On eve of talks, Trump praises Putin, calls EU a trade ‘foe’
HELSINKI, Finland — President Donald Trump spent the eve of his first summit with President Vladimir Putin of Russia finding fault with allies, Barack Obama and the news media while refraining from condemning Moscow for its assault on the 2016 presidential election.
His actions raised the stakes for an encounter that will come days after 12 Russian intelligence agents were indicted on charges that they sought to thwart American democracy.
Before he landed in Air Force One in Helsinki, Finland’s capital, on Sunday evening, he had said he was looking forward to the meetings, which he hopes will lead to warmer relations with Putin. But Trump indicated that he did not plan to use his time with the Russian president to press him on the election interference.
He said it had never occurred to him to demand the extradition of the indicted agents to the United States to face charges. Instead, he appeared to blame Obama, his predecessor, for allowing the attacks to occur.
“I hadn’t thought of that,” Trump said in an interview with CBS that was broadcast Sunday when asked about the possibility of requesting extradition of the Russians.
Of the hacking itself, Trump said: “Certainly, I’ll be asking about it, but again, this was during the Obama administration. They were doing whatever it was during the Obama administration.”
‘Enemy of the people’?
Later, as Air Force One carried him from Scotland — where he had spent the weekend at his golf resort — to Helsinki for the closely watched encounter with Putin, who has cracked down on reporters in Russia, Trump lashed out at the U.S. news media. He said that they would never give him credit for a successful summit and branded many journalists “the enemy of the people.”
“Unfortunately, no matter how well I do at the Summit, if I was given the great city of Moscow as retribution for all of the sins and evils committed by Russia, over the years, I would return to criticism that it wasn’t good enough — that I should have gotten Saint Petersburg in addition!” Trump said in a pair of tweets. “Much of our news media is indeed the enemy of the people.”
The comments appeared to be an effort to pre-empt criticism of his performance at the meeting, and it coincided with attempts by members of his administration to play down expectations. Jon Huntsman, the U.S. ambassador to Russia, said Sunday that the event should not even be called a “summit” because the two presidents were not seeking to forge an agreement about any particular topic.
Bringing up ‘meddling’
The disconnect in terminology was only the latest sign of the gulf between the president and his government in dealing with Russia: Trump has sought a friendship with Putin, while his administration regards him as a dangerous adversary who must be countered.
In recent days, Trump focused his fire on some of the closes U.S. allies during a swing through Europe that was marked by attacks on NATO members during a summit gathering in Brussels and a humiliating slight to Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain on her own soil.
Asked during the CBS interview who he considered to be his biggest foe, he named the European Union, citing “what they do to us on trade.” Trump added: “Now you wouldn’t think of the European Union, but they’re a foe. Russia is a foe in certain respects. China is a foe economically, certainly a foe.”
In response, Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, wrote in a sharp riposte on Twitter: “America and the EU are best friends. Whoever says we are foes is spreading fake news.”
Before leaving his Turnberry resort in Scotland on Sunday, Trump spent two days golfing and, he said, taking meetings and calls in preparation for the meeting with Putin here. Instead of delivering a stern message to the Russians, as some Republicans and diplomatic officials have hoped he would, Trump again cast U.S. cybersecurity as a partisan issue rather than a national one.
On Sunday, Trump congratulated Putin on Twitter “for putting on a truly great World Cup Tournament — one of the best ever!” Trump’s conciliatory tone was on display all this past week: As his NATO allies watched in Brussels, he declined to call the Russian leader an enemy or a friend, but referred to him as a “competitor.”
In a joint news conference with May on Friday, Trump said he would bring up the issue of Russian interference in the election, but he joked about Putin’s denials and again emphasized his wish to get along.
“I will absolutely bring up ‘meddling,’” Trump said as May looked on. “I will absolutely firmly ask the question. And, hopefully, we’ll have a very good relationship with Russia.”