Trump jokes to Putin: 'Don't meddle in the election'
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With a smirk and a finger point, President Donald Trump dryly told Russia's Vladimir Putin "Don't meddle with the election" in their first meeting since the special counsel concluded that Russia extensively interfered with the 2016 campaign.
The tone of the president's comment, which came after a reporter asked if he would warn Putin, were immediately open to interpretation. But they 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 first time the leaders had met since they sat together publicly in Helsinki nearly a year ago, when Trump pointedly did not admonish Putin over election interference and did not side with U.S. intelligence services over his Russian counterpart. The leaders traded brief remarks Friday about issues they planned to discuss when a reporter shouted to Trump about warning Putin "not to meddle" in the 2020 election.
The president answered "Of course" before he turned to Putin and said, "Don't meddle in the election." He playfully repeated request while pointing at Putin.
Putin laughed.
Trump also said he enjoyed a "very, very good relationship" with Putin, and said "many positive things are going to come out of the relationship." He said trade and disarmament were among the issues they would discuss.
