By brief you mean an hour right? No one else could hear them, so it is only Trump Putin and RUSSIAN translator.
There at least 40 other people in the room, Trump was not seated next to Putin, and I guess an hour is not brief.
So you were there? The reason this got out there was due to the other world leaders expressing their concern and dismay so of course other people saw this happen at the dinner. All we know is it was a private discussion for an hour (in the room... side room... that varies) with only a Russian interpreter in the meeting. However you want to describe it, that is problematic. Especially the same day that coming out of the formal meeting they both had differing details of that meeting where sensitive issues like Trump pressing or not pressing the hacking of our election, etc. Only an idiot would think its a good idea to allow Putin to control the narrative coming out of a meeting like this. He could say that Trump agreed verbally to remove sanctions, and there is no indication that Trump would be able to undeniably refute this claim.
Why do you think Trump did not take his translator? Anyway, Putin is the leader in Russia, and Russia does play a key role in Trump's effort to "destroy ISIS" as well as reach some kind of nuclear deal with North Korea. I should remind people that Russian sanctions, imposed on Russia for the invasion of Georgia, were dropped by Obama in an effort to broker a nuclear deal with Iran - two years before the actual deal with Iran was signed.
Brief as in one hour? But setting aside the length of the meeting... can you let us know what they discussed? I am sure that a "brief discussion" like that can be simply and easily summarized. I am sure Trump, and whoever was there to support Trump in the meeting can provide a detailed readout of the "brief conversation" After all... it was "brief". And certainly any such conversation would be seen as important, not just because with the Russian leader, but all the controversies around Trump and Russia. What? There is no such readout? btw, while Putin is able to speak English, his preference not surprising is to speak Russian. Hence Putin was accompanied by his own translator. So its a good thing Trump was also accompanied by his translator so he could get a trusted translation of what Putin was saying and not have to rely on what Putin's Russian translator's translation. What? Trump wasn't accompanied by his translator? See... even if the meeting was all above board... there are significant questions/issue with Trump meeting with Putin.
It does not matter what I say, Trump gives the impression to the rest of the world that he is Putin's partner. No one will know what was said unless Putin decide to publish the transcript. Trump does this while being investigated for collusion with the Russians, sounds like a great idea to me. Just for a second imaging this is Democrats doing this, what would you say yourself.
Its laughable that the GOP line now is that "we should partner with Russia because APPARENTLY they want to destroy ISIS". Its an insult to our intelligence to try and pull that one over us. Russia is actually fairly in line with ISIS in many ways in their essential goal of breaking up unions in Europe. Russia is involved heavily in Syria, and is backing Assad yes.... but they have been using their forces to kill Syrian citizens in Arab Spring cities such as Aleppo. Their goal is simple enough... help Assad gain control by terrorizing his own people, in return, have a major foothold in the middle east. They could care less about ISIS because Russia isn't establishing a foothold in Northern Iraq at the moment. Iraq might as well be a state of the US, and is our problem. Keep in mind that Russia has built several AIR defense military zones along the border to protect Syria.... Again... AIR... How many planes does ISIS have? Why does Russia have an active interest in keeping THE UNITED STATES out of Syria if they are so willing to help in the fight with ISIS? Again... its insulting to our intelligence to try and inject that nonsense into the argument that we all should be willing to accept an alliance with Russia with open arms. You guys on the right are spreading nonsense right wing propaganda that is ONLY driven by the cultist support of Donald Trump and his weird fixation of Putin. A more honorable spin would be to say that you want sanctions lifted so Exxon can drill in the Arctic and that will lead to more jobs ... eventually... somehow.
Why should Trump feel any remorse for having a conversation with another country's leader? This has nothing to do with the Democrats, but since you mention it: could you imagine if Trump dropped Russian sanctions like Obama dropped Russian sanctions? Or if his Secretary of State hit some sort of "reset" button with Russia, like Hillary Clinton did? Or if he chastised an individual giving him a national security briefing on Russia's current threat against the United States - televised to the entire country? Boy, that would look awfully embarrassing.
Trump's administration is being investigated for collusion with Russians at this moment, his son just admitted he intend to collude with the Russians, did Democrats ever have a similar situation? If you wish to defend Trump, be my guest, at this point, it is only if it can be proven his administration colluded beyond a reasonable doubt that matters. His base with support him even it can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, I just hope the rest of the people can vote their conscience in 2018 and 2020.
Don't even go there. He will come back with the latest Ukrainian conspiracy theory predictably. There is no real point in debating these guys unless you are focused on what they are doing and not give a chance for them to swing the conversation to Hillary, or Obama where they have a field day with conspiracy.
About Trump walking to Putin for a private hour long meeting.... Let's not jump to conclusion here. It's odd, weird, not smart, dumb, whatever you want to call it, but what is Trump but many of those? A possible theory is he got no one else that he can converse with, because he needs ego boosting shots and Putin gladly supply.
One thing is for certain: ignorance and incompetence should not excuse Junior from any possible collusion with the Russians. The same should apply to Obama.
Wasn't his wife there? I am sure she speaks some Russian. Nothing burger with Russian Dressing. This isn't the cold war 80s.
You mean the Russian's agent? I kid I kid. The simple weirdness is an hour long private conversation with only Russian "record" is "dumb" or on purpose for whatever reason. Wife doesn't count since she is not in that official government role of translator, recording or assistance with any official business. But hey, they might had a lovely personal talks about kids and families. We never known until the Russian gov release the transcript, and even then, we can't trust it.
If Democrats do not win 2018, you have nothing to worry about. I am still of the opinion that people around him might fall, but Trump himself will not be impeached, even if Democrats control the congress in 2018.
btw, if you are not following Susan Hennessey, you should. Wickedly smart. One of my favorite guest analysts on CNN...
I am inclined to agree. Y'all need to give Two Scoops a break b/c Putie is only kid at lunch nice enough to talk to our loud fat kid, LOL.
