Trump invites Putin to meet in Washington
US president plans second meeting amid reports spy revealed Russian leader’s direct role in hacking
Donald Trump has invited Vladimir Putin to Washington for a summit. Days after the two leaders met in Helsinki the White House announced there would be a second encounter in the Untied States in the autumn.
It came as Mr Trump faced a fierce backlash for not publicly confronting Mr Putin over Russian hacking of the US election. The CIA reportedly had an informant close to Mr Putin who confirmed his personal involvement in the election meddling.
DONALD TRUMP has invited Vladimir Putin to Washington for a summit in the autumn amid a fierce backlash over his friendly stance towards Russia. Mr Trump instructed John Bolton, his national security adviser, to make the invitation just days after the two leaders met in Helsinki, where they spent two hours alone with just interpreters.
The US president has faced widespread criticism after declining to condemn Mr Putin publicly over Russian interference in the 2016 US election when they appeared at a press conference in Helsinki.
Mr Trump said he was “looking forward” to the second meeting and they would discuss issues including nuclear proliferation, cyber attacks, Israel and North Korea. It came amid growing opposition to Mr Trump’s approach to Russia from the US intelligence community. Dan Coats, Mr Trump’s director of national intelligence, said he still did not know what happened in the one-onone meeting in Helsinki, and wished Mr Trump had not pursued it.
Mr Coats, who oversees the CIA and 14 other US intelligence agencies, was on stage at a security conference in Aspen, Colorado, when he was informed of the planned Washington summit.
Looking surprised, he responded: “Say that again... OK that’s going to be special.” Meanwhile, it emerged that evidence of Mr Putin’s involvement in attempting to disrupt the US election, through hacking of Democrat computers, had been presented to Mr Trump two weeks before his inauguration.
The CIA had a top-secret informant close to Mr Putin who confirmed the Russian president’s role, The New York Times reported.
The information, and the source, were considered so sensitive that the CIA director to Barack Obama, the former president, gave details to him in an envelope. Mr Trump was then briefed on Jan 6 last year at Trump Tower by US intelligence chiefs, but went on to repeatedly question whether Russia interfered in the election. James Clapper, the former US director of national intelligence, who was at the meeting, said: “Anything that attacked the legitimacy, or questioned the legitimacy, of now president Trump’s election, he just couldn’t get his head around.
“More and more I come to a conclusion, after the Helsinki performance and since, that I really do wonder if the Russians have something on him.”
In an interview with US television Mr Trump said he was still determined to “get along” with Russia, which was a “good thing”.
If his relationship with Mr Putin did not work out well then “I’ll be the worst enemy he’s ever had”. the US president said. He added: “Obama was a patsy for Russia, a total patsy.”
Mr Trump also decided to reject a proposal, made by Mr Putin in Helsinki, that Russian investigators be allowed to question US citizens they suspected of crimes.
Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, yesterday said that “President Trump disagrees with it”.