- Title: Trump, Putin held a second, undisclosed meeting at G20 summit
- Date: 18th July 2017
- Summary: HAMBURG, GERMANY (JULY 7, 2017) (RUSSIAN POOL) RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN AND U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP SEATED; TRUMP TELLING PUTIN (English): "NICE TO BE WITH YOU." RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER, SERGEI LAVROV, SEATED NEXT TO PUTIN AND TRUMP SEATED NEXT TO U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE REX TILLERSON PUTIN SMILING / TRUMP SPEAKING
- Embargoed: 1st August 2017 23:58
- Keywords: Donald Trump Vladimir Putin G20 second meeting Ian Bremmer Eurasia Group
- Location: HAMBURG, GERMANY / NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- City: HAMBURG, GERMANY / NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- Country: Various
- Topics: G20,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0016Q8X553
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a second, previously undisclosed conversation during a dinner for G20 leaders at a summit earlier this month in Germany, a White House official confirmed on Tuesday (July 18).
The two leaders held a formal two-hour bilateral meeting on July 7 in which Trump later said Putin denied allegations that he directed efforts to meddle in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
The White House official did not say how long the second meeting took place or what was discussed.
The second conversation between Trump and Putin took place during a dinner for the Group of 20 heads of state and their spouses in Hamburg, said Ian Bremmer, the president of political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, who was first to report the meeting in a note to clients.
Television coverage of the dinner showed that first lady Melania Trump was seated next to Putin.
Bremmer said Trump got up from his seat halfway through dinner and spent about an hour talking "privately and animatedly" with Putin, "joined only by Putin's own translator."
The lack of a U.S. translator raised eyebrows among other leaders at the dinner, said Bremmer, who called it a "breach of national security protocol."
Trump is under intense scrutiny by Congress and a special counsel investigating Russian interference into the 2016 presidential election, and probing whether Trump's campaign had ties to the activity. Trump has denied collusion between his campaign and Moscow.
"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 said on the Charlie Rose TV program. "That's what people don't understand."
In a tweet late on Tuesday, Trump said: "Fake News story of secret dinner with Putin is "sick." All G 20 leaders, and spouses, were invited by the Chancellor of Germany. Press knew!" - Copyright Holder: POOL (CAN SELL)
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