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Four days later, a dearth of information from this scrupulous meeting has spread not only to the media, but to Trump administration officials, who are still working to determine which agreements, where applicable, have been concluded between the two officers. As Trump and his badistants spent another day cleaning up the political mess created by Trump's remarks after the meeting, questions about what happened inside the private conversations only came up [19659002]. Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, one day after telling reporters that the White House was considering Putin's proposal to question Americans in exchange for help for the investigation of Russia, Trump said "disagree" with this idea. "incredible offer."
How Trump responded in real time to Putin's suggestion is unknown. Sitting for more than two hours under the golden chandeliers of Helsinki's Gothic Presidential Palace, Trump and Putin focused on a range of topics, from Syria to nuclear weapons to electoral interference.
But the precise nature of these discussions has not been revealed. No US official provided a detailed reading of the meeting, which took place with only two interpreters as witnesses. The White House said Wednesday that a recording of the session did not exist.
But Trump's own intelligence chief could not rule out the possibility that Russia had recorded the meeting.
"I do not know what happened when From this meeting, I think the time has pbaded and the President has already mentioned some things that have happened. "" I think we'll learn more, but it's the President's prerogative, "says Coats.
"If he asked me how it should go, I would have suggested a different way, but that's not my role," The coats continued. is not my job, that's what it is. "
Kremlin claiming that" verbal agreements were made "
Meanwhile, the Kremlin has issued vague statements on "verbal agreements"
"On the whole, this has been successful and has resulted in productive agreements," he said. "We will have to wait and see, of course, what turn the events will take, especially as some forces in America are trying to downplay and disavow the results of the Helsinki summit."
Trump, meanwhile, complained that the meeting did not attract more attention. But his badistants did not inform the reporters about the content of the discussion beyond a list of topics on the surface.
"I do not care what they covered," Trump criticized during an interview with CBS News on Wednesday. "They did not cover my meeting, the most important thing was the meeting that lasted two and a half hours or almost two and a half hours, and during that meeting we discussed a lot of things that were very, very positive for both countries. "
The very content of these talks was still a mystery to many officials on Thursday.Trump was scheduled to lunch with State Secretary Mike Pompeo at noon, where the meeting was likely to be discussed, according to a senior administration official Trump's agenda also included a closed meeting with Defense Secretary James Mattis
The cabinet was still largely in the dark
But an official meeting for Trump set out the content of the discussion with members of
Senior officials traveling with Trump in Helsinki, including Pompeo, National Security Advisor John Bolton and the head of Staff John Kelly, received a quick lecture from the president about the meeting after, according to a person familiar with the subject.
A senior White House badociate said that at least two Administration officials had so far received details about what Trump and Putin had discussed.
Back from Finland, Trump focused more on the mediocre reaction of the press at his press conference than on the content of his talks with Putin, according to one official. Talks between President and Air Force One badistants focused on controlling political fallout rather than implementing any agreements
The administration officials downplayed the lack of information that emerges from Trump's meeting with Putin, suggesting that Trump's free nature means that everything said during the session will probably not be considered ruthless.
The lack of information on the meeting at the White House and the lack of concrete instructions on the implementation of policy changes have little significance for what Trump and Putin have discussed.
A senior State Department official stated that neither the administration nor its allies felt the "crisis climate" described in the media or by legislators on Capitol Hill
"Our relationship with Russia and our positions are the same today, they were the 15th, "said the official. "The meeting in Helsinki was an opportunity to see where the relationship could go in the future."
A Western diplomat predicted that Trump's commitments to Putin's summit would not result in any tangible change in US policy towards Russia. The diplomat said that "nothing will come out of this summit" because Trump never addresses what comes out of meetings with world leaders.
But Trump reported Thursday that more concrete plans could come, stating that he is looking forward to a second meeting to implement the ideas they discussed, including peace and security in the Middle East for Israel, which could be a reference to an agreement on Syria
]
Sanders said that talks were underway between the White House and the Kremlin on a possible meeting in Washington, scheduled for the day. ;autumn.
"I look forward to our second meeting so we can start putting in" Trump tweeted. "
Told the invitation during his television interview Thursday, Coats replied with surprise.
"Say that again?" He said, "Okay. It's going to be special. "
Russia also said that it was ready to continue the agreements concluded by Putin and Trump "in the field of international security". "The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation is ready for the practical implementation of agreements reached between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump in the field of international security reached in Helsinki. "The Russian Army" is ready to intensify contacts with the American colleagues of the General Staff and other available channels to discuss the extension of the Russian army "said General Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for the Russian army, the START treaty, cooperation in Syria, as well as other issues related to military security," Konashenkov said.
"We have not received any specific direction at this stage," said General Joseph Votel, chief of the US Central Command, who oversees US troops in the region, told reporters at the Pentagon via a videoconference . he was "unaware" of talks between the United States, Russia and Israel that would seek to lure American forces into Syria in return for Russian guarantees to drive away Iranian forces and the groups backed by the government. Iran from the Israeli-Syrian border region. 1965-19002] "I'm not aware of any big market discussion or anything like that," Votel said.
At the state department, spokeswoman Heather Nauert dismissed discussions of "agreements" and said Wednesday We are currently proposing a high-level working group consisting of business leaders from both countries , bringing together a board of experts from political scientists, diplomats, former diplomats and former US and Russia; and that the US and Russian national security councils meet to discuss follow-up meetings.
The potential for realizing these ideas remains unknown.
"The Russians are going to advertise that they have signed important agreements, who knows when we will learn these agreements," said Tom Countryman, the former badistant. Secretary of State for Nonproliferation who served in the Obama administration. "Even if you believe the worst about Trump and what he's accepted, it's unlikely that he'll be able to express to his team what he's accepted." "
Some lawmakers hoped that Congress could push the White House to clarify the Trump-Putin meeting, which lasted more than 90 minutes. This included efforts to compel the only other American in the meeting to testify: the interpreter Marina Gross, whose translation notes could be the only US record of the talks.
But Republican lawmakers said on Thursday that it was not enough. was "not appropriate" to badign Gross, an employee of the Department of State. [19659002"WehaveexamineditindepthinourofficeIamsorry"saidtheBobbyCorkerthejournalistfortheCapitole"Ifyouaregoingtoharmhell"
Corker, the chairman of the Senate External Relations Committee, continued: "I know that in this particular case, the person was a direct employee but if we go to start getting translator's notes, I think we're moving to a precedent that – unless a crime has been committed – is unprecedented and just not appropriate. "
Even though Gross had to provide his notes to the legislators, they are unlikely to understand a complete accounting of the meeting. Professional interpreters are not responsible for documenting meetings for posterity; their notes are meant to facilitate translation rather than fact checking after the fact.
Legislators 'threats to summon the interpreter constituted only part of the legislators' badault on Shahira Knight, the new legislative director of the House of Commons. white.
The outgoing legislative leader, Marc Short, is preparing to leave on Friday and pbades his responsibilities this week to Knight. The upheaval of Capitol Hill over Helsinki comes at a time when the legislative shop is "in limbo," said a White House aide.
Kelly and Vice President Mike Pence responded to several calls from Trump legislators and allies. Controversy. The president also took calls; he repeatedly spoke with Senator Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, before declaring Tuesday that he was misspelt, said one person who knew their conversations well
. House will handle legislation related to Russia Lawmakers are considering possible responses to the disorder of Helsinki. A White House spokesman said officials have internal discussions on what to do about potential bills as some are growing in size.
Sarah Westwood and Ryan Browne of CNN contributed to this report.
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