Dueling Accounts Emerge Over Trump and Putin’s Discussions on Russian Election Interference
President Donald Trump faced off with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in a bilateral meeting running more than two hours at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany on Friday. The pair reportedly discussed election meddling, as well as Russian involvement in Ukraine and Syria.
In the wake of their meeting, two dueling narratives emerged from officials regarding Putin and Trump’s discussion of possible Russian interference in the American election.
Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov was first out the gate, claiming Trump had “accepted” statements from Putin that Russia did not meddle in the 2016 election:
BREAKING: Russian foreign minister says Trump accepted Putin’s assurances that Russia didn’t meddle in the U.S. election.
— The Associated Press (@AP) July 7, 2017
Trump reportedly kicked off the meeting by asking Putin about the conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies that the Kremlin waged an extensive campaign to interfere in the 2016 election, a conclusion Putin has rejected before and denied in the meeting.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson indirectly pushed back on Lavrov’s framing, telling reporters after the meeting that Trump had “pressed” Putin over Russian interference, but that the two leaders did not come to any agreement:
Tillerson, asked how Trump addressed Putin on election hacking: “he pressed him, and then talked about how to we go forward.”
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) July 7, 2017
Tillerson says it’s not likely US and Russia will come to agreement on Russian meddling in US election: “The question is what do we do now?”
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) July 7, 2017
NEW: Admin official disputes FM Lavrov’s assertion that Trump accepted Putin’s assurances that Russia didn’t meddle in US election.
— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) July 7, 2017
So it appears both sides are trying to paint different pictures of the conversation: where the Russian foreign minister claims Trump accepted Putin’s statement, Tillerson makes the argument that since there was no agreement between the two leaders, “there was no use relitigating the past,” and they chose to move on.
Tillerson also said that Russian officials asked for proof of Russian interference after the meeting:
BREAKING: Tillerson says after Trump-Putin meeting that Russia has asked for proof of involvement in election interference.
— The Associated Press (@AP) July 7, 2017
U.S. intelligence agencies did not conclude that Russian actors ever hacked the election itself, but that the Kremlin directed the hacking of the DNC and emails of Hillary Clinton campaign staffers, in order to sabotage her campaign. The NSA also believes Russia tried to hack into voting systems days before the election, but there is no evidence such attempts were successful.
Trump has repeatedly declined to firmly condemn the Kremlin for what U.S. intelligence has concluded amounts to interference in the election, and has even raised doubts Russia was behind the cyberattacks.
[image via screengrab]
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