The US and Russian leaders opened an historic summit in Helsinki, with Donald Trump promising an “extraordinary relationship” and Vladimir Putin saying it was high time to thrash out disputes around the world.
/ AFP PHOTO / Yuri KADOBNOV
(Eagle News) — US President Donald Trump said he would “rather take a political risk in pursuit of peace” in deciding to push through with his historic summit on Monday, July 16, with Russian President Vladimir Putin despite criticism on the home front.
Trump thanked President Niinisto of Finland for graciously hosting the summit, the first ever official meeting for the two world leaders after previous unofficial talks at the G20 Hamburg and APEC Vietnam summits last year.
In a joint news conference with Putin, Trump said that he was simply continuing “the proud tradition of bold American diplomacy.”
“From the earliest days of our republic, American leaders have understood that diplomacy and engagement is preferable to conflict and hostility,” he said.
-Productive US-Russia dialogue, good for the world, says Trump-
“A productive dialogue is not only good for the United States and good for Russia but it is good for the world,” Trump stressed.
As both Democrats and fellow Republicans blasted him for meeting Putin and for trying to improve relations with the Russian leader, the 72-year old Trump said he had always believed in the “benefits of cooperation” and diplomacy.
“The disagreements between our two countries are well-known and President Putin and I discussed them at length today. But if we’re going to solve many of the problems facing our world, then we’re going to have to find ways to co-operate in pursuit of shared interests,” Trump noted in a joint news conference alongside Putin.
Trump said that the US-Russia relations had “never been worse than it is now”
“However, that changed, as of about four hours ago. I really believe that. Nothing would be easier politically than to refuse to meet, to refuse to engage, but that would not accomplish anything,” he said, addressing critics at home.
“As president, I cannot make decisions on foreign policy in a futile effort to appease partisan critics, or the media, or Democrats who want to do nothing but resist and obstruct,” the controversial US leader said.
-Critics denounce Trump –
Trump faced ire in Washington, where US intelligence officials and senior Republicans were denouncing the president as “shameful” and “disgraceful” after he refused to challenge Russian leader Vladimir Putin over interference in American elections.
Republican Senator John McCain said Trump’s seeming acceptance of Putin’s denial was a historical “low point” for the US presidency and the Helsinki summit between the two leaders a “tragic mistake.”
“Today’s press conference in Helsinki was one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory. The damage inflicted by President Trump’s naivete, egotism, false equivalence, and sympathy for autocrats is difficult to calculate,” McCain said in a blistering statement.
“No prior president has ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant,” McCain said.
But Trump dismissed rabid critics at home, stressing that a “constructive dialogue between the United States and Russia afford the opportunity to open new pathways toward peace and stability in our world.”
“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,” he said.
-Putin: No Russian interference on US elections-
“During today’s meeting, I addressed directly with President Putin the issue of Russian interference in our elections. I felt this was a message best delivered in person. I 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.”
Putin had repeatedly denied that Russia had interfered in the US elections.
He said that he had to “reiterate things I said several times, including during our personal contacts that the Russian state has never interfered and is not going to interfere in the internal American affairs, including the election process.”
“Any specific material, if such things arise, we are ready to analyze together,” he said.
Putin also suggested a “joint working group on cyber security” to study the matter.
“I’d like to add something to this. After all, I was an intelligence officer myself. And I do know how dossiers are made up,” he said.
Putin added that the “final conclusion in this kind of dispute can only be delivered by a trial, by the court. Not by the executive, by the law enforcement.”
-Trump says he believes Putin-
Trump, for his part, said he has no reason to doubt Putin’s strong denial.
“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,” he said as he dared investigators to produce the servers connected to the alleged hacking of Hillary Clinton’s e-mails.
In response to questions from reporters, Trump also said the US probe on the alleged Russian hacking of Clinton’s emails was a “disaster” for the country as it had become a divisive issue.
“I do feel that we have both made some mistakes. I think that the probe is a disaster for our country. 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. They will have to try really hard to find something 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. It’s a shame there could be a cloud over it. People know that. People understand it. The main thing — and we discussed this also — is zero collusion,” Trump said.
(with an Agence France Presse report)