RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a second, previously undisclosed talk on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg earlier this month, a White House official said Tuesday [7-18-17].
The conversation took place on the same day that the two leaders met earlier for more than two hours in what Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called an ‘extraordinarily important meeting.’
The White House disclosed the conversation after it was reported by Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group, a political risk advisory group. He wrote about the meeting in a company newsletter and spoke about it in a television interview Tuesday.
The two leaders spoke during a state dinner for the world leaders and their spouses.
The White House official said Mr. Trump spoke with many leaders during the dinner and said the president ‘spoke briefly’ with Mr. Putin, who was seated next to first lady Melania Trump, toward the end of the evening.
Mr. Bremmer said the two spoke for about an hour, joined by Mr. Putin’s translator.
The White House official said Messrs. Trump and Putin used the Russian translator because the American translator accompanying Mr. Trump spoke only English and Japanese. Mr. Trump had been seated next to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.”
-Rebecca Ballhaus, “Trump and Putin Met for Second Time at G-20, White House Says,” The Wall Street Journal online, July 18, 2017 10:55pm