[ad_1]
Washington – In the midst of controversy over the Helsinki summit, Donald Trump said Thursday he had invited Vladimir Putin to Washington in the fall to "continue the dialogue" with the Kremlin's strongman.
Accused by his detractors, but also many of his party's elected officials, to have been too conciliatory with his Russian counterpart, the US president has attacked virulently journalists guilty in his eyes not to have emphasized the " great success " of their face-to-face.
According to White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders, discussions are " already underway " for a new meeting, this time in the US federal capital.
Three days after the meeting that put him at odds with US intelligence agencies because of his procrastination over Russian interference in the presidential election, Donald Trump still struggles to extinguish the fire .
" The summit with Russia was a great success, except for the real enemy of the people, the media + Fake News + ," he tweeted, resuming a particularly aggressive expression that he had already used in 2017.
" I look forward to our second meeting so that we can begin to put in place some of the things we talked about ," he added, citing, pell-mell, the fight against terrorism, " security for Israel ", cyberattacks, trade, Ukraine, peace in the Middle East or North Korea.
Remarkably, Mr. Putin had, a few hours earlier, also denounced criticism of Mr. Trump, stigmatizing the " forces " in the United States " willing to sacrifice relations Russian-Americans to their ambitions ".
The Kremlin leader, pleading for a strengthening of contacts between the two major nuclear powers, recalled that the Treaty for the Reduction of the Number of Nuclear Weapons between Russia and the United States, New START, was due to expire in 2021
– " A Bad Week " –
In Washington, critics were still alive, both on the summit and the days that followed.
" As far as Russia is concerned, it has been a bad week and it is imperative that (Donald Trump) understands that he miscalculated Putin ," said Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator yet often in step with the billionaire.
On Thursday afternoon, the White House tried to close one of the many controversies born out of the now famous press conference on the Baltic.
million. Putin then proposed to allow Washington to interrogate 12 Russian intelligence agents indicted in the United States for interference in the election, but on the condition of a " reciprocity " on suspected Americans " of illegal activities ".
The case escalated when Russian justice said Tuesday it wanted to interrogate eleven Americans, including the former US ambassador to Moscow (2012-2014) Michael McFaul, appointed by former Democratic President Barack Obama.
After casting doubt on Wednesday, which sparked a new storm in the US federal capital, executive spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the president was " no agreement "with this proposal.
The Trump / Putin tete-a-tête, which lasted about two hours, is now the subject of intense conjecture. Some elected officials even asked that the interpreter of the American president be questioned by the Congress.
Rarely did US intelligence chief Dan Coats stepped up to defend the work of his teams after Trump's remarks – about which he has partially returned since – questioning the interference Russian.
According to a CBS News poll released on Thursday, only one-third (32%) of Americans approve of the way Donald Trump managed the Helsinki meeting. In the Republican camp, however, the approval rate rises to 68%.
Meanwhile, the American president faces another controversy after calling Montenegro " tiny country (…) with very strong people, very aggressive ".
Montenegro, who joined Nato in the spring of 2017 to the great displeasure of Moscow, responded by stating that he contributed " peace and stability, not only on the European continent but in the whole world ".
Podgorica in particular emphasized that he did so notably " alongside American soldiers in Afghanistan ".
Source link
