Trump, Putin held undisclosed meeting
US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a previously undisclosed conversation during a dinner for G20 leaders at a summit earlier this month in Germany, a White House offi - cial said.
The two leaders held a formal two- hour bilateral meeting on July 7 in which Trump later said Putin denied allegations that he directed eff orts to meddle in the 2016 US presidential election.
Trump’s interactions with the Russian leader were scrutinized closely because of those allegations, which have dominated his fi rst six months in the White House, and Trump’s comments as a presidential candidate praising the former KGB spy.
Trump and Putin fi rst met at the G20 during a gathering of other leaders, which was shown in a video.
They later held the bilateral meeting, which was attended briefl y by a pool of reporters.
In the evening, both men attended a dinner with G20 leaders. Putin was seated next to US fi rst lady Melania Trump.
The US president went over to them at the conclusion of the dinner and visited with Putin, the offi cial said.
That conversation had not been previously disclosed.
“There was no ‘ second meeting’ between President Trump and President Putin, just a brief conversation at the end of a dinner. The insinuation that the White House has tried to ‘ hide’ a second meeting is false, malicious and absurd,” the offi cial said.
In a tweet late on Tuesday, Trump said, “Fake News story of secret dinner with Putin is ‘ sick.’ All G20 leaders, and spouses, were invited by the Chancellor of Germany.”
News of the conversation, fi rst reported by Ian Bremmer, the president of political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, could raise renewed concern as Congress and a special counsel investigate allegations by US intelligence agencies that Russia interfered to help Trump, a Republican, win the presidential election.
Trump says there was no collusion and Russia denies interference in the election.
Bremmer said Trump got up from his seat halfway through dinner and spent about an hour talking “privately and animatedly” with Putin, “joined only by Putin’s own translator.”
The lack of a US translator raised eyebrows among other leaders at the dinner, said Bremmer, who called it a “breach of national security protocol.”