President Donald Trump said that he has “low expectations” for the upcoming Helsinki summit on Monday. His meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin follows indictments brought against 12 Russian intelligence officers, who were charged for hacking into DNC computers during the 2016 presidential election.
The president had been relaxing before the summit by playing golf at a luxury resort on the western coast of Scotland, WABC-TV reports.
“I think it’s a good thing to meet. Nothing bad is going to come out of it, and maybe some good will come out,” Trump said in an interview with CBS at Turnberry golf resort on Saturday.
“I hadn’t thought of that,” he said when asked about extraditing the 12 accused Russians. “But certainly, I’ll be asking about it. But again, this was during the Obama administration. They were doing whatever it was during the Obama administration.”
The U.S. currently has no open treaty with Moscow and cannot force Russian to extradite citizens, as a provision in the Russian constitution prohibits this. The president has repeatedly thrown blame on the DNC for “allowing themselves to be hacked” in the Russian effort to get Trump elected.
Trump has said in the past that he wants to raise nuclear arms control with Putin, but German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas cautioned against political deals that could negatively impact U.S. Western allies, Reuters reports.
He added, “I go in with low expectations. I’m not going with high expectations.”
The Inquisitr previously reported a letter submitted to Trump by top Democrats voicing their concerns ahead of the meeting with Putin.
Their main concern appears to be the meeting happening at all since the allegations against the 12 Russian officials hold so much weight.
These Democrats also appear to be fearful that Trump won’t take a firm stance on the Russian meddling in the 2016 election at the summit and that Putin will take advantage of him. They fear the U.S. president will “walk into the open embrace of Putin.”
The White House has yet to criticize Russia for the alleged meddling and Democrats have called for other American officials to be present at the meeting to avoid any political mishaps.
The letter says that these Democrat leaders “do not have confidence that you can faithfully negotiate with the Russian leader” in light of Trump’s “constant expressions of sympathy for Vladimir Putin.”
2,500 people turned out for a peaceful demonstration in Helsinki on Sunday ahead of the summit.
