President Trump is Done Complaining to the Russians

In his readout of the two hour and 15 minute meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Trump repeatedly brought up Russian meddling in the U.S. election during the meeting. In his words, the two leaders had “a very robust and lengthy exchange on the topic,” but Putin denied Russian involvement. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, described as being particularly irritable during his news conference, said Trump accepted Putin’s denials. The Cipher Brief spoke with General Michael Hayden, former Director of the CIA and NSA to get his take on what we know about this first meeting between Trump and Putin.

The Cipher Brief: The meeting is said to have ran over by more than an hour. Afterwards, Tillerson said there was a “clear positive chemistry between the two,” and that the meeting went so long because “neither one of them wanted to stop.” Given the Trump Administration’s position on Russia, is that surprising at all?