‘Very good start’: Trump’s Putin summit goes into overtime as the presidents speak for TWO HOURS after U.S. leader says he hopes it will lead to an ‘extraordinary relationship’ and Kremlin strongman smirks at election meddling question
President Trump is in Helsinki Monday for his summit with Vladimir Putin
He meets the Russian president for 90 minutes one-on-one
He began Monday by bashing the Mueller probe
The Justice Department indicted 12 Russian military intelligence officers Friday
Russia is ‘ready’ to discuss meddling and non-intervention, RIA reported in Russia
He went after U.S. ‘foolishness and stupidity’ dealing with Russia
Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs said it agreed with him in a tweet
Trump earlier vented that no matter how well he does he won’t be appreciated
Said that would apply even if ‘I was given the great city of Moscow’
Blasted the media as the ‘enemy of the people,’ a term used in Soviet times
The shots came after indictments of 12 Russian spies accused of election hack conspiracy
Trump said in an interview taped Saturday of his meeting with Putin: ‘I go in with low expectations’
He called the European Union a ‘foe’ on trade
There is no clear agenda for Monday’s meeting and no ‘deliverables’ agreed to
Foreign policy experts worry the president will promise concessions to Putin
Trump could pledge to ease sanctions or cut U.S. military exercises in Europe
He golfed his Scottish course for a second day on Sunday
By GEOFF EARLE
DAILYMAIL.COM
16 July 2018
President Donald Trump’s private conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki blew past an allotted 90 minutes and went on for more than two hours on Monday.
Their talks were running wildly behind schedule after Putin landed an hour late in Finland, and Trump refused to depart his overnight accommodations for the summit site until the rival leader was on the ground.
As their first meeting ended, President Trump said talks were off to a ‘very good start.’
Still, Trump talked of ‘great opportunities’ between the two nations at a time of extreme tension between the nuclear powers.
‘It’s great to be with you,’ Trump told Putin at the start of a planned 90-minute meeting. The greeting came just days after the Justice Department announced the indictments of a dozen Russian spies accused of hacking the presidential election.
‘Frankly we have not been getting along very well for the latest couple of years,’ Trump said.
A second, expanded meeting with their aides follow the one-on-one, with a joint press conference on the schedule after that.
The president said he and Putin would discuss trade, military issues, missiles, and China.
He opened the summit with conciliatory gestures – allowing Putin to speak first, and praising the recently concluded World Cup held in Russia as well as the performance of the Russian national team.
‘I think the world wants to see us get along we are the two great nuclear powers. We have 90 per cent of the nuclear and that’s not a good thing,’ Trump said.
‘It’s a bad thing and we hopefully can do something about that because it’s not a positive force. It’s a negative force, so we’ll be talking about that among other things.’ Then he added: ‘We all have a lot of questions and hopefully we’ll come up with answers.’
‘Most importantly we have a lot of good things to talk about,’ Trump said after opening his remarks with praise for Russia’s hosting of the World Cup.
‘I want to congratulate you on a really great World Cup, one of the best ever,’ Trump exlcaimed.
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