Hours later, the two leaders stood a few feet apart at lecterns as Trump declined to condemn Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, which USA intelligence agencies have said occurred.
Advertisement
Trump has been reluctant to blame Russian Federation for the hacks and again Monday refused to embrace the intelligence community assessment. “I think that’s an incredible offer, OK?”
“Now in Trump’s defense, he has a good point”, Noah said.
Asked directly whether his government possesses embarrassing or incriminating material on the US president, Putin told reporters: “It’s hard to imagine greater nonsense”.
“The bigger picture is we need to hold the Russians accountable for what they did, their malign activity throughout Europe as well”, Huntsman said on Sunday. The summit also started almost an hour late.
Cooper called Trump’s performance “one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president at a summit in front of a Russian leader, certainly that I’ve ever seen”. Trump’s top national security officials, Democrats and most Republicans in Congress say US intelligence agencies got it right in finding that Russians secretly tried to sway the election.
“I had to reiterate things I said several times, including during our personal contacts, that the Russian state has never interfered and is not going to interfere into internal American affairs including election process”. And Trump continues to reject Mueller’s probe as a “witch hunt”, despite the indictments of Russian hackers and intelligence officials. He said USA officials could request to be present at such questioning in line with a 1999 agreement on mutual legal assistance in criminal cases.
The Russian Foreign Ministry responded: “We agree”.
At the news conference Trump was invited by reporters to offer even a single criticism of Russian Federation, but repeatedly declined.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says Trump’s remarks on his European trip, including Monday’s news conference, have strengthened America’s adversaries. “His total weakness in the presence of Putin proves that the Russians have something on the president, personally, financially or politically”. They met on the sidelines of world leader meetings in Germany and Vietnam past year.
The reason for Putin’s delay was not clear. Putin did not hesitate, when asked directly, to acknowledge he was hoping that Trump would be elected.
The only points of disagreement came when Putin gently chided Trump for withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal and when the Russian leader, not Trump himself, explained the USA position on Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
Even if Putin didn’t specifically order meddling to benefit Trump in 2016, USA officials say Russian Federation tried to undermine Americans’ faith in their government. And they want to tell us that they are the guardians of freedom and democracy. (AAP) Malcolm Turnbull called Donald Trump a “patriot”. “Yes, I did. Because he talked about bringing the U.S. -Russia relationship back to normal”. “We are puzzled with many aspects of these investigations in the part that concerns us and our country, but let’s leave it behind the brackets”.
However, Mr Trump found support from Republican Senator Rand Paul, who blamed “Trump derangement syndrome” for the criticism – prompting a supportive tweet from the president himself.
His pliable manner at the summit with Russia was a contrast to the combativeness he had displayed towards North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies last week, and Mr Ryan felt the need to issue reassurance that the USA “stands by North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies and all countries facing Russian aggression”. Although Finland is not a member of the alliance, it does cooperate on peacekeeping, training and security missions. “It’s a shame that there could even be a little bit of a cloud over it”. A former chairman of the Republican National Committee even said Trump was acting as if he were an “asset” next to his “handler”.
John Fritze reported from Washington.
Advertisement
The Tumps met with Finnish president Sauli Niinisto and his wife, Jenni Haukio, on Monday morning.
