Putin triumphs over Trump at US-Russia summit President Donald Trump questions US intelligence community, not Putin, on alleged Russian meddling in 2016 election.
President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands as they hold a joint news conference on Monday [Grigory Dukor/Reuters]
Donald Trump preferred the “powerful denial” of Vladimir Putin to the word of the entire US intelligence community and called his own nation “foolish” over allegations of Russia’s collusion in the 2016 presidential vote.
No collusion occurred on the Kremlin’s part in the election that propelled the maverick business tycoon to the presidency, Trump said on Monday after four hours of talks with his Russian counterpart in Helsinki, Finland.
“The main thing – we discussed it also – is zero collusion,” Trump, standing alongside a nodding Putin, said. “I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.
“I hold both countries responsible. I think that the United States has been foolish. We’ve all been foolish.”
As I said today and many times before, “I have GREAT confidence in MY intelligence people.” However, I also recognize that in order to build a brighter future, we cannot exclusively focus on the past – as the world’s two largest nuclear powers, we must get along! #HELSINKI2018
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 16, 2018
Trump’s strange, inexplicable predilection towards Russia made him look weak, gullible, and isolated from his own administration, America’s political establishment, and traditional political allies, analysts say.
“It was nothing short of treasonous,” John O Brennan, a former CIA director fired by Trump in 2017, said in a tweet. “Not only were Trump’s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin.”
Donald Trump’s press conference performance in Helsinki rises to & exceeds the threshold of “high crimes & misdemeanors.” It was nothing short of treasonous. Not only were Trump’s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin. Republican Patriots: Where are you???
— John O. Brennan (@JohnBrennan) July 16, 2018
The summit concluded Trump’s tumultuous, week-long tour of the continent marked by disagreements with European leaders, divisions within NATO, and anti-Trump protests in the United Kingdom.
He went ahead with the talks despite last Friday’s sweeping indictment of 12 Russian intelligence officers over the Kremlin’s alleged interference in the 2016 US presidential election and calls to cancel the summit.
Putin unexpectedly offered his help in no less than interrogating the suspected officers with representatives of special counsel Robert S Mueller III, who heads the probe into the alleged collusion.
“We can make one more step forward – we can let official US representatives, including the representatives of Mr Mueller’s commission, to be present at these interrogations,” Putin said.
Cold War 2.0
Unsurprisingly, the summit’s outcomes are seen in Russia as triumphant.
“The Cold War is over,” Alexey Mukhin, a pro-Kremlin political analyst, told Al Jazeera.
“A US president declared Cold War 2.0 on Russia and a US president is cancelling it,” he said, referring to the cooling of Russia-US ties under former president Barack Obama.
“A hand brake was on and now it’s been unblocked,” Sergei Strokan, a Moscow-based analyst and columnist with the Kommersant daily, told Al Jazeera.
In fact, some political pundits in Russia predicted the outcome.
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