"President Trump spoke with many leaders during the course of the evening," reads the statement. "As the dinner was concluding, President Trump went over to Mrs. Trump, where he spoke briefly with President Putin."

"The insinuation that the White House has tried to 'hide' a second meeting is false, malicious and absurd," continues the statement. "It is not merely perfectly normal, it is part of a President's duties, to interact with world leaders."

Nevertheless, the circumstances of the meeting as well as the initial decision by White House officials not to disclose it have again drawn scrutiny to Trump's relationship with Moscow.

"You have an hour that evening that no one's even heard of," said Bremmer in an interviewing airing on Bloomberg and PBS. "We clearly know that Trump does not care what the media has to say about his desire to have a close, personal relationship with the Russian president, and what drives it."

He continued: "Never in my life as a political scientist have I seen two countries, major countries, with a constellation of national interests that are as dissonant, while the two leaders seem to be doing everything possible to make nice and be close to each other."

Watch the full interview here.

There is no official government record of the meeting. Ben Rhodes, a former national security adviser for former President Barack Obama, said that the previous administration had a policy of disclosing such interactions.