‘Robust and lengthy’: Trump confronts Putin on election hacking in first meeting
Tillerson says Russian president denied involvement
HAMBURG, Germany – At long last face to face, President Donald Trump confronted Russian President Vladimir Putin directly Friday over Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign, as the two leaders sought to use their historic first meeting to move past the issue and forge closer cooperation on Syria.
In a two-hours-plus meeting in Germany, Trump and Putin had a “robust and lengthy” discussion about the interference, though Putin denied involvement, said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. His Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, said Trump had accepted Putin’s assurances that Russia didn’t meddle in the U.S. election – a divergent description of the conversation that illustrated each country’s effort to show its leader had held his ground.
“I think the president is rightly focused on how do we move forward from something that may be an intractable disagreement at this point,” said Tillerson, who took part in the meeting along with Lavrov.
Trump’s decision to raise the issue directly with Putin ful- filled ardent demands by U.S. lawmakers of both parties that the president not shy away from the issue in his highly anticipated meeting with Putin.
Trump has avoided stating unequivocally in the past that Russia interfered, even as investigations proceed into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russians who sought to help him win.
On one point, Putin and Trump agreed, Tillerson said: The issue has become a hindrance to better relations between the two powers. The two leaders agreed to continue the discussion, with an eye toward securing a commitment that Russia won’t interfere in U.S. affairs in the future, Tillerson added.
Still looking back, though, the Russians asked for “proof and evidence” of Moscow’s involvement in the 2016 election. Just a day earlier, Trump had said Russia probably meddled in the election, but that other countries probably did, too.
With the world watching closely for signs of their emerging rapport, Trump and Putin shook hands firmly but briefly as reporters were allowed in for part of their meeting. Seated in front of a Russian flag, Putin slightly hunched in his chair and rubbed his fingers together as he listened to Trump, who appeared informal and relaxed and said it was “an honor” to be with Putin.
“We look forward to a lot of very positive things happening for Russia, for the United States and for everybody concerned,” Trump said.
Putin, too, described the mere fact they were meeting as positive, adding that he hoped it would “yield positive results.”
“Phone conversations are never enough definitely,” Putin said. “If you want to have a positive outcome in bilaterals and be able to resolve most international policy issues, that will really need personal meetings.”
The meeting, originally scheduled for 35 minutes, clocked in at 2 hours and 16 minutes.
“There was so much to talk about,” said Tillerson. “Neither one of them wanted to stop.”
He added that at one point, aides sent in first lady Melania Trump to try to wrap things up, but the meeting went on another hour after that, “so clearly she failed.”
The Putin meeting came midway through a hectic, four-day European visit for Trump, who addressed thousands of Poles in an outdoor speech in Warsaw, Poland, on Thursday.
He met in Germany with Chancellor Angela Merkel, the summit host, and had dinner with two Asian allies – Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in – to discuss North Korea’s aggression.