HELSINKI (AP) – The Latest on President Donald Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin (all times local): 10:45 p.m. Facing withering bipartisan…
HELSINKI (AP) – The Latest on President Donald Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin (all times local):
10:45 p.m.
Facing withering bipartisan criticism over his refusal to publicly acknowledge Russian election meddling during his meeting with President Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump says the two superpowers “must get along.”
In a Monday tweet sent as he is flying back to the U. S. aboard Air Force One, Trump says, “As I said today and many times before, ‘I have GREAT confidence in MY intelligence people.'”
He adds, “However, I also recognize that in order to build a brighter future, we cannot exclusively focus on the past – as the world’s two largest nuclear powers, we must get along!”
Trump met with Putin for three hours Monday before participating in a joint press conference in which Trump did not contest the Russian leader’s election meddling denials.
U. S. intelligence agencies have unanimously concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 campaign, most likely to help Trump’s campaign.
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7:25 p.m.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected allegations that Moscow has collected compromising materials on U. S. President Donald Trump or his family.
Asked during a joint news conference following their summit in Helsinki, the Russian leader dismissed the claims as “sheer nonsense.”
Putin said that he hadn’t been aware of Trump’s visit to Moscow a few years before his 2016 election, which has been stained by accusations that Russians hacked and interfered in the campaign to support Trump.
Putin, a former KGB agent, scoffed at the notion that the Russian security services try to gather incriminating materials on businessmen, saying: “Do you really believe that we try to shadow every businessman?”
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7:15 p.m.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says he wanted Donald Trump to win the U. S. presidency, but strongly denied any Russian state meddling in the 2016 U. S. election.
Putin argued that Trump’s calls for better ties during the presidential election campaign “naturally” made him a preferred candidate for many Russians.
Asked if he personally favored Trump in the race, Putin responded: “Yes, I wanted him to win because he spoke of normalization of Russian-U. S. ties.”
At the same time, Putin rejected the allegations of collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia as “complete nonsense.”
The issue is a big concern for many U. S. voters.
Putin spoke during a joint news conference with Trump in Helsinki.
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7:05 p.m.
President Donald Trump says he sees no reason why Russia would interfere in the 2016 election.
Trump resisted when asked Monday to condemn Russian meddling in the election. Instead, he complained about a Democratic National Committee computer server and emails belonging to Hillary Clinton, the Democrat he defeated to win the presidency.
At a joint appearance in Finland with Vladimir Putin, Trump repeated the Russian leader’s denials about involvement in the election.
Trump said of Putin: “He just said it’s not Russia. I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be.”
Trump commented after holding hours of private talks with Putin.
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7 p.m.
President Vladimir Putin says that Moscow and Washington could jointly conduct criminal investigations into Russian intelligence officials accused of hacking during the 2016 U. S. election campaign.
Asked if Russia could extradite 12 Russian military intelligence officers indicted in the U. S. last week on charges of hacking into the Democratic election campaign, Putin challenged the U. S. to take advantage of a 1999 agreement envisaging mutual legal assistance.
He said the agreement would allow U. S. officials to request that Russian authorities interrogate the 12 suspects, adding that U. S. officials could request to be present in such interrogations.
Putin noted that Russia would expect the U. S. to return the favor and cooperate in the Russian probe against William Browder, a British investor charged of financial crimes in Russia. Browder was a driving force behind a U. S. law targeting Russian officials over human rights abuses.
Putin spoke after a summit with U. S. President Donald Trump in Helsinki on Monday.
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7 p.m.
President Donald Trump says Russian President Vladimir Putin made an “incredible offer” to allow Russian and U. S. investigators to work together on allegations of Russian cyber attacks.
Trump says Putin suggested the U. S. provide its intelligence to the Russian military so Russia can determine the truth of what happened.
Trump says he has “great confidence” in his intelligence agencies who have concluded Russia interfered in the election. But Trump says Putin was “incredibly strong and powerful today” in his contention that Russia had nothing to do with election interference.
The two presidents spoke during a joint news conference following talks in Helsinki.
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6:55 p.m.
President Donald Trump says the Russia investigation has been a “disaster” for the United States and has kept America and Russia “separated.”
Speaking during a joint news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, he reiterates that there was “no collusion” between his campaign and the Russian government.
Trump says he ran a “clean campaign” and he beat his Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton “easily.” The president says it’s a “shame” there is a cloud over his administration. He says he ran a “brilliant campaign and that’s why I’m president.”
Putin is pushing back against claims that his government interfered in the U. S. election. He says there’s “no evidence when it comes to the actual facts.”
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6:50 p.m.
President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin say they are exploring ways to protect Israel from conflict raging near its border in Syria.
The two leaders did not commit to any specific actions, but both said that ensuring Israel’s security was a priority.
Israel is deeply concerned about Iran’s presence in Syria, where Iranian forces and proxies have been fighting on behalf of the Syrian government, which is also supported by Russia.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appealed to both Trump and Putin to eliminate the Iranian presence, which the Jewish state regards as an existential threat.
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6:45 p.m.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says he and U. S. President Donald Trump have agreed to continue detailed discussions on arms control issues.
Putin said Russia and the U. S. should discuss a possible extension of the 2010 New START nuclear arms reduction treaty and the implementation of the 1987 Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty.
Putin added that other issues that Russia would like to discuss in the arms control sphere are the U. S. missile defense plans and the weaponization of space.
He spoke at their joint news conference wrapping up the Helsinki summit.
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6:40 p.m.
President Donald Trump says he means it as a compliment when he says Russian President Vladimir Putin is a “competitor.”
Trump says: “I think the word competitor is a compliment.”
He spoke at a joint news conference in Finland with the Russian leader after their summit in Helsinki. Many in the U. S. disagree with Trump. They say Putin is an adversary and note his country’s meddling in the 2016 U. S. presidential election.
Trump, asked about a Russian gas pipeline to Germany, noted that the U. S. and Russia compete in the energy market.
Trump criticized the pipeline during an earlier stop on his weeklong visit to Europe.
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6:40 p.m.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has praised President Donald Trump for this efforts to resolve nuclear tensions with North Korea.
Speaking at a news conference after their meeting in Helsinki, Putin said: “It’s good that the gradual resolution of the problem of the Korean Peninsula has begun.”
He continued, saying: “In many respects, this became possible due to the fact that President Trump personally got involved in the resolution, building dialogue in the spirt of cooperation, not confrontation.”
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6:35 p.m.
President Donald Trump says in a statement that he directly addressed meddling by Russia in the 2016 U. S. election with Russian President Vladimir Putin. But the U. S. president is not condemning Moscow’s conduct publicly.
Trump says during a joint news conference that his message was “best delivered in person.” He says he “spent a great deal of time” talking about election meddling and Putin feels strongly about it and “has an interesting idea.”
The president did not elaborate on Putin’s idea. Putin said before Trump spoke that Moscow never interfered and will never interfere in the American electoral process.
The summit comes days after the U. S. indictment of 12 Russian military intelligence agents for sophisticated hacking in the 2016 election.
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6:30 p.m.
President Donald Trump says the United States and Russia must find ways to “cooperate in pursuit of shared interests.”
Trump says a productive dialogue between the U. S. and Russia is good for both countries and “is good for the world.”
Speaking in Finland after a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump says they discussed disagreements between their countries “at length.”
Trump adds that relations between the U. S. and Russia have never been worse. He adds that he thinks that “changed as of about four hours ago.”
He says he’s sure that he and Putin will meet again often in the future.
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6:25 p.m.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says the “so-called Russian interference” in the U. S. 2016 presidential election was brought up by President Donald Trump during their summit in Helsinki.
Speaking at a joint news conference, Putin said: “I had to repeat that the Russian state never interfered, and does not plan to interfere in internal American electoral process.”
In general, he said, the talks with Trump took place in an “open and businesslike atmosphere” and he characterized them as “successful and useful.”
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6 p.m.
Britain’s prime minister has launched a strong verbal attack on Russia even as President Donald Trump is sitting down with his Russian counterpart at the Helsinki summit.
Theresa May told Parliament Monday that Russia’s leadership is committed to trying to undermine Western values on a number of fronts.
She condemned what she claims was Russia’s use of a lethal nerve agent inside Britain, its shielding of the Syrian government, its support of Iran, and the spreading of “malicious fake news” on an industrial scale.
May says she “welcomes” the summit but wants to see a change in Russia’s actions.
She was reporting on last week’s NATO summit, which was dominated by Trump’s call for allies to spend more on defense.
May backed this view, calling for spending hikes.
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4:50 p.m.
Even before U. S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin sat down Monday, Russia’s government signaled that the two leaders were on the same page.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry tweeted “we agree” in reaction to Trump’s morning tweet criticizing U. S. “foolishness and stupidity” for the state of relations between the two countries.
Trump’s tweet says: “Our relationship with Russia has NEVER been worse thanks to many years of U. S. foolishness and stupidity and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt!”
Trump has promised to raise Russian election meddling with Putin, but he did not do so publicly when he discussed the agenda as they first met on Monday.
The two presidents are set to hold a joint press conference later in the day.
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4:30 p.m.
President Donald Trump says he and Russian President Vladimir Putin have had a “good start” to their high-stakes summit in Finland.
Trump is calling his meeting with Putin “a good start, a very good start for everybody” as the two leaders and their top advisers sat across the table from one another during a luncheon.
