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Trump invites Putin to Washington despite US uproar over Helsinki summit

President Donald Trump has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to Washington this autumn, the White House said on Thursday, a daring rebuttal to the torrent of criticism in the United States over Trump's failure to publicly confront Putin at their first summit for Moscow's meddling in the 2016 election.

 

Four days after Trump stunned the world by siding with Putin in Helsinki over his intelligence agencies, the president asked national security adviser John Bolton to issue the invitation to the Russian leader, said White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders.

 

What happened at Monday's one-on-one between Trump and Putin with only interpreters present remained a mystery, even to top officials and US lawmakers who said they had not been briefed.

 

Trump's director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, said in response to a question at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado: "Well, you're right, I don't know what happened at that meeting."

 


פרסום ראשון: 07.20.18, 07:34