President Trump plans to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to Washington, DC for yet another one-on-one meeting in the fall. Under fire for shady shenanagins around Russia and Putin, Trump is doubling down on the crazy, like he always does.
“Word of the planned invitation for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia came even as President Trump’s top advisers tried to glean details of what the two leaders discussed in their last meeting in Finland,” reports the New York Times.
In an interview with NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell, the U.S. director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, also publicly spoke for the first time about frustration at having been left out about the meeting, which we are all told included only Putin, Trump, and their respective interpreters.
“If he had asked me how that ought to be conducted,” Mr. Coats said from the Aspen Security Conference in Colorado, “I would have suggested a different way. It is what it is.”
So we have to now consider, seriously, whether Putin is coming here as a victory lap, showing the world that he & Russia are back baby & those arrogant Americans are arrogant no more. Betrayal of the US here is so immense, unthinkable, that it is becoming a world altering event. https://t.co/8AE5bfkzX6
— Simon Rosenberg (@SimonWDC) July 19, 2018
Chuck Schumer responds: “Until we know what happened at that two hour meeting in Helsinki, the president should have no more one-on-one interactions with Putin. In the United States, in Russia, or anywhere else.”
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) July 19, 2018
A little awkward for the DNI Dan Coats to learn from @mitchellreports on stage @ #AspenSecurity about WH plans for Putin to come to DC. He says he would not advise another Putin/Trump one-on-one https://t.co/7uOQHDoBrF
— Evan Pérez (@evanperez) July 19, 2018
The DNI says he doesn’t know what happened during private Trump-Putin meeting, wasn’t aware Trump invited Putin to Washington https://t.co/RUVPGZfnBz
— Jon Passantino (@passantino) July 19, 2018
Did Trump and Putin make secret agreements or not? “It is terribly disturbing,” a senior US official tells @sbg1. “The point is that we don’t know.” https://t.co/kOmUDre38y
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) July 19, 2018
Read the New York Times account of today’s wacky news that Trump is inviting Putin to America, in the Fall, to meet with him in the White House.