Trump, Putin discussed Venezuela, Mueller during hour-long call

President Donald Trump spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin for more than an hour, discussing the situation in Venezuela and special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on interference in the 2016 election, the White House said Friday.

Trump wrote on Twitter that he “had a long and very good conversation with President Putin of Russia.”

“As I have always said, long before the Witch Hunt started, getting along with Russia, China, and everyone is a good thing, not a bad thing,” he continued. “We discussed Trade, Venezuela, Ukraine, North Korea, Nuclear Arms Control and even the ‘Russian Hoax.’ Very productive talk!”

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters earlier that the two leaders talked about a number of topics, including the violence in Venezuela. She said Trump made “clear that the United States stand with the people of Venezuela” and that the president’s primary aim is to ensure that food and humanitarian aid are able to get through to the country.

“The primary focus throughout the call was about helping the people of Venezuela,” Sanders told reporters Friday, adding that overall, the talk was a “very positive conversation” and that the two had a “very good discussion.”

The U.S. has backed opposition leader Juan Guaidó in Venezuela in his attempts to oust dicator Nicolás Maduro, who has Russia’s backing.

Earlier this week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Maduro was set to leave the country, sitting in a plane on a tarmac, when Russia intervened and persuaded him to stay put. Pompeo spoke with his Russian counterpart about the situation in Venezuela this week, but it was unclear whether or when Trump would discuss the issue with Putin.

Trump, however, suggested that Putin denied wanting to interfere in Venezuela.

“He is not looking at all to get involved in Venezuela, other than he’d like to see something positive happen for Venezuela,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “And I feel the same way. We want to get some humanitarian aid. Right now people are starving. They have no water. They have no food.”

The call Friday is also the first known communication between the two leaders since Mueller’s findings were released several weeks ago, and Trump said he and Putin discussed the report, which found
extensive Russian interference in the 2016 election but no conspiracy by the Trump campaign to aide it.

Sanders said the subject came up “very very briefly,” and Trump suggested the tone of the conversation was lighthearted, despite warnings from experts that Russia will try to meddle in future elections.

“He actually sort of smiled when he said something to the effect that it started off as a mountain and it ended up being a mouse,” Trump said. “But he knew that because he knew there was no collusion whatsoever. Pretty much that’s what it was.”

The two spoke of Mueller’s report “essentially in the context of that it’s over and there was no collusion, which I’m pretty sure both leaders were very well aware of long before this call took place, something we’ve said for the better part of 2½ years,” Sanders said.

She told reporters Trump did broach the issue of Russia’s election meddling but that “the conversation on that part was very quick.” She then asserted that the administration “takes election meddling very seriously” and dinged the Obama administration’s handling of the issue in 2016.

“We’re not gonna let that happen,” she vowed.

But when asked later if he told Putin not to interfere in the next election, Trump told reporters the pair “didn’t discuss that.”

Sanders said the two leaders also discussed nuclear agreements between the U.S. and Russia, including the possibility that China could be included in an updated treaty, as well as efforts to push North Korea to wind down its nuclear programs.

“They spoke about North Korea for a good bit of time on the call and reiterated both the commitment and the need for denuclearization, and the president said several times on this front as well the need and importance of Russia stepping up and continuing to help and put pressure on North Korea to denuclearize,” she told reporters.

Putin met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Russia for the first time last month, when Kim said the leaders had a “fruitful” discussion.

Source:Politico.com