Backlash leaves Trump isolated on US-Russia cooperation

World
Europe

Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump sat down in Helsinki on Monday with a goal of improving Russia-US ties – the presidents sang from the same script, but doing so prompted fury in Washington.

Trump said talks had been "deeply productive," Putin described discussion as "candid and useful."

But the US president flew home to a barrage of bipartisan criticism after appearing to side with Putin over his own intelligence agencies, while the Russian president told Fox News that Western efforts to isolate Moscow had failed.

'Trump First'

Having spent two years saying he wanted to build a relationship with Putin, Trump had his opportunity in Finland.

Why were ties strained? "I think that the United States has been foolish, I think we’ve all been foolish," the US president said, before arguing that the "stupidity" of the "witch hunt" Mueller probe into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 was to blame for a breakdown in relations.

US President Donald Trump during a press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland, July 16, 2018. /VCG Photo

Putin said "yes, I did" want Trump to win the election, because the American had campaigned on resetting US-Russia relations. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton launched an unsuccessful "reset" with Putin during her tenure as secretary of state.

The Russian president again insisted he had no knowledge of election hacking, and described the suggestion of collusion as "utter nonsense." Trump accepted the denial.

"My people came to me, Dan Coats came to me, some others, they said they think it's Russia," Trump said. "I have President Putin, he just said it's not Russia. I will say this, I don't see any reason why it would be."

Coats, the director of national intelligence, later released a statement, not cleared by the White House, reasserting the US intelligence community's assessment and accusing Russia of "ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy."

Pundits on US media described Trump's comments, particularly the apparent siding with Putin over his US intelligence agencies, as a betrayal. "He did not put America First, he put himself first," said Rick Santorum, the Trump-supporting former Republican presidential candidate, told CNN.

Former CIA Director John Brennan went so far as describe Trump as "treasonous," while former director of national intelligence James Clapper told CNN the US president "capitulated and seems intimidated by Vladimir Putin."

Twitter Screenshot

Senator John McCain led Republican condemnation by labelling the US president's press conference appearance "disgraceful." House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell were also critical.

Even Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker who has been a fervent supporter of Trump, described the US president's comments as "the most serious mistake of his presidency."

'Internal political games'

Trump also drew ire in Washington by describing Putin's suggestion that US investigators could observe questioning of Russian citizens as an "incredible offer."

Putin made the suggestion when asked whether he would extradite the 12 Russians indicted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Friday over hacking of Democratic party emails. He added that Russia would be interested in a reciprocal arrangement, namechecking British financier Bill Browder and accusing him of making money illegally in Russia and using it to fund the Clinton presidential campaign.

Browder later told CNBC the accusation was false and that he had never contributed to a US political candidate.

Russian President Vladimir Putin during a press conference with US President Donald Trump in Helsinki, Finland, July 16, 2018. /VCG Photo

"Those are internal political games of the US," Putin told Fox News when asked about the timing of the Mueller indictments. "Don’t hold the relationship between Russia and the US hostage to this internal political struggle."

"And it’s nothing to be proud of for American democracy, because using law enforcement agencies in a political rivalry is inadmissible."

It also emerged on Monday that Maria Butina, a Russian woman who asked Trump about ties with Moscow at a campaign event, had been indicted in the US for working as an undisclosed foreign operative.

Where next for Russia and the US?

The extraordinary 45-minute press conference was dominated by the defensiveness of Trump and his repeated references to the 2016 election. While there were no concrete achievements from the meeting, potential areas for future cooperation were identified.

"This [meeting] is the beginning of a path, this is a start," Putin told Fox News. "We did make a good start today." Trump said the talks had been "deeply productive."

01:06

The US president has referenced nuclear proliferation frequently in recent weeks, and on Monday described the issue as "the most important thing that we can be working on." Putin said the START nuclear treaty could be extended beyond 2021, subject to "some questions to our American partners."

Russia also proposed re-establishing a working group on counter-terrorism, according to Sputnik, and called for cooperation on humanitarian issues in Syria. Trump later told Fox News that the sides were “not very far apart” on Syria.

However, no agreements were struck. Putin told Trump the "ball was in his court" as he threw him a World Cup soccer ball midway through the press conference – the US president, who refused to speak to the press on his flight back to the US, soon discovered his side of the court was chilly.

The summit has left Trump isolated again in Washington, for the current news cycle at least, with even his staunchest defenders questioning his rhetoric and asking: why request the meeting in the first place?

For Russia, the summit was deemed a success.

Putin told Fox that it was clear Western efforts to isolate Russia had failed, and the country's global influence meant it was too big to be left in the cold. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, meanwhile, hailed the meeting as "better than super."