RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT:“President Donald Trump congratulated Vladimir Putin on the Russian president’s Sunday [3-18-18] election victory, and predicted the two men will soon meet in person—but did not raise the subjects of Russian cyber-aggression or the recent nerve agent attack on British soil widely attributed to Moscow.
‘We had a very good call and I suspect that we’ll probably be meeting in the not-too-distant future to discuss the arms race, which is getting out of control,’ Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday [3-20-18], an apparent reference to Putin’s recent boast that Russia has developed new classes of nuclear weapons that can strike the United States.
Top U.S. intelligence and Congressional officials warn that Russia continues to spread digital propaganda and disinformation within the U.S., and is ready to meddle in the 2018 midterm elections. And the Trump administration announced new sanctions last week to punish Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.”
–Michael Crowley, Louis Nelson, “Trump congratulates Putin on ‘sham’ re-election,” Politico, Mar. 20, 2018 3:50pm