Security chief startled at Trump invitation of US visit for Putin
Move drew laughter from top defence chief surprised by news
President Donald Trump’s decision to invite Russian leader Vladimir Putin to visit the US has been greeted with horror by senior figures in the country.
The move drew startled laughter from a US intelligence chief who appeared taken by surprise at the news.
“That’s going to be special!” said director of national intelligence Dan Coats, when he was told about the invitation during a live interview.
The political fallout is continuing from Mr Trump’s first summit with Mr Putin in Finland on Monday – with Democrats demanding the notes from the two leaders’ private talks.
The announcement came as the White House sought to clean up days of confounding post-summit Trump statements on Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Trump’s public doubting of Russia’s responsibility in a joint news conference with Putin provoked withering criticism from Republicans as well as Democrats and forced the president to make a rare public admission of error.
Then on Thursday, the White House said Trump “disagrees” with Putin’s offer to allow US questioning of 12 Russians who have been indicted for election interference in exchange for Russian interviews with the former US ambassador to Russia and other Americans the Kremlin accuses of unspecified crimes. Trump initially had described the idea as an “incredible offer”.
The White House backtrack came just before the Senate voted overwhelmingly against the proposal.
It was Congress’ first formal rebuke of Trump’s actions from the summit and its aftermath.
Asked about the Putin invitation, Alaska Republican Senator Dan Sullivan said “I wouldn’t do it, that’s for damn sure.
“If the Russians want a better relationship, trips to the White House aren’t going to help. They should stop invading their neighbours. They should stop meddling in our elections.” Mixed messages from Trump have increased worries in Congress that the White House is not taking seriously the threat that senior officials say Russia now poses to the upcoming 2018 midterm elections.
Meanwhile, it emerged that Putin and Trump discussed the possibility of a referendum in separatist-leaning eastern Ukraine during their Helsinki summit, Russia’s ambassador to the US said yesterday. Ambassador Anatoly Antonov revealed the discussions amid confusion and concern in the US about what the two world leaders actual- ly agreed upon behind closed doors.
“This issue [of a referendum] was discussed,” he said, adding that Putin made “concrete proposals” to Trump on solutions for the four-year Russianbacked insurgency in eastern Ukraine, in which more than 10,000 people have died. He did not elaborate on what Putin’s solutions would be.
The move may be seen as an effort to sidestep European peace efforts for Ukraine and increase the pressure on the Ukrainian government in its protracted conflict with prorussian separatists in the Donbass region.
Trump tweeted that the two men discussed Ukraine, but has not mentioned a referendum or revealed specifics.
The US and Russia have been on opposing sides of the conflict in Ukraine, which was unleashed after a popular uprising in 2014 against Ukraine’s pro-russian president and Russia’s retaliatory annexation of ukraine’ s crime an Peninsula a month later.