Don’t Expect ‘Perry Mason’ Moment in Putin Meeting

“Germany is totally controlled by Russia”, Trump said in a searing critique of Germany’s gas pipeline deal with the country North Atlantic Treaty Organisation calls its greatest threat to their alliance.

He said: “There is a communique that was published yesterday. It’s very detailed”, Macron said, according to France 24.

In February, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said only about half of the alliance’s 29 members are on track to meet the 2024 deadline – which he said would boost spending by $46 billion.

“But raising this as a central issue at the beginning of the summit created the mood of a contentious and divisive summit, and this is not something welcomed by countries on the eastern flank”, Baranowski said.

Seated alongside Mrs May at Chequers this morning, Mr Trump said: ‘The relationship is very, very strong, we really have a very good relationship’. The effort also included bogus Facebook ads and social media postings that prosecutors say were aimed at influencing public opinion and sowing discord on hot-button social issues.

Trump reiterated Friday that he is not going into the meeting with high expectations, but he said the two leaders would also discuss “a number of things”, including cuts to nuclear weapons arsenals.

“We will resist Russia’s aggression”, Democratic Senator Mark Warner and Republican Senator Marco Rubio said in an op-ed in USA Today on Thursday. In the space of eight hours, Trump had moved from doubting the utility of the mutual defence alliance and provoking an extraordinary emergency session of its members to declaring the pact stronger than ever.

Trump also slammed the Nord Stream II pipeline that is set to bring gas from Russian Federation to Germany, calling it a “horrible mistake” that would give Moscow power over Berlin.

On Thursday, Trump had said, “I think they like me a lot in the U.K”. “That I can’t tell you”, the U.S. leader said.

“I think he’s got what it takes”.

Trump made the comments during a press conference with UK Prime Minister Theresa May.

Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona says President Donald Trump must be willing to confront Russia’s Vladimir Putin during their summit Monday in Helsinki.

Senator John McCain, also an Arizona Republican, said the indictments add to evidence confirmation an “extensive plot” by Putin’s government to spark dissent among USA voters, attack the 2016 election, and undermine faith in democracy.

Never mind that the 2 percent guideline was established in 2006 – or that other leaders more or less snickered at Trump’s 4 percent ask. “I don’t think you’ll have any ‘Gee, I did it, I did it”.

Trump emerged declaring continued commitment to a Western alliance built on United States military might that has stood up to Moscow since World War II.

Most of all, the Helsinki summit provides Trump yet another live trial of his honest belief that he is uniquely qualified to build relationships and negotiate hard deals with American adversaries. “I actually told Theresa May how to do [Brexit], but she didn’t listen to me”, Trump said in the Sun interview, and then mused that May’s Conservative Party rival, Boris Johnson, “would be a great prime minister”.

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite told reporters she’s comfortable with the Trump-Putin summit, but that it “depends very much on outcomes”. “Putin is not a friend of democracy”. “Putin is our enemy”.

He left open the possibility of recognising Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. He chose to help [Bashar] Assad slaughter Syrians.

The last, brief meeting between Putin and Trump took place in November 2017 in Vietnam during an APEC summit.