Trump invites Putin to US summit
Invitation was extended as the US leader continued to parry criticism over his meeting with the Russian president
WASHINGTON— US President Donald Trump directed his national security adviser, John Bolton, to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to Washington, the White House said on Thursday.
“President Trump asked @Ambjohnbolton to invite President Putin to Washington in the fall,” White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders said, four days after Trump and Putin held a summit in Helsinki.
Powerful forces
Earlier on Thursday, both Trump and Putin blamed forces within the United States for marring what they called the success of their first summit, with Trump saying he looked forward to their second meeting.
Trump accused the news media of distorting comments in which he gave credence to Putin’s denials of election interference despite the conclusions of the American intelligence community about Moscow’s conduct.
‘Great success’
“The Summit with Russia was a great success, except with the real enemy of the people, the Fake News Media,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
“I look forward to our second meeting so that we can start implementing some of the many things discussed,” Trump said, citing terrorism, Israel’s security, nuclear proliferation, cyber attacks, trade, Ukraine, Middle East peace and North Korea.
In Moscow, Putin said he and Trump had begun to improve USRussia ties although “powerful” US forces were trying to sabotage the summit’s achievements.
“It was successful overall and led to some useful agreements” Putin said, without elaborating on the agreements.
“We see that there are forces in the United States that are prepared to casually sacrifice Russian-US relations, to sacrifice them for their ambitions in an internal political battle in the United States,” Putin said.
Bipartisan moves
Republican and Democratic lawmakers grappled with Trump’s conflicting statements about the summit as well as exactly what the two leaders discussed in their private meeting and what agreements, if any, were reached.
But lawmakers from both parties agreed to block Putin’s proposal that Russian probers be allowed to question US citizens.
Following their summit on Monday, Putin said he would permit American lawmen to observe questioning by Russian officials of the 12 indicted Russians in exchange for letting Russian investigators question Americans on other matters, mentioning London-based financier Bill Browder, a onetime investor in Russia.
Tit-for-tat
He made the proposal when after 12 Russian spies were indicted in the United States on charges of meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
“It is a proposal that was made in sincerity by President Putin, but President Trump disagrees with it,” Sanders said.