Trump's top adviser is invited by Putin invitation, says 'That's going to be special'

WASHINGTON-President Donald Trump plans to invite President Vladimir Putin of Russia to visit Washington in the fall, the White House said Thursday – an invitation that stunned the nation's top intelligence official, who said he was still groping for details of what the

"Say that again," the director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, when Andrea Mitchell of NBC broke the news while interviewing at a security conference in Aspen, Colorado . "OK," said Coats, taking a deep breath and chuckling awkwardly. "That's going to be special."

The announcement came out of the White House. Syria and Ukraine, leaving his military and diplomatic body in the dark.

Yielding to intense criticism, Trump rejected a proposal by Putin for Russia to question US citizens, including a former ambassador to Moscow, Michael McFaul, in return for giving United States access to 12 Russian military intelligence officers indicted on the subject of sabotage the 2016 presidential election.

Two hours after the press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, issued that reversal, she said on Twitter that Trump had asked his national security adviser, John Bolton, to invite Putin, framing the decision as part of a dialogue that began in Helsinki and would continue at lower levels until the Russi President to Washington.

But to Coats, who has been at odds with Trump about whether or not to mediate in the election, the prospect of another one-on-one encounter is clearly rattling. He said he would "look for a different way of doing it," and expressed frustration that "Trump had had the opportunity to meet".

, "Coats said. "I would have suggested a different way. But that's not my role; that's not my job. So, it is what it is. "

Coats said he expected details of the meeting to trickle out in the coming weeks. But with Trump not giving a full account, some officials worry that the Russians now control the narrative. On Thursday, Bloomberg News reported that Putin told diplomats that he proposed to Trump holding a referendum to help resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Inundated with questions, the White House has been unable to or unwilling to respond. A spokesman for the National Security Council said: "Presidents Trump and Putin discussed a wide range of national security issues in Helsinki. The US position on Ukraine remains the same. "

(The Justice Department, for its part, on Thursday described its plan for countering cyberattacks and foreign influence campaigns, like Russia's effort to intervene in the 2016 election.)

In tweet Thursday morning, Trump said he looked forward to a second meeting with Putin. "He listed Ukraine, Israel 's security, nuclear proliferation, trade, North Korea and Middle East peace.

At the Pentagon, Trump 's reference to Ukraine, who has tried to reassure skittish European allies that the United States will stand with them to prevent

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National Security Council for Trump. The lack of information clearly frustrated Gen. Joseph Votel, the head of the US Central Command, at a news conference Thursday.

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] If there was confusion about the future of Ukraine and Syria, there were some signs of deception over the past few years. "Putin that he turns over Americans to Russia as part of a politically motivated case against Bill Browder, a US-born financier

"Yeah, that's not going to happen," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, "scheduled to air Friday. "The administration is not going to send, force to be questioned by Vladimir Putin and his team."

Trump had praised the proposal Monday as an "incredible offer." Two days later, Sanders said he still

But senior officials recoiled at the idea of ​​turning Americans over to Russia; one help insisted that the idea had not gained traction in the government. A parade of Prominent Diplomats and Other Forms of Contempt (19659002) Sanders said in a statement, "It is a proposition that was made in sincerity by President Putin, but President Trump disagrees with it. Hopefully, President Putin will have the 12 identified Russians come to the United States to prove their innocence or guilt. "

Under the deal floated by Putin, Russia would have allowed the special counsel, Robert Mueller, to question the 12 intelligence officers In the case of the United States, the United States and the United States, the United States and the United States of America (19659002)

Among those on the list is McFaul, a Stanford professor and Russia scholar who served in the White House and as ambassador to Russia under President Barack Obama, as well as current officials of the State Department, Department of Homeland Security and the intelligence agencies.

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McFaul was critical of Putin and the Russian government during his tour in Moscow, and he has continued to write and speak about Russia. He described the proposal as "absolutely outrageous," and said it was an attempt to intimidate him.

Clinton, a former secretary of state, said on Twitter: "Ambassador McFaul is a patriot who spent his career standing up for America. To see the White House to be a diplomat is deeply troubling. "

Four Democrats in the House of Representatives call for resolution that the White House reject Putin's proposal. "That President Trump would even consider training to form an ambassador to Putin and his cronies for interrogation is bewildering," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., The minority leader.

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Legal experts said Trump had no authority to turn Americans for questioning. The United States does not have an extradition treaty with Russia. Under the law of the United States, the United States of America, the United States, may be a politically motivated member of the United States of America. (1965) FOLLOWS.)

Still, the names on Russia 's list offered to tell the truth about Putin' s grudges and how he might have tried to appeal to Trump.

They include David Kramer, a former adviser to the State Department, now at the McCain Institute for International Leadership; Jonathan Winer, a trainer helps form Secretary of State John Kerry; and Todd Hyman, an official in the Department of Homeland Security.

What is the subject of these lawsuits? The Magnitsky Act, a law passed by Congress in 2012 that blacklisted Russian officials involved human rights abuses. It was named for Sergei L. Magnitsky, a lawyer and auditor who worked for Browder and died after being beaten in his prison cell.

Other people on the list have links to Christopher Steele, the British, who is an intelligence officer who compiled a dossier claiming that the Russian government had compromising information about Trump and had

Winer, who was special envoy for Libya during the Obama administration, is a lawyer for Browder who knew Steele from his work at the State Department. In September 2016, he circulated a two-page summary of Steele's findings within the State Department.

Before the White House's statement, Winer said: "This is about harassment and intimidation by two people who wish to manipulate rule of law to go after one another's opponents. It is going to be a very important thing in the United States, it will go nowhere. "