Trump and Putin have 'robust' talk about election interference Secretary of State Tillerson says Putin again denied that Russia meddled in last year's election.

HAMBURG – After months of questioning whether Moscow interfered in the 2016 presidential election, President Donald Trump raised the explosive topic Friday in his first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the men had a “robust and lengthy exchange” on the question of Russian meddling. But Putin denied any involvement, Tillerson said, adding that the Russians had asked for proof that they were to blame for the campaign of cyberattacks—and the secretary of state stressed the need for the two countries to “move forward.”


“It’s not clear to me that we will ever come to some agreed-upon resolution,” said Tillerson, who joined the Trump-Putin meeting along with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov. He added that improving the U.S.-Russia relationship is “too important not to find a way forward.”

But the Associated Press reported that Lavrov said after the meeting that Trump had accepted Putin’s assurances that the Kremlin had not sought to interfere in the 2016 election—and Putin himself didn’t mention it at all in a brief comment as he moved to his next event, with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe: “I had a very long conversation with the President of the United States. Many issues have piled up: Ukraine, Syria, other problems, some bilateral issues, and once again the fight against terrorism and security measures.”

The back-and-forth did little to lift the cloud that’s hung over Trump since he took office in January—or to clarify whether Trump’s desire for a better relationship with Putin, whom he praised effusively on the campaign trail, will be realized.

The meeting between the two ran more than four times as long as the 30 minutes it had been scheduled for, despite the interruptions of aides—and was interrupted by first lady Melania Trump, who Tillerson said made a fruitless bid to break up the meeting between Putin and her husband.

Breaking News Alerts Get breaking news when it happens — in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

“I think they sent the First Lady in to get us to stop, and that didn’t work,” Tillerson joked. “We went another hour after she came in to see us.”

“There was such a level of exchange and engagement, neither of them wanted to stop,” Tillerson said. “There was so much to talk about… Just about everything got touched on.”

As Trump and Putin met, the Associated Press reported that their nations had brokered the ceasefire in Syria, where Russia has backed dictator Bashar al-Assad and the U.S. has supported rebel groups fighting to oust him.

Tillerson confirmed the agreement but provided few details, saying that some, such as what security forces would enforce it, were still being worked out. Some former U.S. officials expressed initial skepticism about the ceasefire’s feasibility.

Tillerson called the agreement “our first indication of the U.S. and Russia being able to work together in Syria.”

He suggested the ceasefire would be a first step toward larger cooperation, saying Trump and Putin held a “lengthy discussion” on ways to “de-escalate the violence once we defeat ISIS” and to facilitate a political transition that Tillerson said would require Assad and his family to relinquish power.

Trump began his Friday meeting with Putin by telling him that “it’s an honor to be with you” as the two leaders kicked off their much-anticipated bilateral meeting.

Russian government-controlled Sputnik News reported Friday afternoon that Putin, at the start of a later meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, said he and Trump had discussed “a lot of issues such as Ukraine, Syria, other problems, some bilateral issues,” as well as combating terrorism and cybersecurity.

“President Putin and I have been discussing various things, and I think it’s going very well. We’ve had some very, very good talks. We are going to have a talk now and obviously that will continue,” Trump said as photographers snapped photos of the two presidents, whose meeting took place at the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany. “But we look forward to a lot of very positive things happening for Russia, for the United States and for everybody concerned, and it’s an honor to be with you.”

Putin, through a translator, echoed his U.S. counterpart’s friendly welcome and said he and Trump “will really need personal meetings” to resolve certain policy issues.

“We have spoken on the phone with you several times before on very important bilateral and international issues. But phone conversation is never enough,” Putin said. “I’m delighted to be able to meet you personally, Mr. President. And I hope, as you have said, our meeting will yield positive result.”

Before the scheduled bilateral meeting Friday, Trump and Putin had already spoken briefly on the sidelines of the G-20 summit, The Associated Press reported. A video of a brief encounter between the two leaders shows them shaking hands and Trump patting Putin on the forearm and on the back.

Friday marked the first meeting between the two men since Trump’s election, with the backdrop of a campaign and presidency that have been fraught with reports that the Russian government sought to interfere in the presidential race to aid Trump’s candidacy as well as allegations that individuals close to Trump may have aided the Kremlin in its efforts.

Russia has denied those allegations and Trump has suggested only that Russia may have been to blame, stopping short of the certainty with which the intelligence community has leveled the charge. Trump is also facing an FBI investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into the alleged meddling and into whether Trump tried to obstruct justice as the probe advanced.

Congressional Democrats were quick to criticize the administration’s engagement with Putin.

“For Secretary Tillerson to say that this issue will remain unresolved is disgraceful,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement. “To give equal credence to the findings of the American Intelligence Community and the assertion by Mr. Putin is a grave dereliction of duty and will only encourage Russia to further interfere in our elections in the future.”

It was not clear from Tillerson’s remarks whether Trump explicitly endorsed the intelligence community’s finding that the Kremlin sought to influence the 2016 election. Tillerson said that Trump has “rais[ed] the concerns of the American people about Russian interference,” but did not say that Trump accepted those concerns as fact.

Just yesterday in Poland, Trump said at a press conference that “nobody really knows for sure” who stole and released private emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton campaign.

Hours before his meeting with Putin, Trump wrote online that “I look forward to all meetings today with world leaders, including my meeting with Vladimir Putin. Much to discuss.” Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin, too, was looking forward to the meeting.

