The Daily - Trump Sides With Putin

Episode Date: July 17, 2018

Standing next to President Vladimir V. Putin at the close of their summit meeting, President Trump challenged the conclusion of his own intelligence agencies: that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election. “They think it’s Russia,” Mr. Trump said. “I don’t see any reason why it would be.” Guest: Julie Hirschfeld Davis, a New York Times correspondent who reported on the meeting from Helsinki, Finland. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.

From The New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. Today. During their historic summit, President Trump, standing next to President Putin, challenged the conclusion of his own government that Russia interfered in the U.S. elections. They think it's Russia, Trump said.

I don't see any reason why it would be. It's Tuesday, July 17th. Julie Davis, what's the main question? What's your main question going into this summit on Monday? Well, the main question is really, you know, what is Trump going to try to get out of this? And is he, in this opportunity that he has to sit down with Putin, going to actually bring up some of the big issues in the relationship, primarily the fact that Russia interfered in the presidential election, but also Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea, the poisonings of people in Britain that, you know, Russia has been accused of carrying

out. Is the president going to actually press him on these things, or is it going to be all about, you know, friendliness and reaching out, which is how the president basically seemed to be approaching this in the days leading up to the meeting? Right, and all this is coming just three days after these latest indictments from the special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, indictments of Russian government officials, which left it essentially undeniable that Russia meddled in the 2016 election and that it was orchestrated by Putin and his government. Right. I mean, this was always going to be a

topic of conversation at this meeting. He said that he was going to ask him about it even before we knew that these indictments were going to happen. But certainly once they came down on Friday, it completely sort of changed the cast of the summit. And was this going to change the president's tack on this, his approach to Putin on the issue? Or was he going to do what he's done in the past, which is essentially to ask the question? But when Putin has denied it, you know, he's done in the past, which is essentially to ask the question. But when Putin has denied it, you know, he's basically moved on from it. And the fact that the indictments came down on Friday made let's just move on just really impossible. Right. So what happens as this day begins in Helsinki that gives us some idea of what the answer will be this time. So, for his part, the president started the day with a series of fiery tweets.

President Trump, as he is wont to do, starts tweeting, quote, our relationship with Russia has never been worse thanks to many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity, and now the rigged witch hunt. Which, of course, is his way of referring to the Mueller investigation. the rigged witch hunt. Which of course is his way of referring to the Mueller investigation. So right off the bat, he's essentially parroting or projecting the Putin narrative,

the Russian narrative, which is that it's the United States that is responsible for the difficulties in the relationship. It's the United States that's been at fault. Right. That we haven't pursued a better and warmer relationship with Russia. And it's time to change that. And so that was the going in posture. And very quickly, within an hour, I think, the Russian foreign ministry retweeted the president of the United States and said, we agree. We agree with the president of the United States' sentiment that the problem here, even though we have meddled in the U.S. election, the problem here is the United States.

Right. And that tweet and the Russian agreement with it, that now kind of feels like a harbinger for the rest of the day. Absolutely. And good morning to you. A bit of drama this morning as this summit is already an hour behind schedule. So for a while after President Trump has tweeted and he's met with the Finnish president, he's waiting for Putin to arrive. He was scheduled to arrive just about an hour ago.

But as President Putin likes to do, he likes to keep other world leaders waiting. Vladimir Putin likes to arrive late to meetings like this. Why? Kind of a power play. The president of the United States is now walking in to meet with Vladimir Putin. Thank you, everybody. And there you see that handshake and warm words between President Trump and President Putin. Then, you know, the reporters filed out, and it was time for them to meet alone with just their translators, and that's just what they did. President Trump is now meeting behind closed doors with Russian President Vladimir Putin

at Finland's presidential palace. And then they were supposed to spend 90 minutes together. Instead, they spent more than two hours together, just the two of them and their interpreters with no advisors present. Now, President Trump, who brags about his ability to make a deal, is sitting down with one of the most experienced players on the world stage. Which was a prospect that had really alarmed a lot of people going in. During Putin's time in power, he's met with every U.S. president since Bill Clinton. Because it's kind of a big deal when the presidents of the United States and Russia talk together, Because it's kind of a big deal when the presidents of the United States and Russia talk together.

And for there to be no historical record at all of that is pretty extraordinary. So the two presidents, we expect to come out any moment. We're watching that door. So it was a longish wait. And there was a lot of anticipation because nobody really knew what we were going to hear. Were they going to come out with some big announcement? Were they going to make nice? Were they going to be very testy with each other? We want to have some sense of what happened. As we noted, there was no agenda. It was just kind of a black box. So that's where we were when the two

presidents walked in. So the two of them come out through a side door and they take their place at their lecterns. Thank you so much. President Putin spoke first. Distinguished Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen. He essentially started out by saying, you know, listen, we've had this tension and there's no reason for it. The Cold War is a thing of past. The situation in the world changed dramatically. You know, he really, I think, was trying to strike the tone of, you know, we're world leaders

and we should be on an equal plane. Today's negotiations reflected our joint wish, our joint wish with President Trump to redress this negative situation in the bilateral relationship. And of course, this is part of Putin's objective here is to be seen as not a pariah, not as someone who invades countries and murders people, but as someone who's a big player on the world stage and worthy of a summit with the American president. Once again, President Trump mentioned the issue of the so-called interference of Russia in the American elections.

He did mention what he called the so-called interference of Russia. American elections. He did mention what he called the so-called interference of Russia. The Russian state has never interfered and is not going to interfere into internal American affairs, including election process. And he kind of ended it on a positive note. He said, in general, we are glad with the outcome of our first full-scale meeting. We had a good conversation with President Trump, and I hope that we start to understand each other better. And I'm grateful to Donald for it. And it was pretty clear he was happy with the way things went, but he wasn't, you know, gloating. He was just being very matter of fact and laying out what he thought that they had both gotten out of the talk. Thank you very

much. And then. Thank you. I have just concluded a meeting with President Putin on a wide range of critical issues for both of our countries. We had direct, open, deeply productive dialogue. Went very well. It was Trump's turn. A productive dialogue is not only good for the United States and good for Russia, but it is good for the world. And he kind of portrayed it as a political risk for him.

I would rather take a political risk in pursuit of peace than to risk peace in pursuit of politics. As president, I will always put what is best for America and what is best for the American people. That, you know, he was willing to take this big risk because, you know, there's a historic opportunity here to, like, repair the relationship with Russia, and he made this comment. But our relationship has never been worse than it is now.

However, that changed as of about four hours ago. I really believe that. Meaning, like, he, Donald Trump, by having this meeting, had essentially just kind of changed the relationship and that this was the dawn of something much better. During today's meeting, I addressed directly with President Putin the issue of Russian interference in our elections.

And during his opening statement, the president said that he had addressed directly with Putin the issue of Russian interference in the U.S. election. And he said, I felt this was a message best delivered in person. Our ears all kind of perked up and we thought, oh, maybe this is it. He's condemning this. kind of perked up, and we thought, oh, maybe this is it. He's condemning this. Spent a great deal of time talking about it. And President Putin may very well want to address it. And very strongly, because he feels very strongly about it.

And he has an interesting idea. And then that was it. This is the moment that you've been waiting for, and in a sense, all of us have been waiting for, not just since these indictments on Friday, but maybe even since the meddling occurred, that standing together in front of the public, the president would speak candidly and confrontationally about this interference,

this historic interference in our election. And he does that instead. Yeah, it was striking because the way he phrased it, that it was a message best delivered in person, you could imagine him going on to say, you know, and the message is, you've attacked our democracy, you better not do it again,

here's the price you're going to pay for it. But there was none of that. And, you know, here he is on the stage with Putin standing right next to him. And whether or not he had brought it up privately, this would have been the moment on the world stage to say to people, I'm taking this guy to task. I am holding him to account.

And he just was not going to go there. This was a very constructive day. This was a very constructive few hours that we spent together. It's in the interest of both of our countries to continue our conversation, and we have agreed to do so. I'm sure we'll be meeting again in the future often, and hopefully we will solve every one of the problems that we discussed today. So again, President Putin, thank you very much. So then, you know, they finished their statements and it was time to take questions from the press.

Mr. President, you tweeted this morning that it's U.S. foolishness, stupidity, and the Mueller probe that is responsible for the decline in U.S. relations with Russia. President Trump is asked by Jeff Mason, the reporter for Reuters. Do you hold Russia at all accountable for anything in particular? And if so, what would you consider them that they are responsible for? Yes, I do. I hold both countries responsible. And the president essentially says no. I think that the United States has been foolish. I think we've all been foolish. We should have had this

dialogue a long time ago, a long time, frankly, before I got to office. And I think we're all to blame. He doesn't take the opportunity again to take Putin to task for anything. I think that the probe is a disaster for our country. Then he kind of pivots from the general to the specific and starts talking about the Mueller probe. I think it's kept us apart. It's kept us separated. There was no collusion at all. Everybody knows it. People are being brought out to the fore. So far that I know, virtually none of it related to the campaign. And they're going to have to try really hard to find somebody that did relate to the campaign. That was a clean campaign. I beat Hillary Clinton easily.

And frankly, we beat her. And I'm not even saying from the standpoint we won that race. And it's a shame that there could even be a little bit of a cloud over it. People know that people understand it. But the main thing and we discussed is also zero collusion. And it has had a negative impact upon the relationship of the two largest nuclear powers in the world. We have 90% of nuclear power between the two countries. It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous what's going on with the probe. You know, that was a pretty striking moment

where, you know, he's, for weeks and months, his advisors have been saying, you know, we are holding Russia accountable for its malign activities. And here's a direct question about, we are holding Russia accountable for its malign activities. And here's a direct question about do you hold Russia accountable for anything? And the president doesn't mention anything. And he's instead blaming the Mueller probe. For President Putin, if I could follow up as well.

And then Putin is asked by the same reporter, the American reporter from Reuters. Why should Americans and why should President Trump believe your statement that Russia did not intervene in the 2016 election, given the evidence that U.S. intelligence agencies have provided? And will you consider extraditing the 12 Russian officials that were indicted last week by a U.S. grand jury? Well, I'm going to let the president answer the second part of that question. And Trump jumps in before Putin has a chance. But as you know, the whole concept of that came up perhaps a little bit before, but it came out as a reason why the Democrats lost an election, which, frankly, they should have been able to win because the Electoral College is much more advantageous for Democrats, as you know, than it is to Republicans. We won the Electoral college by a lot, 306 to 223, I believe. And that was a well-fought battle. We did a great job. And essentially, it's very clear that he thinks this question about 12 Russian officers who are, again, accused of attacking the American electoral

system, that the whole issue is meant to undercut him. He is completely focused on the fact that these people were not affiliated with his campaign. It has nothing to do with him. Just to say it one time again, and I say it all the time, there was no collusion. I didn't know the president. There was nobody to collude with. So he views it through the prism of his own campaign and his election, not the democratic system and the electoral process that was undermined.

Right. We ran a brilliant campaign, and that's why I'm president. Thank you. So then, you know, it's Putin's turn to answer. And at this point, he basically doesn't have to say anything anymore. Trump has already made his case.

As to who is to be believed and who is not to be believed, you can trust no one if you take this. Where did you get this idea that President Trump trusts me or I trust him? He defends the interests of the United States of America, and I do defend the interests of the Russian Federation. And he essentially says, you know, there's no proof. We should be guided by facts. Could you name a single fact that would

definitively prove the collusion? This is utter nonsense. Just like the president recently mentioned. Like, just listen to your own president. He just denied that we did this. So, you know. Don't take my word for it. encounters are about message and what's said in public and what is seen in public. And the spectacle of the two of them up there, both defending Russia and essentially rolling their eyes and calling ridiculous the basis of a federal investigation that's been legitimized by the entire intelligence community of the United States was something. Right. Okay.

The final question from the United States, we'll go to Jonathan Lemire from the AP. The second American question, the final American question was from the Associated Press reporter, and he basically just put it to President Trump very directly. Who do you believe? Just now, President Putin denied having anything to do with the election interference in 2016. Every U.S. intelligence agency has concluded that Russia did. My first question for you, sir, is who do you believe? My second question is, would you now, with the whole world watching,

tell President Putin, would you denounce what happened in 2016, and would you warn him to never do it again? This is kind of the final chance for Trump to say something judgmental at all about the Russian interference in the U.S. election in front of the man who directed it. That's right. So let me just say that we have two thoughts. You have groups that are wondering

why the FBI never took the server. And he sort of pivots to this idea of where are Hillary Clinton's emails? What happened to the servers of the Pakistani gentleman that worked on the DNC? Where are those servers? They're missing. Where are they? What happened to Hillary Clinton's emails? 33,000 emails gone, just gone. I think in Russia they wouldn't be gone so easily. And why didn't the FBI gain access to the servers at the DNC that were hacked into? Why was the FBI told to leave the office of the Democratic National Committee? I've been wondering that. I've been asking that for months and months

and I've been tweeting it out and calling it out on social media. Where is the server? And he essentially says, I don't know which to believe. And he kind of indicates that he leans toward Putin. I have President Putin. He just said it's not Russia. I will say this. I don't see any reason why it would be, but I really do want to see the server. But I have I have confidence in both parties. And he said, I have confidence in both parties. Both parties. Both Vladimir Putin and his intelligence officials. So I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today. I mean, it's essentially as if he's making excuses for Putin,

who's sitting there smirking and looks like feeling very good about himself. Julie, what is the reaction in the room at this moment? I mean, what is it like to be in that room as the president of the United States rejects his own country's version of events in favor of Russia's, this country that we are accusing of having done this? I think that it took everyone's breath away. I mean, some of these things are things that we have heard the president say snippets of before.

But it's a very different thing for him to be on foreign soil with the president of Russia and undercutting his whole administration and his whole government. So I think, you know, there was a lot of looking around at each other like, is this really happening? Right. And what does this actually mean? And at a certain point, after that last question was asked and he did not take the side of the United States, it was almost like the oxygen had been sucked out of the room. It was just very hushed.

Julie, the whole time I'm watching this, honestly, I'm just wondering why. Like, genuinely, why would the president do this? What is to be gained for him and for the United States in seeming to side with Russia over his own country and his own government at such a sensitive moment when Russia's role in attacking our free elections is becoming more and more undeniable. Who gains from that? I think it's really hard to say. I don't believe that this was a well-thought-out, well-planned-out reaction that he had to these questions. What we saw was the president being defensive

about something that he considers to be an affront to his legitimacy. And he could not see past that. And it was not, I don't think to him at that moment about national security or the standing of the United States in the world. It was about him and feeling like he was being undermined and undercut and that he could never be as powerful as he wanted to be. He could never have this kind of relationship that he wants to have with Russia as long as this was hanging over him. And I think that he feels on some level that any acknowledgement of what has happened, that it somehow means that he's not a legitimate president. And so he's not willing to do it. Do you think that many of us are sort of misunderstanding this moment? Because I think most of us saw these 12 indictments coming three days before this summit as basically requiring Trump to finally condemn Russia's meddling in the election. that the timing of these indictments is causing Trump to be more inclined to defend Putin

and less willing to criticize him because of the questions that it raises about his election in 2016 and about his legitimacy? I think that's possible. I mean, I think that part of the message from the indictments on Friday, part of the expectation was almost, well, this gives the president a much stronger hand going into these meetings to basically, you know,

throw the document down in front of Putin and say, look, we know this happened. What are we going to do about it? And that it would in some way ease the conversation for him to say, we're holding you accountable. This is what we've got. How are we going to make sure this doesn't happen again? But I think instead, as you say, it almost feels to him like the vice is getting tighter and the narrative that he doesn't like that Russia helped him to win the election is gaining ground because these indictments are so clear and detailed about how it happened. And instead of kind of strengthening his hand, which it would have done for any other American president in this position, I think he felt that it undercut him even further.

And so he's even less willing to acknowledge that there's anything to hold Russia accountable for. A question for President Putin, thank you. So how does this summit finally end, Julie? Well, so President Putin has asked... Do you, does the Russian government have any compromising material on President Trump or his family? And he kind of pauses while the translation goes through and laughs and kind of roll his eyes. And he said, yeah, I've heard those rumors.

Well, distinguished colleague, let me tell you this. When President Trump visited Moscow back then, I didn't even know that he was in Moscow. It's nothing. Well, it's difficult to imagine another nonsense of a bigger scale than this. Well, please just disregard these issues and don't think about this anymore again. So at that point, Trump jumps back in. And the last thing he says is, if Putin had anything on me. It would have been out long ago. And if anybody watched Peter Strzok testify over the last couple of days, and I was in Brussels watching it, it was a disgrace to the FBI.

It was a disgrace to our country. And you would say that was a total witch hunt. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. And then he turned on his heel and he walked out. So President Trump's final words on this historic day at the end of this summit is that the Mueller investigation, which just indicted 12 of Putin's officials for hacking the United States election, was a total witch hunt. Yes. Julie, thank you very much. Thank you, Michael. We'll be right back. Here's what else you need to know today.

As we mentioned, there is considerable consternation on Capitol Hill about the president's comments today. Many lawmakers from both parties were stunned and even angered by what they heard at the Helsinki summit, with some suggesting President Trump was outfoxed. In the hours after the summit on Monday, both Democratic and Republican lawmakers expressed shock over Trump's remarks. We do now have a statement just in from Senator John McCain. I want to read it to you in its entirety because it is a powerful statement. Senator McCain says, Today's press conference in Helsinki was one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory. Senator McCain went on to say, No prior president has ever abased himself

more abjectly before a tyrant. Not only did President Trump fail to speak the truth about an adversary, but speaking for America to the world, our president failed to defend all that makes us who we are, a republic of free people dedicated to the cause of liberty at home and abroad. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer demanded congressional hearings about the summit, imploring his Republican colleagues to join him. For the president of the United States to side with President Putin against American law enforcement, American defense officials, American intelligence agencies, is thoughtless,

it's dangerous, it's weak. The president is putting himself over our country. The president is putting himself over our country. But Republican leaders refrained from criticizing the president directly. Instead, they said they trusted the U.S. government over Putin. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters that, quote, The Russians are not our friends. And I have complete confidence in our intelligence community and the findings that they have announced. And in its latest prosecution

against a Russian national, the FBI has charged a 29-year-old woman with carrying out a secret Russian effort to influence American politics, including two attempts to broker a meeting between President Trump and President Putin during the 2016 campaign. The FBI alleges that at the behest of a senior Russian official, the woman, Maria Butina, made connections through groups like the

National Rifle Association to try to steer the Republican Party toward more pro-Russian policies. That's it for The Daily. I'm Michael Barbaro. See you tomorrow.