July 07, 2017 02:37 PM UTC

Trump Meets Papasha

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• by: Colorado Pols

Politico:

President Donald Trump Russian President Vladimir Putin had a “robust” conversation about allegations that the Kremlin tried to interfere in last year’s presidential election, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters on Friday, after the two world leaders met at the G-20 meeting in Germany.

Putin denied that Russia had engaged in any such effort to interfere in the 2016 campaign, Tillerson said, adding that the Russians had asked for proof that they were to blame for the campaign of cyberattacks. Trump “pressed” Putin on the issue, the secretary of state added, and the two presidents “had a very robust and lengthy exchange on the subject.”

Discussion on the issue, Tillerson said, was focused on “how to we move forward from here, because it’s not clear to me that we will ever come to some agreed-upon resolution… it’s too important not to find a way forward.” After the meeting, the Associated Press reported that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Trump had accepted Putin’s assurances that the Kremlin had not sought to interfere in the 2016 election.

Depending on what side of the political spectrum you reside on, this long-awaited meeting will either represent a positive step away from a major distraction to Trump’s presidency or an historically preposterous charade. For Americans who accept the widespread consensus that Russian meddling in the 2016 elections was very real, at least insofar as manipulation of public opinion is concerned, reaction is going to trend toward the latter.

Hopefully you weren’t expecting Vladimir Putin to be like “rats, you got me,” because obviously.