Not promising anything
Trump sets expectations low for Helsinki summit with Putin
President Donald Trump says “nothing bad ... maybe some good” will come out of today’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as he attempted to lower expectations for what the meeting may actually achieve. Trump’s national security adviser said they aren’t looking for “concrete deliverables.”
Trump also says he “hadn’t thought” about asking Putin to extradite the dozen Russian military intelligence officers indicted this past week in Washington on charges related to the hacking of Democratic targets in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, but says “certainly I’ll be asking about it.”
He blamed the Democratic National Committee for “allowing themselves to be hacked.”
The U.S. has no extradition treaty with Moscow and can’t compel Russia to hand over citizens, and a provision in Russia’s constitution prohibits extraditing its citizens to foreign countries.
Asked whether Trump would ask Putin to turn over the 12 military intelligence officials, U.S. national security adviser John Bolton called the idea “pretty silly” and said doing so would put the president in a “weak position.”
He said Trump is going into the summit with a stronger hand because of the indictments.
“I think the president can put this on the table and say, ‘This is a serious matter that we need to talk about,”’ Bolton said. He said asking for the indicted Russians to be turned over would have the opposite effect.
“For the president to demand something that isn’t going to happen puts the president in a weak position, and I think the president has made it very clear he intends to approach this discussion from a position of strength.”
In the interview with CBS News, Trump said he’s entering the meeting in Finland with “low expectations. I’m not going with high expectations.”
Trump taped the interview Saturday in Scotland. CBS News released excerpts Sunday, hours before Trump was set to fly to Helsinki for the summit. Trump said such sessions are beneficial. He cited his historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in June as “a good thing” and says “having meetings with Russia, China, North Korea, I believe in it.”