President Trump scored a series of successes on his trip to Europe for the Group of 20 summit, including finalizing a regional cease-fire in Syria and confronting Russian President Vladimir Putin, but he couldn’t escape the dispute over Russian interference in the November election that clouds every accomplishment.
President Trump scored a series of successes on his trip to Europe for the Group of 20 summit, including finalizing a regional cease-fire in Syria and confronting Russian President Vladimir Putin, but he couldn’ t escape the dispute over Russian interference in the November election that clouds every accomplishment.
On his first day back in the White House on Sunday, Mr. Trump felt compelled to respond to his critics.
In six Twitter posts, the president defended his performance in his first face-to-face meeting with Mr. Putin and slammed former President Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee for failing to prevent election meddling.
“I strongly pressed President Putin twice about Russian meddling in our election. He vehemently denied it. I’ ve already given my opinion, ” Mr. Trump tweeted. “We negotiated a cease-fire in parts of Syria which will save lives. Now it is time to move forward in working constructively with Russia!”
He touted an agreement with Russia to form “an impenetrable Cyber Security unit” to combat hacking and stressed that he never discussed the U. S. sanctions imposed against Moscow .
The Twitter tirade highlighted how Moscow ’s interference in the presidential election and the left’s unsubstantiated accusations of Trump campaign collusion with Russians consume the news media and the Trump administration.
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, said that despite a few accomplishments coming out of the summit, Mr. Trump overall proved an embarrassment.
“Clearly the lowest moment of all was his meeting with Vladimir Putin, on several counts, ” Mr. Schumer said. “Rather than decisively confronting the Russian president head-on, the president seemed to acquiesce to Putin ’s denial, almost certainly paving the way for future Russian interference in our elections.”
As Mr. Trump flew back to Washington on Saturday, The New York Times reported about a previously undisclosed meeting last year at Trump Tower between the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and a lawyer with ties to the Kremlin. The meeting also was attended by Mr. Trump ’s son-in-law and top adviser, Jared Kushner, and Trump campaign chairman Paul J. Manafort.
Donald Trump Jr. acknowledged the meeting.
“We primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children that was active and popular with American families years ago and was since ended by the Russian government, but it was not a campaign issue at that time and there was no follow-up, ” he said in a statement. “I was asked to attend the meeting by an acquaintance, but was not told the name of the person I would be meeting with beforehand.”
The report did not provide evidence of wrongdoing.
Still, Mr. Trump enjoyed a largely successful second trip abroad as president.
He delivered a speech in Warsaw, Poland, to a crowd of thousands that celebrated the West and called for an aggressive defense of its values of democracy and freedom that are under siege. The speech was widely praised as “Reaganesque.”
At the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, Mr. Trump helped launch the World Bank’s Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative and announced a $50 million U. S. donation to finance the center.
He built support with Chinese President Xi Jinping for action to confront nuclear-armed and volatile North Korea after its successful test launch of a long-range missile capable of hitting Alaska.
The Trump administration also announced a cease-fire agreement for southwest Syria brokered by the U. S., Russia and Jordan.
The deal, finalized as Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin met for the first time, demonstrated a new level of U. S. involvement in ending Syria’s 6-year-old civil war in which the U. S. and Russia support opposing sides. The cease-fire took effect Sunday at noon Damascus time.
Meddling denial
But it was questions about Russian election meddling and the relationship between Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin that dominated headlines.
Mr. Trump brought up the question of Russian interference in the U. S. presidential election at the top of the meeting with Mr. Putin on the sidelines of the G-20 summit. Mr. Putin reiterated his denial that Russia was involved.
The Russian president later fueled the controversy by saying he thought Mr. Trump accepted his denial.
“He asked many questions on that subject. I answered those questions as best I could, ” Mr. Putin said. “I think he took it into consideration and agreed with me, but you should really ask him how he feels about it.”
White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus rejected Russia ’s characterization.
“It’s not true. The president absolutely did not believe the denial of President Putin, ” Mr. Priebus told “Fox News Sunday.”
Mr. Trump has been criticized for expressing doubt about the source of interference in the election, although several U. S. intelligence agencies believe Russia was solely responsible. Mr. Trump said Thursday that he believed Russia was involved but that other countries or individuals also could have been involved.
Mr. Priebus reiterated that position.
“He said they probably meddled in the election. They did meddle in the election, ” Mr. Priebus said. “The one thing that he also says, which drives the media crazy, but it’s an absolute fact, is that others have as well, and that’s true.”
The interference included the spread of disinformation during the campaign. The most prominent meddling, however, was hacking into emails at the Democratic National Committee and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign officials, exposing embarrassing information.
There has been no evidence that the efforts impacted the outcome of the election, but Democrats have pointed to Russian interference to delegitimize the Trump presidency.
Even some Republicans fear that Mr. Trump has a blind spot when it comes to Russia despite taking tough stances against North Korea and the Islamic State terrorist group.
“To forgive and forget when it comes to Putin regarding cyberattacks is to empower Putin, and that’s exactly what he’s doing, ” Sen.
