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HELSINKI (AP) – A face-to-face encounter with a feared enemy. Endless media hype.
Although President Donald Trump has twice met Russian Vladimir Putin, he is eager to recreate in Finland the exhilarating experience he had last month with North Korean leader Kim Jong One in Singapore: a summit turned into a full media event with powerful presidential images. Always the showman and insisting on establishing closer ties with Moscow, Trump overthrew his advisers and demanded rituals and the pageantry of a formal summit.
Trump had boasted to confidants of the number of cameras in Singapore, claiming the Oscar's dwarf cover, according to a person familiar with his thinking, but not allowed to discuss private conversations and so spoke under conditionality. # 39; anonymity. Although Trump initially expressed his concern that Helsinki was not glamorous enough and preferred to welcome Putin to the White House, the president was reassured by his assistants that this would be an effective backdrop. And having long believed in the power of personal relationships, he urged aides that it was essential to sit down with Putin to draw up a report.
"He was very kind to me every time I met him.He is a competitor," Trump said about Putin last week in Brussels. "You know, someone said:" Is he an enemy? "No, he's not my enemy." Is he a friend? "No, I do not know him well enough."
With his experience as a salesman and salesman, Trump has long been convinced that his mastery of powerful images was essential to his political ascent. The president told councilors that Singapore's diplomacy made him look like a president in charge. And he did not lose sight of the fact that his survey numbers received a temporary bump after the meeting.
With the same attention to detail that he devoted to campaign ads, Trump inspired many looks for his encounter with Kim, including both the initial greeting and the handshake of the leaders and, more late, their tete-a-tete. At one point, he scared off the secret service by giving Kim an impromptu tour of some mighty American machines – the presidential limousine known as "The Beast".
Although the results of the North Korea summit are questionable, Trump believed that it was a master stroke, according to three outside advisors and White House officials. They spoke under the guise of anonymity because they were not allowed to discuss private conversations.
Still in favor of the audacious gambits that separated him from his predecessors, Trump believed that the historic meeting with Kim was potentially his ticket to a Nobel Peace Prize. become an essential part of his legacy. While the summits with Russian leaders are much more common, Trump thinks that a similar boost could happen if he could improve relations with Moscow and get Putin to make concessions ever obtained by the president. Barack Obama
. Would you leave Syria? Said Trump in an interview with Fox News last month. & # 39; & # 39; Will you do me a favor? Do you want to get out of Ukraine? & # 39; "
And while Singapore's imagery made the idea of Putin's summit a lot more enticing, Trump was already eager to set up a one-on-one meeting, even with the risks incurred by an experienced leader who is also a former KGB official
The President met with Putin on the sidelines of international summits last year – once in Germany, once in Vietnam – and the two he invited his Russian counterpart to the White House, according to three current and former administrative officials.He reiterated the invitation during an appeal with Putin this spring and first told the assistants that he wanted to have the meeting at the White House.
He was then convinced to do so abroad. "Initially concerned that Helsinki was not an appropriate place, Trump gave in after being informed of the history of the summits Russian-Americans in Finland and after seeing that it could be scheduled after a visit to one of its golf courses in Scotland, according to the three
But many in Washington are wary of the summit that is Produced anywhere, believing that by agreeing to meet, Trump has offered greater global legitimacy to Putin, who will chair the World Cup final in Moscow the day before the summit. Assists argued to Trump that the chances of substantial progress on a host of thorny issues, including Syria and Ukraine, are slim.
Long-time American allies and White House aides expressed their concerns about the meeting. Hovering over Helsinki is the specter of the 2016 election interference and the ongoing special council investigation into the possibility of collusion between Trump campaign officials and Russia. The president called on the president to cancel the summit after the indictment Friday of 12 Russian intelligence officers accused of hacking Democrats for the purpose of helping Donald Trump
"If the President Trump is not ready to make Putin responsible, in Helsinki should not go ahead, "said Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona.
But the White House has insisted that the meeting was open Trump has repeatedly questioned the conclusion that Russia was behind the hacking and often ridiculed the inquiry of Special Adviser Robert Mueller on the possible links between Russia and his campaign as a "witch hunt." But he said in Britain that he would raise the election by mingling with Putin while minimizing his impact.
"I do not think you will have "Gee, I've done it.", A declared Trump Friday, citing a television detective. "There will not be any Perry Mason here, I do not think so, but you never know what's going on, but I'll ask the question firmly."
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Colvin reported from Glasgow, Scotland.
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Follow Lemire on Twitter at http://twitter.com/@JonLemire and Colvin at http://twitter.com/@colvinj
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