the Russian president wanting to display it in his office. After all, America and Russia aren't exactly friends, no matter how much Trump appears to be trying to initiate a bromance with Putin.

Of course, the divisive politician's present for his pal shouldn't really come as that much of a surprise, particularly if the statue in question was gold. One simply has to glance at the fireplace in the Oval Office to see how much Trump adores gaudy trinkets. Many have decried the president's decision to cover the office in gold, with experts even telling the Washington Post that Trump would do well to fire his interior designer. "It lacks any of the finesse of proper French gilding," one opined. Another added, "It looks so garish and overblown because it hasn't been articulated or toned." Even JD Vance accidentally compared Trump's taste in Oval Office decor to a toddler's, which speaks volumes.

When NPR first got ahold of the government papers documenting the meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, some pundits understandably questioned whether leaving them in a public printer could be considered a serious security breach. After all, the Trump administration had already weathered several similar mishaps in 2025. The Trump-Putin meeting documents included sensitive information like the contact details of top-ranking U.S. government employees as well as the locations and times for the meetings that took place during the summit. White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly denied that White House officials had made yet another blunder, calling the documents a "multi-page lunch menu." Consider the infamous Signalgate scandal, when national security advisor Mike Waltz accidentally added a journalist to a group chat where Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was bragging about air strikes in Yemen. 

It was easily one of Hegseth's most embarrassing moments in the Trump administration (so far) and the scandal even had Democrats demanding his resignation. Hegseth is still very much employed, at the time of writing, but he's been widely criticized for how he handled the situation. In August 2025, the Trump administration raised eyebrows yet again in what could arguably be called Signalgate 2.0. ICE agents managed to add a complete stranger to one of their group chats, which included highly sensitive information about a manhunt they were conducting. Not only did they not use an end-to-end encrypted messaging service, they also imparted details about the individual they were trying to arrest. This was a bad look, especially given that it wasn't the first time a security breach of this kind had occurred. Naturally, we can also add this shocking gaffe to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem's growing list of awkward moments.