Trump Arrives In Helsinki For Summit Meeting With Putin, Beneath Looming Shadow Of Russia Probe
Donald Trump has just landed in Helsinki, Finland. Air Force One officially touched the ground for what could be a historic meeting between the president of the United States and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
MSNBC has reported that the president, joined by wife Melania Trump, stepped off the plane ahead of schedule for the summit meeting, which is expected to cover topics such as sanctions, Crimea, arms, and Syria, according to Fox News. However, the most controversial topic to be discussed is the evidence of Russian meddling during the 2016 presidential election.
Donald Trump has been urged by politicians to cancel his meeting with Putin, as 12 Russian military officials have now been indicted by Special Council Robert Mueller as a result of the ongoing Russian probe.
Mueller has not indicated he’s wrapping up the investigation, which is examining potential presence of Russian collusion with the 2016 Donald Trump presidential campaign.
MSNBC also reported that Trump expressed he “hadn’t thought” about the idea of asking Putin to extradite the indicted Russian military officials, who are accused of hacking DNC servers to heavily influence the results of the 2016 general election.
Trump did say he would bring up the evidence and ask Putin “firmly” if Russia indeed purposefully did so. In the past, Putin has said meddling didn’t happen.
The aforementioned indictments came on Friday, June 13, only three days before the Trump-Putin meeting, which has landed among angry conservatives stating that Mueller is purposefully trying to thwart the progress of the president
According to Politico, one White House Official was particularly hostile toward the prospect of Mueller’s indictments.
“It’s a big F-U from Mueller, [it] wasn’t an accident”
A man by the name of Barry Bennett — a former advisor to Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign — seemed to express that he also felt there were questionable motives behind the move.
“This is just one more case of political malpractice, these guys all deserve to be indicted and deserve to be convicted. But to do it the Friday before the Monday meeting? Not so smart.”
As Vanity Fair has pointed out, Robert Mueller’s investigative intelligence being called into question lands as unlikely among skeptics, who recall that Mueller is, in large part, responsible for previously taking down John Gotti and the Gambino Crime Family. Moreover, Mueller helped prosecute the former Enron chairman, CEO, and CAO for their crimes including conspiracy, fraud, and making false statements, in 2004.
Both were extremely high-profile investigations resulting in historic wins for Robert Mueller as meticulous and tenacious investigator and prosecutor.
