Trump denies extra Putin talks
US LEADER RANTS ABOUT CLAIMS White House confirms two leaders chatted at dinner but says it was informal.
US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin had an additional, previously undisclosed chat at this month’s G20 summit in Hamburg, the White House acknowledged on Tuesday.
After a two-hour bilateral meeting with their foreign ministers on July 7, Trump and Putin also chatted over dinner on the final night of the summit, an official said. “There was a couples-only social dinner... Toward the end, the president spoke to Putin.”
The disclosure has raised questions about what the pair talked about, who was present and why the meeting was not mentioned.
The Trump administration has been besieged by allegations that his advisors colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election.
Trump’s eldest son, Donald jnr, recently released e-mails showing he held a meeting during the campaign with Kremlin-connected figures, hoping to get dirt on opponent Hillary Clinton.
Trump took to Twitter on Tuesday to blast the suggestion that there was anything improper about his dinner chat with Putin.
“Fake News story of secret dinner with Putin is ‘sick’. All G20 leaders, and spouses, were invited by the Chancellor of Germany. Press knew!” he declared.
“The Fake News is becoming more and more dishonest! Even a dinner arranged for top 20 leaders in Germany is made to look sinister!” A second White House official denied there was a “second meeting” between Trump and Putin, describing 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 official said, explaining that during the course of the dinner, all the leaders circulated throughout the room and spoke with one another freely. – AFP