Trump, Putin meet in Vietnam, discuss collusion
by Darren Mikus
President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin met in-person for the first time since July on Friday, Nov. 10 in Da Nang, Vietnam, during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
They engaged in casual, friendly conversation and stood next to each other for a photo, according to CNN.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders stressed that this was an informal meeting and that there were no plans to hold an official state meeting between the two leaders, citing “scheduling conflicts on both sides.”
“Now, they’re going to be in the same place. Are they going to bump into each other and say hello? Certainly possible, and likely,” she added.
She also said that there are no official meetings planned for the foreseeable future.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that Trump began his conversation with Putin by “raising the concerns of the American people regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election.”
“The president pressed Putin on more than one occasion regarding Russian involvement. President Putin denied such involvement, as I think he has in the past,” Tillerson continued.
Trump said he believes Putin when the Russian president says that there was no Russian interference in the 2016 election.
“Every time he sees me he says, ‘I didn’t do that,’ and I really believe that, when he tells me that, he means it.” Trump also told reporters aboard Air Force One that, “I think he is very insulted by [the allegations], which is not a good thing for our country,” according to Reuters.
Trump has said that a focal point of his conversations with Putin was Syria, according to The New York Times.
“We had two or three very short conversations, because of the meeting, the fact that we’re at a meeting. But during those conversations, we talked about Syria and de-conflicting, etc. You know, we have areas where troops are facing-our troops- I mean, their troops are facing our troops and there is nothing in between.”
He added that he and Putin issued a joint statement that will outline their plan for Syria that will “save tremendous numbers of lives.”
Responding to Trump’s remarks, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said, “President Trump was presented with clear and indisputable evidence that Russia interfered in the election.”
“The fact that the president would take Putin at his word over that of the intelligence community is quite simply unconscionable,” according to Reuters.
Trump reiterated his comments about Putin and Russian interference by saying, “You can only ask so many times.”
“I can’t stand there and argue with him. I’d rather have him get out of Syria, to be honest with you. I’d rather have him- you know, work with him on the Ukraine than standing and arguing about whether or not- because that whole thing was set up by the Democrats,” according to the The New York Times.
“I mean, they ought to look at Podesta. They ought to look at all of the things that they’ve done with the phony dossier. Those are big events.”
Editor’s Note: Information from CNN, Reuters and The New York Times was used in this report.
