OSAKA, Japan (AP) — With a smirk and a finger point, President Donald Trump dryly told Russia’s Vladimir Putin “Don’t meddle in the election” in their first meeting since the special counsel concluded that Russia extensively interfered with the 2016 campaign.
The leaders traded brief remarks Friday, the first time they sat together since Helsinki, about issues they planned to discuss when a reporter asked Trump if he would war Putin not to meddle in the 2020 election.
“Of course,” the president replied. Then he turned to Putin and facetiously said, “Don’t meddle in the election.” He playfully repeated request while pointing at Putin. Putin laughed.
Watch:
Prompted by a reporter’s question, Trump tells Putin: “Don’t meddle in the election, please.”
Putin laughed after hearing the translation. And the U.S. president shook his head and smiled. https://t.co/uNorQr7EzH pic.twitter.com/TcTRYlxGBX
— Bloomberg (@business) June 28, 2019
Trump said he enjoyed a “very, very good relationship” with Putin and said “many positive things are going to come out of the relationship.”
The tone of the president’s comment, which came after a reporter asked if he would warn Putin, was immediately open to interpretation. But it would seem to do little to silence questions about Trump’s relationship with Russia in the aftermath of special counsel Robert Mueller’s conclusion that he could not establish a criminal conspiracy between Trump’s campaign and Russia.
It was the latest remarkable moment for Trump at Putin’s side after meeting nearly a year ago in Helsinki, considered one of the defining days of Trump’s presidency, when he pointedly did not admonish Putin over election interference and did not side with U.S. intelligence agencies over his Russian counterpart.
The leaders traded brief remarks Friday, the first time they sat together since Helsinki, about issues they planned to discuss when a reporter asked Trump if he would war Putin not to meddle in the 2020 election.
