Before he meets Putin, Trump takes aim at allies
Remarks raise concern that president might offer concessions to Russia behind closed doors
HELSINKI— U.S. President Donald Trump spent the eve of his first summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin finding fault with allies, Barack Obama and the news media while refraining from condemning Moscow for its meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
His comments on Sunday raised the stakes for the meeting, a closely scrutinized encounter that the White House said would include a 90-minute session in which the two presidents will speak one on one, with only their interpreters present.
The meeting is taking place just days after 12 Russian intelligence agents were indicted by the Justice Department on charges that they sought to thwart U.S. democracy during the election campaign.
And Trump’s remarks came after a week in which he sowed new doubts about his support for NATO and berated European allies for treating the U.S. unfairly on trade. That has raised concerns that he might offer concessions behind closed doors to a Russian president who is ready to exploit any hint of fissure within the western alliance.
As Trump made his way to Helsinki, Finland’s capital, he said he was looking forward to the meeting. He indicated that he did not plan to use his time with the Russian president to press him on the election interference.
Trump also said it had not occurred to him to demand the extradition of the indicted agents to the U.S. to face charges. “I hadn’t thought of that,” Trump said in an interview with CBS, broadcast Sunday, when asked about the possibility.
Trump appeared to blame Obama for allowing the attacks to occur.
“Certainly, I’ll be asking about it, but again, this was during the Obama administration,” he said.
Of the meeting with Putin, Trump said, “I don’t expect anything …”
The agenda for the talks remained murky, although Trump has said he is eager to speak with Putin about the war in Syria, the possible extension of a nuclear arms control treaty and Ukraine, among other topics
He has also signalled a willingness to discuss items on Putin’s agenda that fly in the face of U.S. policy and alarm European allies, including the lifting of sanctions on Moscow, the recognition of Russia’s annexation of Crimea and halting NATO’s military exercises in the Baltics.
As Air Force One carried Trump to Helsinki for the meetings with Putin, who has cracked down on the news media and been accused of jailing reporters and having them killed, Trump lashed out at the U.S. news media.
“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.
The comments appeared to be an effort to pre-empt criticism of his performance at the meeting, and coincided with attempts by members of his ad- ministration to lower expectations. Jon Huntsman Jr., 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.
“It isn’t a summit,” Huntsman said in an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, hours before Trump’s Twitter post calling it just that. “This is a meeting.” The disconnect in terminol- ogy mirrors the gulf between the president and his administration in dealing with Russia: Trump has sought a friendship with Putin, while his administration regards the Russian leader as a dangerous adversary who must be countered.
Asked during the CBS interview whom he considered to be his biggest foe globally, Trump named the European Union, citing “what they do to us on trade.”
He 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.”
On Sunday, Trump also congratulated Putin on Twitter “for putting on a truly great World Cup Tournament — one of the best ever!”
Trump’s conciliatory tone toward Putin 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, instead referring 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.”
Trump’s friendly approach contrasted with a harsher stance by members of his administration.
In an interview broadcast Sunday morning in the U.S., Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, appeared to reject the suggestion that Trump would raise the subject of extradition.
“I think it’s pretty silly for the president to demand something that he can’t get legally,” Bolton said on ABC’s This Week.
“For the president to demand something that isn’t going to happen puts the president in a weak position.”
Bolton said there were legal obstacles to extraditing Russian citizens, because the U.S. does not have an extradition treaty with Russia.
Bolton, who is travelling with Trump, said that one alternative could be to use Interpol, the international law enforcement agency, for “red notices,” or requests for an arrest pending an extradition.
He also added that he expected the Justice Department to take steps to arrest the Russians.