The Russia connectionJust between us
Media investigation has found that President Donald Trump has had at least 18 interactions with Vladimir Putin – four letters, five in-person meetings, and nine phone calls – and that Trump has not shared details of these interactions — what was discussed and what the two leaders agreed to — with members of his administration. Trump went to some length to conceal his dealings with Putin from the State Department, the Pentagon, the NSC, and the U.S. intelligence community: Just following the official Hamburg meeting, for example, Trump confiscated the interpreter’s notes before he and Putin left the room. “What’s disconcerting is the desire to hide information from your own team,” said one Russia expert. “The fact that Trump didn’t want the State Department or members of the White House team to know what he was talking with Putin about suggests it was not about advancing our country’s national interest but something more problematic.”
With increased interest in what exactly President Trump has been trying to hide from the press, the public, and his own administration about his conversations with Vladimir Putin, The New York Times has posted an infographic detailing the eighteen known interactions – four letters, five in-person meetings, and nine calls – between the two leaders.
The Times also takes a closer look at those five in-person encounters in particular, noting we know very little about what Trump and Putin have discussed.
NYT:
The first time they met was in Germany. President Trump took his interpreter’s notes afterward and ordered him not to disclose what he heard to anyone. Later that night, at a dinner, Mr. Trump pulled up a seat next to President Vladimir V. Putin to talk without any American witnesses at all.
Their third encounter was in Vietnam when Mr. Trump seemed to take Mr. Putin’s word that he had not interfered in American elections. A formal summit meeting followed in Helsinki, Finland, where the two leaders kicked out everyone but the interpreters. Most recently, they chatted in Buenos Aires after Mr. Trump said they would not meet because of Russian aggression.
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“What’s disconcerting is the desire to hide information from your own team,” said Andrew S. Weiss, who was a Russia adviser to President Bill Clinton. “The fact that Trump didn’t want the State Department or members of the White House team to know what he was talking with Putin about suggests it was not about advancing our country’s national interest but something more problematic.”
