Mystery as Trump, Putin use Russian translator in talks
washington — President Donald Trump had another, previously undisclosed conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit in Germany this month.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer and National Security Council spokesman Michael Anton confirmed that Trump and Putin spoke at a dinner for world leaders and their spouses at the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, Germany.
The conversation came hours after Trump and Putin’s first official face-to-face meeting on July 7, which was originally scheduled to last just half an hour but stretched on for more than two.
The two world leaders were also captured on video shaking hands and exchanging a few words after they arrived at the G-20 summit of industrialised and developing nations earlier that day.
Anton would not specify the duration of the conversation.
A White House official said: “There was a couples-only social dinner at the G20... Towards the end, the president spoke to Putin at the dinner.”
The disclosure has raised questions about what the pair talked about, who was present and why the meeting was not previously mentioned.
The were also doubts as to why President Trump and President Putin used the same Russian translator. The Trump administration has been besieged by allegations that the president’s closest advisors colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election.
Trump’s eldest son Donald Jr recently released emails showing he held a meeting during the campaign with Kremlin-connected figures, hoping to get dirt on his dad’s election rival Hillary Clinton. Trump late Tuesday took to Twitter to blast the suggestion that there was anything improper about his dinner chat with Putin. — AP, AFP