US President Donald Trump and Russia’s leader, President Vladimir Putin, have just kicked off one of the most anticipated meetings in years. The two leaders will likely discuss Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election; how to wind down the war in Syria; Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and broader incursion into Ukraine; and how to reduce the number of nuclear weapons around the world. Yet in his opening remarks seated alongside the Russian president, Trump didn’t bring up the election interference issue. According to the White House’s schedule, both leaders will now meet one-on-one — with no other staff except interpreters — for about 90 minutes. Then they’ll join some of their top aides for a two-hour bilateral meeting and working lunch. Finally, Trump and Putin will hold a joint press conference, the first between an American and Russian leader in about a decade. So there’s a lot for the two leaders to discuss, and it’s unclear what they will — or won’t — agree to. But the question on everyone’s mind is, which one is going to have the most success advancing their agenda? Experts say the Russian will likely outperform the American. “For Putin, Trump is a kind of a useful idiot,” Andrei Kolesnikov, a Russia expert at the Carnegie Moscow Center think tank, told me. And an unnamed State Department official echoed that sentiment in an interview with the New Yorker: “Our guy here is like an amateur boxer going up against Muhammad Ali.” Of course, it’s possible Trump and Putin both get positive results from their meeting. Here’s a guide to the topics that are likely to come up during Trump and Putin’s face to face meeting, and what to expect as a result. 1) Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election Last Friday — just three days before Trump is supposed to meet face-to-face with Russian President Vladimir Putin — Mueller announced indictments against 12 Russian spies, accusing them of interfering in the 2016 US presidential election. Mueller says the 12 men, who are all officers in the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence agency, hacked the computer networks of Hillary Clinton’s campaign, the Democratic National Committee, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. They allegedly coordinated to release damaging information to sway the election, though Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told reporters it’s unclear if their efforts changed the outcome of the election. The hacking issue — and Russia’s election interference more broadly — is bound to be the biggest issue of Trump and Putin discuss. The president says he’ll “of course” mention it, but expects Putin to push back. “What am I going to do? He may deny it,” Trump told reporters at the NATO summit on Thursday. “All I can do is say, ‘Did you?’ And, ‘Don’t do it again.’ But he may deny it.” It wouldn’t be the first time: Putin denied his country tried to sway the election when he and Trump met at the G20 summit in July 2017 — and Trump believed him. Trump continues to buy Putin’s line today. Russia continues to say they had nothing to do with Meddling in our Election! Where is the DNC Server, and why didn’t Shady James Comey and the now disgraced FBI agents take and closely examine it? Why isn’t Hillary/Russia being looked at? So many questions, so much corruption! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2018 That’s astounding, considering all the evidence that proves Putin lied to the president’s face. Three US intelligence agencies concluded last year that Russia interfered in the election, and the GOP-led Senate Intelligence Committee backed that assessment this month. There’s also special counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation into whether or not Trump’s presidential campaign colluded with Russia to win the White House. Mueller has indicted at least 32 people, 13 Russian nationals on conspiracy charges for using the internet to divide the American public among political, racial, and class lines. None of that will stop Putin from denying meddling allegations — or stop Trump from trusting him. 2) The ongoing Syria conflict Trump wants US troops out of Syria. Putin wants his ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, to stay in power after seven years of civil war. The two leaders may strike a deal, but it will likely be a bad one for the US. Here’s the background: America’s roughly 2,000 troops in Syria are there to defeat ISIS. They do so mainly by supporting Kurdish forces who have taken the lead in the anti-terror fight, and also working with other countries as part of an anti-ISIS coalition. However, the US is also on the side of fighters that want to remove Assad. That pits the US against Russia, which has served as Assad’s main military and political backer during the civil war. So it’s not surprising Trump would want to speak with Putin about Syria. What is surprising is the kind of deal they might make involving their involvements in the conflict. Here’s what the agreement may look like: Russia promises not to attack the small contingent of US-backed fighters in southwest Syria near the border with Jordan, an area known as the Daraa province, that pro-Assad forces recaptured this week. If that actually happens, it would give Trump space to withdraw US troops that ostensibly support anti-government forces. But that’s not all: Trump also wants Russia to ensure that no more fighting between anti-Assad rebels and pro-regime forces happens in southwest Syria and that Iranian proxies, like Hezbollah, cannot enter the region. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who just met with Putin, said on Thursday the Russian leader had agreed to keep Iran at bay during their talk. What would Trump offer in return? Well, he wouldn’t impede Moscow’s efforts to help Assad consolidate control of the country, even though US troops are mostly focused on defeating ISIS in Syria anyway. Here’s why all of that is troublesome. First, Russia has backed out of several Syria peace deals with the United States. It’s very hard to trust Moscow’s word that it will help deescalate violence in Syria, since the Kremlin continues to support Assad — even as he kills his civilians with chemical weapons. Russia also wreaks havoc of its own by dropping bombs near US troop positions. And second, Russia and Iran are allies in Syria because of their support for Assad. It’s hard to believe the Kremlin would suddenly work against Iran solely to make a deal with the United States, unless Putin extracts a big concession from Trump. That concession wouldn’t come from Syria at all, but actually from Ukraine. 3) Russia’s annexation of Crimea In February, the US Embassy in Ukraine tweeted, “We will never recognize Russia’s attempted annexation of Crimea, and remain steadfast in our support of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Never say never. In June, Trump reportedly told leaders at the G7 summit in Quebec that Crimea might as well belong to Russia because the majority of people there speak Russian — a talking point straight out of the Kremlin. And at the NATO summit on Thursday, Trump said whether or not the US should recognize Crimea as part of Russia was “an interesting question,” citing how Russia built bridges to the southern Ukrainian peninsula and a submarine port. Russia spends a lot of time spreading propaganda to convince Crimeans, Russians, and the world that the peninsula forms part of Russia. In one extreme instance, Putin drove a bright orange truck across a new 11-mile bridge that connects mainland Russia to Crimea and broadcast it to the world. His message was simple: I own this place now. That’s why it would be a stunning decision for Trump to side with Putin on Crimea. Russia’s 2014 annexation of the peninsula was the first time since World War II that a country annexed the territory of a European state. Should Trump basically say “Sure, Putin, it’s yours,” it would turn the entire postwar period on its head, because the US would effectively approve the hostile takeover of territory. That could even embolden Russia to consider taking other territory in Europe, including parts of Eastern Ukraine.<doc-sep>WASHINGTON — On the eve of a face-to-face meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman downplayed expectations, saying there is not a firm set of goals the president is hoping to achieve. “You don’t know what’s going to come out of this meeting,” Huntsman said on “Meet the Press” from Helsinki Sunday, where the two leaders will sit down together, insisting that the one-on-one is not a summit but a "meeting" where for the first time the two leaders will "have a conversation.” "I hope it's a detailed conversation about where we might be able to find some overlapping and shared interests," Huntsman said. The meeting comes just days after the Justice Department announced charges against 12 Russian intelligence officers for interference in the 2016 election, bringing the total of Russians charged to 25. Trump has said he would “absolutely, firmly ask the question” about meddling in the election, but Huntsman said he’s unsure if Trump will ask Putin to extradite those charged. “I don’t know if he’ll make the ask,” Huntsman said. “It may be part of the agenda, it may be part of their bilateral meeting together. We’ll have to see. It just came onto the agenda last Friday. It’s something that’s brand new.” "I don't think the details are a surprise to folks who have followed this," Huntsman added. "That now makes probably almost 30 Russians who have been rolled up by the Mueller indictment. That investigation continues. And I think the bigger picture is we need to hold the Russians accountable for what they did." Democrats have called on the president to cancel the meeting in light of the indictments or to at least have a high-level staffer in the room with him. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., who is ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on “Meet the Press” that he’s “very concerned” about a one-on-one meeting. “I'd feel a lot better if Ambassador Huntsman, who I have a lot of confidence in, was actually sitting in on the meeting,” Warner said. "With Putin, you’ve got a trained KGB agent, who does his homework. My fear is that Putin could come in with maps of Ukraine, maps of Syria and try to cut some deal, and frankly take advantage of this president," Warner added. "So I really would feel much better if there were other Americans in the room making sure that we make the point that the first and top point of this agenda should be no Russian interference in our elections." But Huntsman didn’t indicate that adding staff to the meeting would happen, instead saying it’s an opportunity for the two leaders to sit down and talk. “This is an attempt to see if we can diffuse and take some of the drama and quite frankly some of the danger out of the relationship right now,” Huntsman said. On the issue of Crimea, Huntsman couldn’t say definitively that Trump wouldn’t side with Russia on the issue. Huntsman said “it’s highly unlikely” that Trump would change the U.S. position that Russia violated international law by annexing the country of Crimea in 2014. “The agenda is the president's,” Huntsman said. “Everything will be his call but I think it’s highly unlikely that you’ll see any change in Crimea.”<doc-sep>WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump departs Tuesday for the seventh foreign trip of his presidency, visiting Western European countries and then sitting down for a one-on-one meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. In combining meetings with NATO and British allies with a Russian tete-a-tete, Trump will display two hallmarks of his foreign policy: Getting tough on allies and trading partners over their defense spending and trade policies, while opening the door to better relations with longtime adversaries like Russia, China and North Korea. Trump is expected to make four stops over the seven days: Brussels; London; Glasgow, Scotland; and Helsinki. A rundown of the itinerary: Brussels: NATO Summit The first stop is Brussels, the headquarters of the North Atlantic alliance and the site of Trump's second NATO summit. Last year's summit was also held in Brussels, making Belgium one of only two countries he will have visited twice. (He had two stops in Italy last year.) Trump will meet Tuesday with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg before participating in high-level sessions with the 28 allies on Wednesday. The U.S. ambassador to NATO, Kay Bailey Hutchison, said the meetings would focus on NATO's mission of countering Russia. "Our major areas of deterrence would be Russia and the malign activities of Russia, the efforts of Russia to divide our democratic nation, INF Treaty violations," she told reporters last week. The U.S. has accused Russia of violating the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which generally forbids nuclear and conventional missiles in Europe. NATO summits also provide a venue for discussions with Georgia and Ukraine, who are not NATO members but have sought its protection from Russia, and with leaders of Afghanistan about the NATO strategy to defeat the Taliban there. London: A long-awaited visit Trump's visit to the United Kingdom ends nearly six months of missed opportunities, scheduling conflicts and speculation about the state of the "special relationship." Indeed, Trump has waited longer to visit the closest U.S. ally than any modern president – except for Lyndon Johnson and Gerald Ford, who skipped the country entirely. In just over 24 hours in England beginning Thursday afternoon, he will attend a black-tie business dinner at Blenheim Palace, working meetings with Prime Minister Theresa May at her country home at Chequers, and a tea-time visit with Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle. He will travel to most of those meetings by helicopter, meaning he can likely avoid the large-scale protests in central London, including a giant "Baby Trump" blimp. Scotland: A golf weekend Think of it as a European Mar-a-Lago: Trump's schedule includes a weekend getaway at a Trump-owned golf course in Scotland. Trump owns two golf courses in Scotland: the Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeen, and Trump Turnberry in Ayrshire. A British official told reporters Friday that Trump would be staying at Turnberry. But the president also has a family connection to Scotland. His mother, Mary Anne MacLeod Trump, was born in the Western Isles and emigrated to the United States when she was 18. There are no official events on the schedule, while in Scotland, but U.S. ambassador to Great Britain Woody Johnson said Trump would "spend some time preparing for Helsinki." Helsinki: The Trump-Putin summit Trump has met his Russian counterpart twice before, but those meetings were at gatherings of other world leaders – "on the margins," in diplomatic parlance, of summits in Hamburg, Germany, and Da Nang, Vietnam, last year. The Helsinki meeting will be the first formal meeting with the Russian president. After arriving Sunday evening and attending the traditional meet-and-greet with embassy officials, Trump will hold a series of meetings on Monday, July 16. The first is with the host, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, followed by three back-to-back sessions with Putin: a one-on-one with just translators and note-takers, a larger meeting with advisers, and then a working lunch. "What is important in all these cases is dialogue. And this can take many forms. But what is important here is that we start a discussion," said Jon Huntsman, the U.S. ambassador to Russia. "The president has determined that now is the time for direct communication between himself and President Putin, and that it is in the interest of the United States, in the interest of Russia, in the interest of peace and security around the world. And that's the way he's proceeding." Trump is scheduled to return to Washington after the meetings on July 16.<doc-sep>
A growing number of Democrats are calling on President Donald Trump to cancel his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday in the wake of special counsel Robert Mueller’s indictment of 12 Russian intelligence operatives. Mueller’s indictment alleges that Russian spies were behind high-profile hacks of the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and the computer networks of Hillary Clinton’s campaign. It also explicitly accuses them of engaging in election interference. Trump is scheduled to meet with Putin one-on-one in Helsinki on Monday. It’s a summit many Democrats would rather not happen, especially under these circumstances. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (NY) argues that Trump should abandon the meeting unless Russia makes a clear commitment to steer clear of future US elections. “President Trump should cancel his meeting with Vladimir Putin until Russia takes demonstrable and transparent steps to prove that they won’t interfere in future elections,” he said in a statement. “Glad-handing with Vladimir Putin on the heels of these indictments would be an insult to our democracy.” Sens. Elizabeth Warren (MA), Cory Booker (NJ), and Jack Reed (RI) were among the others to echo this sentiment, with Warren urging Trump to “cancel your ridiculous Putin summit and get your butt on a plane back to the United States.” DOJ's criminal charges provide hard evidence that Russian intel agents attacked America to boost their favorite candidates, undermine others, and influence our elections. @realDonaldTrump, cancel your ridiculous Putin summit and get your butt on a plane back to the United States. — Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) July 13, 2018 “In light of this stunning indictment by the Justice Department that these Russian conspirators attacked our democracy and were communicating with Americans to interfere in our election, President Trump should immediately cancel his meeting with Vladimir Putin,” added Reed, the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee. Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee — which has been conducting its own investigation into Russian election interference — asked Trump to press Putin on the subject and suggested that any meeting should be canceled if the president was unwilling to do so. “I want the president to make this issue of Russian interference a priority in the meeting,” Warner told reporters on the Hill, per CNN. “If he and his team are not willing to make the subject of this indictment, of Russian interference a top priority in the Helsinki meeting, then the meeting should be cancelled.” Warner also took issue with the way the meeting was set up. “There should be no one-on-one meeting between this President and Mr. Putin,” he said. “There needs to be other Americans in the room.” Warner expressed concern that the president’s penchant for “winging it” in meetings like this could enable Putin to take advantage of him. “There should be no one-on-one meeting between this President and Mr. Putin,” Vice Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee Mark Warner says following the latest Mueller indictments. “There needs to be other Americans in the room” https://t.co/RCB7YFOSv1 — CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) July 13, 2018 Booker, too, said that the meeting should either be canceled or turned into an “open meeting” so that Putin could be held accountable for the Russian government’s role in election meddling. Pres Trump happily greeting Putin on Monday - the man who attacked our county - embracing him as a friend, should OUTRAGE all Americans. Trump should cancel the meeting or make it an open meeting, confronting Putin on his aggression & taking measures to hold them accountable. — Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) July 13, 2018 Both Reps. Adam Schiff (CA) and Ted Lieu (CA), meanwhile, were much more skeptical of whether Trump would actually turn up the heat on Putin. “Because it is abundantly clear that the president will not confront Putin on the charges laid out in this indictment and its predecessor ... it is in the strong national security interests of the United States for the president to cancel any meeting with Putin,” Schiff said in a statement. Despite the rising pressure for Trump call off the Putin meeting, however, press secretary Sarah Sanders has said that it’s still very much on, per a tweet from NBC’s Peter Alexander.