A lot of the questions focused on Russia’s intrusion into the USA election campaign (the considered position of the key U.S. intelligence agencies) and specifically the indictment by the Mueller probe of 12 Russian intelligence agents.
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“Where did you get this idea that President Trump trusts me, or I trust him?”
For good measure, Trump dumped on his own country, “I think that the United States has been foolish”.
He went ahead with the talks despite last Friday’s sweeping indictment of 12 Russian intelligence officers over the Kremlin’s alleged interference in the 2016 USA presidential election and calls to cancel the summit.
By “the past”, he presumably is referencing 2016 when, Trump’s intel leaders all have agreed, Russian Federation interfered with the USA presidential election. I think the US has been foolish.
Trump’s reluctance to go as hard on the Russian leader while broaching standard public protocol with allies like Britain’s Theresa May, Germany’s Angela Merkel and Canada’s Justin Trudeau, has raised the spectre for some critics that the former KGB and FSB intelligence officer Putin has compromising information on the president.
“I don’t see any reason why it would be” Russia, Trump said. “Just jaw dropping”, he wrote on Twitter. Russian interference in our elections is not a question but a fact. “But again, this was during the Obama administration”, he said.
Last week, the indictment of 12 Russian military officers in the hacking and leaking of Democratic party emails shed further light on Russian cyberattacks against the United States and attempts to sow discord among the American electorate.
US Ambassador to Russia, Jon Huntsman, told NBC news: “It isn’t a summit”. “Not only were Trump’s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin”.
Putin proposed an “expert council” to improve relations between the countries. The US leader said a productive dialogue between America and Russian Federation is good for both countries and “is good for the world”.
“It’s not a left or right thing, it’s just wrong”, Cavuto said. “But in a trade sense, they’ve really taken advantage of us”.
But the indictments risk overshadowing the talks.
“I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today”. Mark Warner of Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, tweeted, “For the President to side with Putin over his own intelligence officials and blame the United States for Russia’s attack on our democracy is a complete disgrace”.
Rep. John Curtis, R-Utah, said he’s a proponent of diplomacy and dialog, but he’s concerned about Russian aggression toward the USA and Europe, including Moscow meddling in elections.
The grand jury didn’t find that any American knowingly cooperated with Moscow’s operations.
US President Donald Trump (L) and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin attend a joint press conference after a meeting at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, on July 16, 2018.
Fox Business’ Neil Cavuto called the presser “disgusting”, saying he wanted to see a forceful condemnation of Russia’s interference from Trump.
“Since the end of the cold war, the policy has been that Finland is part of the west”.
Both leaders acknowledged that US-Russia relations were at a particularly low ebb, but pledged to work together on areas of shared interest, including the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the eradication of radical Islamic terrorism.
Even the USA, which guarantees freedom of press under the First Amendment, was only ranked 45th in the index, down two spots from a year ago.
CBS anchorman Jeff Glor had asked the president who he thought was the nation’s “biggest competitor” or “biggest foe”. They said they think it’s Russian Federation. Russian Federation was listed as a “foe in certain respects”. “And these people are not even informed enough to ask substantive questions of Vladimir Putin”. The move could be a way to ease tensions with the U.S.as well as shore up Putin’s ally, Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. “It’s very important they meet”.
After Trump’s election in November 2016, Russian Federation briefly reveled in Trumpomania. Other issues expected to come up include Russian election meddling, Crimea, and Syria.
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Since 2008 there have been 42 such arrests, according to the Kremlin, including 11 a year ago.
