PRESIDENT TRUMP STUNS THE WORLD AT HELSINKI SUMMIT
Helsinki, Finland (JFK+50) Today, July 16, 2018, U.S. President Donald J. Trump met alone for two hours at the Presidential Palace here in Helsinki with Russia's President Vladimir Putin*.
In a press conference following the meeting, Trump stunned the world by calling Putin's denial of his country's interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election "strong and powerful" despite the fact that US intelligence agencies have confirmed that as fact.
The response to the President's performance today has been staggering. Senator John McCain (R) Arizona, Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, declared it "one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory." Former CIA Director John Brennan went even further to declare it "nothing short of treasonous."
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R) Tennessee said..."I did not think it was a good moment for our country."
Former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich called it "the most serious mistake of (Trump's) presidency," while Chris Matthews, closing this evening's edition of "Hardball", said..."It's hard to find a day in American history like today."
Mr. Trump is not the first POTUS to come out of a summit meeting with a Russian leader unscathed. President Kennedy described his meeting with Nikita Khrushchev in June 1961 as "the worst day of my life." Chris Matthews wrote that JFK returned to Washington "crushed by the experience."
*Vladimir Putin was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia in 1952 & graduated from Leningrad State University in 1975. VP served as a KGB intelligence officer for 16 years & was President of Russia 2000-2008 & 2012 to the present.
SOURCE
"'Disgraceful', 'Pushover', 'Deeply Troubled': Reaction to the Trump-Putin Summit", by Jessica Taylor, July 16, 2018, www.npr.org/
"Jack Kennedy, Elusive Hero," by Chris Matthews, Simon and Schuster, New York, 2011.
Helsinki, Finland (JFK+50) Today, July 16, 2018, U.S. President Donald J. Trump met alone for two hours at the Presidential Palace here in Helsinki with Russia's President Vladimir Putin*.
In a press conference following the meeting, Trump stunned the world by calling Putin's denial of his country's interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election "strong and powerful" despite the fact that US intelligence agencies have confirmed that as fact.
The response to the President's performance today has been staggering. Senator John McCain (R) Arizona, Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, declared it "one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory." Former CIA Director John Brennan went even further to declare it "nothing short of treasonous."
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R) Tennessee said..."I did not think it was a good moment for our country."
Former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich called it "the most serious mistake of (Trump's) presidency," while Chris Matthews, closing this evening's edition of "Hardball", said..."It's hard to find a day in American history like today."
Mr. Trump is not the first POTUS to come out of a summit meeting with a Russian leader unscathed. President Kennedy described his meeting with Nikita Khrushchev in June 1961 as "the worst day of my life." Chris Matthews wrote that JFK returned to Washington "crushed by the experience."
*Vladimir Putin was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia in 1952 & graduated from Leningrad State University in 1975. VP served as a KGB intelligence officer for 16 years & was President of Russia 2000-2008 & 2012 to the present.
SOURCE
"'Disgraceful', 'Pushover', 'Deeply Troubled': Reaction to the Trump-Putin Summit", by Jessica Taylor, July 16, 2018, www.npr.org/
"Jack Kennedy, Elusive Hero," by Chris Matthews, Simon and Schuster, New York, 2011.
Khrushchev & Kennedy
June 1961
Vienna, Austria
JFK Library Photo
