President Trump had a second, informal talk with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a dinner at the G-20 summit earlier this month in Hamburg, Germany, according to several reports.
The “meeting” — occurring during a dinner for heads of states and their spouses, supposedly “raised the eyebrows” of other foreign leaders at the dinner, for breaking national security protocol by not also having a U. S. translator present, according to Eurasia Group President Ian Bremmer, who first reported the meeting in a note sent to clients, according to Reuters.
However, the White House quickly sent out a lengthy statement explaining what actually occurred, and calling the idea there was a second meeting “false, malicious and absurd.”
Here’s the White House’s statement in full:
Bremmer, who is a critic of Trump, recently told Bloomberg’s Charlie Rose, “Never in my life as a political scientist have I seen two countries — major countries — with a constellation of national interests that are as dissonant, while the two leaders seem to be doing everything possible to make nice and be close to each other.”
The two leaders’ first formal meeting at the summit was highly scrutinized, with the left accusing Trump of colluding with Russia during the campaign and letting Moscow get away with interference in the election.
Trump later said he pressed Putin twice on interference in the U. S. presidential election, which he said the Russian leader denied doing. Critics pointed to a statement by the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that said Trump “accepted” Putin’s denial.
But Trump has stood by his stated desire to forge a better relationship with Russia to tackle global issues such ending the Syrian civil war and defeating terrorists.
The first meeting lasted much longer than scheduled — more than two hours, with First Lady Melania Trump being sent in to interrupt at one point.
