Trump Meets With Putin Behind Closed Doors

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP AND RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN
MET IN HAMBURG, GERMANY ALONG WITH THE G20 SUMMIT, NO MEDIA
WAS PRESENT EXCEPT FOR SOME PHOTOGRAPHERS IN THE BEGINNING,
SO ALL WE KNOW IS WHAT SERGEI LAVROV, THE RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR,
AND REX TILLERSON, HAVE TO TELL US.
SO FAR THEY SAY SYRIA WAS
DISCUSSED AND APPARENTLY RUSSIA MEDDLING IN THE 2016 ELECTION
WAS DISCUSSED.
ALSO THE MEETING WENT ON FOR TWO HOURS AND 15
MINUTES, WHEN I THINK IT WAS SCHEDULED FOR A LOT LESS.
APPARENTLY MELANIA TRUMP CAME IN AND HAD TO INTERRUPT THE MEETING
AND SHE WAS QUICKLY RUSHED AWAY.
BUT ACCORDING TO WHAT TILLERSON
TOLD THE TIMES ABOUT THIS MEETING, HE SAYS ABOUT DONALD
TRUMP THAT --
THAT'S ON ONE SIDE.
ON THE OTHER SIDE, MR.
LAVROV, THE
RUSSIAN PRIME MINISTER, SAID --
THIS WAS ACCORDING TO LAVROV.
THEN HE SAID --
THAT HE BEING TRUMP ACCEPTS
THE STATEMENTS.
ON THE ONE HAND
TILLERSON, ON THE OTHER HAND LAVROV.
BACK TO WHAT I THOUGHT
WAS A GREAT QUOTE FROM TILLERSON, SAYING THAT
ESSENTIALLY AT THE END WHEN IT COMES DOWN TO RUSSIAN MEDDLING,
THAT IT MAY BE SIMPLY AN INTRACTABLE DISAGREEMENT AT THIS
POINT.
LET ME GIVE YOU A LITTLE CONTEXT.
FIRST OFF, LAVROV IS
THE FOREIGN MINISTER IN RUSSIA, ALSO OF COURSE HE WILL DO
PROPAGANDA.
SOME ON THE RIGHT AND SOME ON THE LEFT SAY THE
U.S. GOVERNMENT DOES PROPAGANDA.
FIRST OF ALL, CONGRATULATIONS,
YOU FIGURED IT OUT.
OF COURSE WE DO.
BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN THAT
EVERYONE ELSE IS FULL OF ROSES AND RAINBOWS.
THE RUSSIANS ALSO
DO PROPAGANDA.
SO I WOULDN'T TRUST NECESSARILY WHAT LAVROV IS
SAYING ABOUT WHAT TRUMP SAID, ALL IS FORGIVEN, NOT HOLDING
ANYTHING AGAINST YOU -- WHICH I WOULDN'T BE SURPRISED IF TRUMP
SET IT, BUT THAT'S LAVROV SAYING TRUMP SAID IT, SO TAKE IT WITH A
GIANT GRAIN OF SALT.
BUT I THINK THE MOST IMPORTANT PART IS
TILLERSON.
FIRST OFF, THIS IS ALL BEING PRESENTED IS SUPER
IMPORTANT BECAUSE TRUMP, AS TILLERSON POINTED OUT, RAISED
THE ISSUE OF RUSSIAN MEDDLING IN THE BEGINNING, AND DID IT TWICE.
SO WHAT?
DAVID GERGEN, HERE THEY GO AGAIN ON CNN, SAYING HE
SEEMED PRESIDENTIAL TODAY.
HOW MANY TIMES WILL DECLARE HIM
PRESIDENT?
FIRST OF ALL HE'S PRESIDENT WHETHER WE LIKE IT OR
NOT, SECOND OF ALL STOP SAYING THE MOST MUNDANE THINGS NOW
HAVE MADE HIM PRESIDENT.
AT LEAST IT MADE HIM MODERN-DAY PRESIDENTIAL.
YES.
SOMETIMES HE ATE A BOLOGNA SANDWICH, SO HE LOOKED
PRESIDENTIAL TODAY EATING THAT BOLOGNA SANDWICH.
BUT MOST OF
THE TIME IT'S MORE WARLIKE THINGS.
HE BOMBED SYRIA, NOW HE'S PRESIDENTIAL.
HE THREATENED THE RUSSIANS, NOW HE'S PRESIDENTIAL.
IT'S NOT EVEN A THREAT, IT'S A MINIMAL DEFENSE OF AMERICAN
SOVEREIGNTY AND DEMOCRACY.
LIKE, HEY, REMEMBER THAT THING,
REMEMBER THE DOZEN OFFICIALS THAT CAME OUT AND SAID YOU
HACKED THE ELECTION AND VOTER ROLLS WERE COMPROMISED,
DON'T TALK ABOUT THAT.
THAT'S NOT VERY PRESIDENTIAL.
AND TILLERSON IS LIKE, LET'S MOVE ON TO OTHER THINGS NOW?
WHAT IS HE TALKING ABOUT.
THAT'S THE ESSENCE OF IT.
ON CNN THEY SAY THIS IS
PRESIDENTIAL, THIS IS BIG-LEAGUE STUFF -- NO IT WASN'T. SO WHEN
HE SAYS I RAISED THE ISSUE AND TILLERSON SAYS HE RAISED THE
ISSUE OF MEDDLING, AND DIDN'T GET AN ANSWER, SO THAT THE END
OF IT, THE REALITY IS THAT PEOPLE DON'T CARE, THEY ARE DONE
WITH IT, THERE ARE NO SANCTIONS OR CONSEQUENCES OR NOTHING.
IN
FACT WHAT WE DID WAS THE OPPOSITE, WE AGREED TO A
CEASE-FIRE IN SYRIA, I'M HAPPY WITH THAT, BUT IT CEMENTS
ASSAD AT THIS POINT, WHICH IS WHAT PUTIN WANTED.
THERE WAS NO
CONSEQUENCES TO THE MEDDLING.
STOP GIVING TRUMP CREDIT FOR IT,
THIS IS WINDOWDRESSING AND NO SUBSTANCE AT ALL.
IT'S EMBARRASSING, CAN I SAY?
I'VE NEVER BEEN MORE PATRIOTIC
THAN I'VE BEEN IN THE LAST SIX MONTHS, I GOT TO TELL YOU, BUT I
THINK SOMETHING THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN PRESIDENTIAL IS, LIKE, AND
WE ARE CREATING EVEN JUST A SHELL OF ACCOUNTABILITY.
MAYBE
LIKE SOME KIND OF INVESTIGATION, A JOINT INVESTIGATION, HOW
ABOUT, INTO POTENTIAL MEDDLING, OR HOW WE CAN TALK ABOUT CYBER
SECURITY.
JUST THROW THE AMERICAN PEOPLE A BONE.
NO BONES
BEING THROWN, NO ATTEMPT AT COVERING THIS UP, IT'S JUST WHAT
I HEARD FROM TILLERSON IS PLAY ADELE'S "WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE"
BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT THIS IS GOING TO BE SOON.
ONE OTHER THING THAT CAME UP DURING THIS MEETING, ONE OF MY
OTHER CONCERNS ABOUT HISTORY TO EUROPE, YOU MENTIONED IN HIS
SPEECH IN POLAND THERE WERE THESE STRONG AUTHORITARIAN,
NATIONALIST STATEMENT HE WAS MAKING, SCARY STUFF, BUT IN THE
PRESS CONFERENCE HE REPEATEDLY ATTACKED THE PRESS, I KNOW SOME
PEOPLE WANT TO LAY DOWN AND LET HIM DO THAT AND NOT WORRY ABOUT
IT, BUT HE'S CONTINUING TO DO IT, HE'S DOING IT WITH OTHER
RIGHT-WING LEADERS AROUND THE GLOBE, AND IN THE MEETING TODAY
PUTIN CLEARLY KNOWS THAT BECAUSE AT ONE POINT HE LEANED OVER AND
SAID SOMETHING TO THE EFFECT OF, ARE THOSE THE ONES WHO INSULTED
YOU?
TALKING ABOUT THE REPORTERS.
TRUMP SORT OF LAUGHS,
THIS GUY WHO SHUTS DOWN THE FREE PRESS THINK IT'S FUNNY.
BUT
WHAT'S MORE INTERESTING IS THIS GUY JULES SAID THAT THE
PARTICULAR WORD THAT VLADIMIR PUTIN USED FOR "INSULTED" WAS
THE ONE YOU WOULD USE FOR A CHILD WHOSE FEELINGS WOULD BE
HURT.
I THOUGHT THAT'S TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE BUT WE HAD OUR
RUSSIAN-SPEAKING EDITOR CHECK AND SHE SAID YES, THAT'S THE
FORM OF "INSULT" YOU WOULD USE IF YOU WANTED TO CONDESCEND TO A
CHILD, LIKE, YOU GOT A BOO-BOO?
THAT'S WHAT PUTIN SAID TO TRUMP.
TO BE FAIR HE SPEAKING TRUMP'S LANGUAGE.
BUT ANOTHER POINT IT'S
NOT BEING EMPHASIZED ENOUGH IN THIS INTERACTION, IT WAS MEANT
TO BE A HALF AN HOUR OR SO, WHY IS IT TWO HOURS AND 15 MINUTES?
THERE ARE ONLY SIX PEOPLE IN THE ROOM.
IT'S TRUMP AND TILLERSON,
BOTH HUGE ALLIES OF RUSSIA IN THE PAST, TRUMP HAS HAD A
TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF FINANCIAL DEALINGS, HIS SONS SAY THEY GOT
ALL THE MONEY FROM THEIR GOLF COURSES FROM THE RUSSIANS, AND
OBVIOUSLY THROUGHOUT HAS BEEN SAYING PUBLICLY THIS WHOLE THING
IS OVERBLOWN, THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS THE RUSSIAN THING, ETC.
REX TILLERSON WHEN HE WAS CEO OF EXXON MOBIL HAD HALF A TRILLION
DEAL WITH THE RUSSIANS.
THEN THERE IS PUTIN AND LAVROV, AND
THE TWO INTERPRETERS WHO WILL SOON WIND UP DEAD.
RBC I'M KIND
OF KIDDING ABOUT THAT.
BUT MY POINT IS THESE ARE ALL PEOPLE
THAT IF THERE WAS A DEAL WITH THE RUSSIANS ARE IN ON THE DEAL.
THERE WAS NO ONE ALLOWED IN THE ROOM THAT WAS NOT IN ON THE
DEAL.
AND WE DON'T KNOW THAT FOR CERTAIN OF COURSE, I DON'T KNOW
TO WHAT DEGREE TILLERSON KNOWS WHAT TRUMP HAD IN HIS HISTORY
WITH RUSSIA, WHEN TRUMP IS MAKING DEALS FOR GOLF COURSES
BACK IN '09 TILLERSON IS NOT INVOLVED IN THAT, SO COURSE THIS
PART OF WHAT I'M SAYING IS TO SOME DEGREE SPECULATION, BUT WE
KNOW THERE WAS NOBODY IN THE ROOM THAT IF THEY HAD SAID
SOMETHING ABOUT, HEY GUYS, THIS IS HOW WE WILL ACTUALLY HANDLE
IT, THAT WOULD HAVE SAID WHOA, WAIT A MINUTE, WHAT DO YOU MEAN
"ACTUALLY HANDLE IT?"
THESE ARE ALL GUYS WHO STAND TO GAIN FROM
THE LIFTING OF THE RUSSIAN SANCTIONS, THEY'LL COME OUT OF
THE ROOM AND SAY WE WERE TOUGH ON ONE ANOTHER, BUT I'VE DECIDED
IT'S WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE AND WE ARE DONE WITH IT.

Trump Meets With Putin Behind Closed Doors

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