Indictments cloud Trump-Putin summit
Democrats call on president to cancel parley after 12 Russians charged with meddling in US election
TURNBERRY/GLASGOW, Scotland, July 14 (Reuters) – US President Donald Trump played golf on Saturday at his course on the western coast of Scotland ahead of a summit with Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin that could be overshadowed by accusations that Russians meddled in the U.S. 2016 election.
In an uproarious trip to Europe, Trump harangued members of the NATO military alliance, scolded Germany for its dependence on Russian energy and shocked Britain by publicly criticizing Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit strategy.
Trump apologized to May for the furor over his withering public critique, blaming “fake news” and promising instead a bilateral trade agreement with Britain after it leaves the European Union in March.
While Trump took tea with Queen Elizabeth, a US federal grand jury charged 12 Russian intelligence officers with stealing data from the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Trump has repeatedly said the investigation into suspected Russian interference in the 2016 US election – which he casts as a “rigged witch hunt” – makes it hard for him to do substantive deals with Moscow.
The 29-page grand jury indictment, which Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein became the latest partisan ammunition in the politicized battle over the investigation led by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.
Trump met the Queen at Windsor Castle on Friday but the 92-year-old monarch was forced at one point to walk around the US president after he halted abruptly during a ceremonial inspection of the guard.
Trump’s first visit to Britain as president was not the full state visit he was originally promised, but he was heralded by military bands on his arrival at Windsor, before he and First Lady Melania went into the castle for tea with the queen.
The US president had earlier praised Queen Elizabeth as a “tremendous woman.”
he queen greeted the pair with a smile, although she had earlier glanced at her watch as she waited for their arrival.
While inspecting the guard at Windsor, Elizabeth appeared to give direction to Trump but then the president abruptly halted and Elizabeth was forced to walk around him.
After meeting the queen at Windsor Castle, Trump headed to Scotland, where his mother, Mary Anne, was born, in order to play golf on his Turnberry Trump course.
Describing golf as “my primary form of exercise,” Trump wrote on Twitter: “The weather is beautiful, and this place is incredible! Tomorrow I go to Helsinki for a Monday meeting with Vladimir Putin.”
After tens of thousands of people marched peacefully against Trump in central London, more protests took place on Saturday. A blimp depicting Trump as an orange, snarling baby was raised in the Scottish capital where crowds protested.
At Turnberry, Trump waved at protesters who were chanting “No Trump” just a few hundred meters away on a beach beside the course. He appeared to say something to them. They booed.
Trump and Putin, who control the world’s two biggest nuclear arsenals, are due to meet in the Finnish capital, a venue that evokes memories of Cold War showdowns between the Soviet Union and the United States.
In the most detailed US accusation to date that Moscow meddled in the presidential election, a federal grand jury said Russian military intelligence agency officers covertly monitored computers of Clinton’s campaign and Democratic campaign committees, and stole large amounts of data.
The charges shine an even greater spotlight on Trump’s treatment of Putin, who has repeatedly denied Russia sought to intervene or skew the US election that Trump, a Republican, unexpectedly won.
Senior Democrats called on Trump on Friday to cancel his summit Monday with Putin unless he was prepared to challenge the former KGB official over the US indictment of the 12 Russian intelligence operatives.
The White House quickly fired back, saying the Helsinki summit was still on.
“Today’s charges include no allegations of knowing involvement by anyone on the campaign and no allegations that the alleged hacking affected the election result,” deputy press secretary Lindsay Walters said in a statement. “This is consistent with what we have been saying all along.”
Trump questioned why Barack Obama had not acted on claims of Russian meddling if the FBI had informed the then president ahead of the 2016 election.
When asked at a news conference on Friday whether he would tell Putin to stay out of US elections, Trump said “yes.”
The president also indicated he did not expect much progress on the issue. “I will absolutely bring that up,” Trump told reporters. “I don’t think you’ll have any ‘Gee, I did it. I did it. You got me.’” A BLIMP resembling President Donald Trump floats above demonstrators marching to protest against the visit of Trump in Edinburgh, Scotland yesterday.