There are no objective reasons for Moscow and Washington not to get along, said Russian President Vladimir Putin speaking first after more than three hours talks with US President Donald Trump.
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Rather, when pressed about the verdict of his own intelligence chiefs, Trump stressed that Putin had delivered a “powerful” denial of any Russian vote meddling and said the USA investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller had been a “disaster” for the United States.
He replied: “I hold both countries responsible. I think the United States has been foolish”.
Putin appeared to poke at the sensitive subject when he responded to a question about meddling by asking, “Do you believe United States is a democracy?”
Simakovsky said the bipartisan criticism of Trump could trigger further opposition to his presidency and more investigation into his campaign ties to Russian Federation.
He called the appointment of a special counsel on Russian interference and the involvement of U.S. persons in that effort, Robert Mueller III, a “disgrace” to the country and an impediment to his own efforts to improve ties with Russia.
Earlier on Monday, Putin’s spokesman said he hoped the summit with Trump was a “baby step” toward fixing exceptionally bad US-Russian relations.
Peskov said the Russian leader respected Trump’s “America first” stance because Putin put Russia first, but said the only way to make progress at the summit was if both sides were open to finding areas of mutual benefit.
Kimmel said Trump met with his “KGBFF, Vladimir Putin”.
However, Russian commentators aren’t saying Putin vanquished Trump.
The woman who has been in charge of Germany for more than 12 years has had her fair share of opportunities to confront a Russian president who has turned increasingly against the West during her tenure.
Putin suggested that “rivals” were not unique to him. “But it is clear that the summit in Helsinki was a tragic mistake”, said Republican Senator John McCain, who chairs the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee. When asked if his government had any compromising material on Trump, the Russian president said that it was “hard to imagine greater nonsense”.
The special counsel’s continuing Russia investigation has laid out a detailed trail of attempts and successes by Russians to steal Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton campaign communications and to leak embarrassing emails and documents.
The SVR is Russia’s top foreign intelligence agency and the successor of the infamous KGB – the former Soviet security agency where Putin served as a lieutenant colonel.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is pumped up about President Donald Trump’s press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin – and not in a good way.
The next day, Mr. Brennan criticized the president for siding with Mr. Putin and throwing the USA intelligence community “under the bus” rather than doing what was “minimally acceptable” by addressing the indictments.
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Astonished Republicans and Democrats uniformly condemned Trump, with harsh criticism coming even from hosts on Fox News – a network normally friendly to the president.
