Hour-Long Nighttime Meeting Kept From Media

PresidentÂ Donald Trump held a highly-anticipated meeting with President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 in HamburgÂ earlier this month. That meeting, scheduled to last 30 minutes, lasted two and a quarter hours.

But as it turns out, there was a second, secret meeting between the U.S. and Russian leaders later at the G-20, and the White House kept it a secret. Why?

American political scientist Ian Bremmer, a U.S. foreign policy expert and president and founder of theÂ Eurasia Group, tells Bloomberg News (video above, apologies â€“Â size not configurable) of the second meeting that was held on the “sidelines” at the G-20.

Trump-Putin had a 2nd private discussion at the G20…for an hour. Really? Really. I discuss with @CharlieRose. https://t.co/nBiBqPUSXK â€” ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) July 18, 2017

“The first thing I thought of when I heard it was the fact when [Attorney General Jeff] Sessions was having these meetings with [Russian Foreign Minister Sergey] Kislyak, that weren’t ‘meetings’ because they were in broader meetings, but were ‘pull asides,’ so you don’t really need to talk about it, but it turns out, that’s where they’re conducting business,” Bremmer says. “That’s kind of what this sounds like.”

Bremmer also noted that there was no “clear read out of what was said from either side,” after the first meeting, but “then on top of that, you have an hour that evening, that no one’s even heard of.”

Until now.

NBC News’ Dafna Linzer confirmed the meeting with the White House:

White House official confirms to @kwelkernbc Trump and Putin spoke privately on the margins of a G-20 dinner. Was previously undisclosed. https://t.co/hqULLe2KYS â€” Dafna Linzer (@DafnaLinzer) July 18, 2017

It turns out that second meeting was between just Putin, Trump, and Putin’s translator. There does not seem to be any record of what was said.

“We clearly know that Trump doesn’t care what the media has to say about his desire to have a close relationshipÂ with the RussianÂ presidentÂ â€“ and what drives it.”

Bremmer says of all the foreign leaders Trump has met,Â “clearly his best personal relationship”Â is with Putin.

“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 nice’ and be close to each other,” Bremmer told Bloomberg’s Charlie Rose in an interviewed that aired Tuesday.

During his officialÂ meeting with Putin Trump says he twice asked Putin about interfering in the U.S. election, and said Putin denied it. Russia said Trump accepted Putin’s denials.

In his Bloomberg interview, Bremmer also says it “seems clear there were many people around Trump, some high-level, that were compromised by the Russians.”Â

Some responses via Twitter:

Politico cybersecurity reporter offers a sarcastic take:

Trump relying on Putin’s translator is definitely not weird https://t.co/HiXgT60Q9d â€” Eric Geller (@ericgeller) July 18, 2017

Obama foreign policy advisor:

Obama White House used to read out these types of interactions with Putin at Summits given the public interest. https://t.co/81MGkQ67x4 â€” Ben Rhodes (@brhodes) July 18, 2017

Others:

Who tells other people about their six month performance review? https://t.co/Zzvnyfefs3 â€” Matt Ortega (@MattOrtega) July 18, 2017

It’s almost like the Russians have something on the Trumps that makes the Trumps not want to reveal meetings they have with Russians. â€” Bob Mueller’s Glare (@PolPOTUS2017) July 18, 2017

The Trump White House is holding undisclosed meetings with Putin himself. We all knew it would come to this eventually. https://t.co/MMJQKPT4hN â€” Ned Price (@nedprice) July 18, 2017

NSC spox didn’t say how long Trump/Putin conversation lasted & declined to provide details, citing fact that no staff were present â€” David Wright (@DavidWright_CNN) July 18, 2017

Incredible detail: Trump relied on Putinâ€™s translator, no US note taker. Akin to Jaredâ€™s back channel via Russian facilities https://t.co/NiYAwlUbay â€” David Frum (@davidfrum) July 18, 2017

UPDATE: 6:00 PM EDT â€“

Bremmer weighs in on Twitter:

Readout from Trump Admin on what was/wasn’t discussed in official meeting w Putin useless when there was 1 hour convo off books that eve. â€” ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) July 18, 2017

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