The things that Donald Trump says and does in the public eye are bad enough; the thought of him meeting alone with no aides or note-takers present with dictatorial leaders of hostile foreign regimes is downright frightening. There is no meeting with any foreign leader more circumspect, however, than that of the upcoming meeting between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
US President Donald Trump plans to meet one-on-one with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the start of their July 16 summit in Helsinki, Finland, a source says https://t.co/2LQvDqPsE8 pic.twitter.com/rTTXEBvbdW
— CNN International (@cnni) July 3, 2018
CNN reports that despite the unease any sane American feels about secret, one-on-one talks between Trump and Putin, the president plans to do just that.
‘Trump has shown an affinity for meeting individually with his counterparts before opening the room to fuller delegations. During his historic summit with Kim Jong Un last month, Trump met for about an hour with just the North Korean dictator, joined only by their translators. Emerging from the face-to-face, Trump told reporters the discussion was “very, very good.”
‘He had said before the Singapore talks that he wanted to take the measure of Kim personally and gauge their chemistry. In the case of Putin, Trump has already assessed their interpersonal ties up close, but wants more time to develop the leader-to-leader relationship, according to the person familiar with the summit’s planning.’
Reposting to remind all about the amazing number of concessions Trump has floated for his Helsinki summit with Putin in return for … nothing. I worry that lifting sanctions may also be in the mix. https://t.co/fv9zZ6uUtM
— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) July 3, 2018
‘Ahead of the North Korea summit, some US officials expressed concern about a meeting without any other aides present. Without official note-takers or other witnesses, one-on-one meetings lack any official record, making it difficult afterward to determine whether agreements have been reached. Putin is known as a shrewd negotiator who some officials worry could exploit such a session and extract concessions from Trump.’
“Are you going to mention the meddling when you meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, July 16th?”
The Pres. sidestepped a question about the upcoming Trump-Putin summit in an interview with FOX News, speaking on Clinton’s emails and the DNC server. https://t.co/eO1IqPBKPS
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) July 3, 2018
Russia continues to say they had nothing to do with Meddling in our Election! Where is the DNC Server, and why didn’t Shady James Comey and the now disgraced FBI agents take and closely examine it? Why isn’t Hillary/Russia being looked at? So many questions, so much corruption!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2018
Featured image via Getty/Mikhail Klimentyev