text: CLOSE President Donald Trump had another, previously undisclosed conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit it Germany. Time 
   
   President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet in Hamburg, Germany, on July 7. (Photo: Evan Vucci, Evan Vucci, AP) 
   
   The White House acknowledged that President Trump "spoke briefly" with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a global meeting earlier this month, but insisted it was just a normal part of presidential duties and denied news reports surfacing Tuesday that it was a second private meeting. 
   
   "There was no 'second meeting' between President Trump and President Putin, just a brief conversation at the end of a dinner," the White House said in a statement. "The insinuation that the White House has tried to 'hide' a second meeting is false, malicious and absurd." 
   
   Trump also denounced press accounts of the meeting on Twitter. 
   
   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! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 19, 2017 
   
   The discussion happened in Hamburg, Germany, during a dinner among world leaders at the Group of 20 economic summit. 
   
   It came after a formal conversation between Trump and Putin in which they discussed Russia's alleged attempts to influence the 2016 White House election. In that meeting, which lasted more than two hours, Trump says he questioned Putin about whether he meddled in the presidential election – and Putin denied he was involved. 
   
   The U.S. intelligence community has concluded Putin orchestrated a campaign of cyberattacks and fake news to influence the election in favor of Trump. Multiple congressional committees and a special counsel are investigating Russian interference, as well as possible collusion between Trump associates and Russia. 
   
   Earlier Tuesday, multiple news outlets reported the previously undisclosed talk between Trump and Putin as a second meeting that lasted up to an hour. 
   
   Foreign leaders apparently witnessed the more private conversation, of which there is no public government record, and were taken aback by the two seeming to flaunt a close rapport, according to the New York Times. 
   
   "Pretty much everyone at the dinner thought this was really weird, that here is the president of the United States, who clearly wants to display that he has a better relationship personally with President Putin than any of us, or simply doesn’t care,” Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group, a Washington-based research and consulting firm, told the Times. 
   
   Trump was apparently not joined in the second conversation by his own translator, which The Hill reported is a breach of national security protocol. 
   
   Bremmer responded to Trump's tweets about the meeting on Tuesday night. 
   
   Press didn't know you spent an hour during dinner in 1-1 discussion w Putin (& his translator). Other G20 leaders found it...unusual. https://t.co/w3QIyJbMbp — ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) July 19, 2017 
   
   Yet the White House version of events is quite different. 
   
   At a publicly scheduled dinner for heads of state and their spouses only, First Lady Melania Trump was seated next to Putin. "During the course of the dinner, all the leaders circulated throughout the room and spoke with one another freely," the White House statement said. "President Trump spoke with many leaders during the course of the evening. As the dinner was concluding, President Trump went over to Mrs. Trump, where he spoke briefly with President Putin." 
   
   The White House said the American translator accompanying Trump spokedd Japanese, and so both Trump and Putin used the Russian translator to speak to each other, since the American translator did not speak Russian. "It is not merely perfectly normal, it is part of a President's duties, to interact with world leaders," the statement said. 
   
   Also on Tuesday, the White House said Trump plans to nominate Gov. John Huntsman of Utah as ambassador to Russia. Huntsman chairs the Atlantic Council, a foreign policy think tank. He also has served as ambassador to China and to Singapore. 
   
   Related: 
   
   Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2uGmqy9 ||||| There is no official United States government record of the intimate dinner conversation, because no American official other than the president was involved. 
   
   “Pretty much everyone at the dinner thought this was really weird, that here is the president of the United States, who clearly wants to display that he has a better relationship personally with President Putin than any of us, or simply doesn’t care,” said Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group, a New York-based research and consulting firm, who said he had heard directly from attendees. “They were flummoxed, they were confused and they were startled.” 
   
   The encounter occurred more than midway through the lengthy dinner, when Mr. Trump left his chair and approached Mr. Putin, who had been seated next to the first lady, Melania Trump. It was described to Mr. Bremmer by other guests as lasting roughly an hour and not initially disputed by a White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. 
   
   But Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, disputed that account. He said Mr. Trump had described the exchange with Mr. Putin as purely social, and as lasting far less than an hour. “It was pleasantries and small talk,” Mr. Spicer said. In a separate statement, the White House said the two presidents had spoken through the Kremlin’s interpreter because the American translator with Mr. Trump did not speak Russian. 
   
   Experts in United States-Russia relations said such an encounter — even on an informal basis at a social event — was a concern because of its length, which suggested a substantive exchange, and because there was no note taker or national security or foreign policy aide present. 
   
   “We’re all going to be wondering what was said, and that’s where it’s unfortunate that there was no U.S. interpreter, because there is no independent American account of what happened,” said Steven Pifer, a former ambassador to Ukraine who also specializes in Russia and nuclear arms control. 
   
   “If I was in the Kremlin, my recommendation to Putin would be, ‘See if you can get this guy alone,’ and that’s what it sounds like he was able to do,” added Mr. Pifer, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. ||||| The Fake News is becoming more and more dishonest! Even a dinner arranged for top 20 leaders in Germany is made to look sinister!
target: – President Trump says his previously undisclosed one-on-one with Vladimir Putin was no secret and no big deal—and the media is "sick" for suggesting otherwise. Trump reportedly spoke to Putin for around an hour after leaving his seat during a couples-only dinner with other leaders during the G20 summit. He had met with Putin earlier in the day with aides present. "All G 20 leaders, and spouses, were invited by the Chancellor of Germany," Trump tweeted late Tuesday. "Press knew!" In a statement, the White House said the talk was a "brief conversation" and any insinuation that the administration tried to hide it "is false, malicious, and absurd," USA Today reports. "The Fake News is becoming more and more dishonest!" Trump said in a second tweet. "Even a dinner arranged for top 20 leaders in Germany is made to look sinister!" But despite efforts to downplay the meeting, some analysts say it raises security concerns. Besides Putin and Trump, the only person party to the conversation was Putin's translator, meaning there is no independent American account of the meeting and what was discussed. "If I was in the Kremlin, my recommendation to Putin would be, 'See if you can get this guy alone,' and that's what it sounds like he was able to do," former ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer tells the New York Times.