A journalist was forcibly removed from the venue of the press briefing between Presidents Donald Trump of the United States and Vladimir Putin of Russia, moments before the briefing began.
The event monitored on the CNN showed security men physically removing a journalist said to have been holding a sign talking about nuclear weapons.
The meeting is holding in Helsinki, Finland.
Both leaders met behind closed doors for over an hour
Meanwhile Russian President Vladimir Putin, while addressing the joint news conference after the meeting, described his meeting with President Trump as frank and business-like.
He said it was successful and they had a “fruitful round of negotiations,” even as he acknowledged the US-Russia relationship had been complicated.
“It’s clear to everyone that the bilateral relationship are going through a complicated stage. Yet those impediments, the current tension, the tense atmosphere essentially have no solid reason behind it,” he said.
He expressed his appreciation to the Finnish government and people for hosting them.
On his own part, President Trump said his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin had significantly improved the relationship between the two countries.
He said that while the US-Russia relationship “has never been worse than it is now,” he believes that has now “changed” after his summit with Putin.
He equally expressed the belief that diplomacy with Russia, though not politically popular, was necessary.
“Nothing would be easier than to refuse to meet, to refuse to engage,” Trump said. “But that would not accomplish anything.”
President Trump insisted at the press briefing that there was no collusion with Russia during the last election stressing that he ran a “clean campaign.”
“There was no collusion at all. Everybody knows it,” Trump said.
He said special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US election had had a “negative impact” on the US-Russia relationship.
“It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous what’s going on with the probe,” Trump said.
The president said he also discussed with Russian President Vladimir Putin that there was “zero collusion.”
President Donald Trump further said he held both the United States and Russia responsible for the breakdown in the relationship.
“I hold both countries responsible. I think that the United States has been foolish. We’ve all been foolish,” Trump said. “We should have frankly had this dialogue a long time ago. I think that we’re all to blame. I think that the United States has now stepped forward along with Russia.”
Mr. Trump said he felt that the US and Russia had “both made some mistakes.”
Still, the US president again openly lambasted the special counsel’s investigation stemming from Russian interference in the 2016 election as “a disaster for our country.”
“I think that the probe is a disaster for our country. I think it’s kept us (the US and Russia) apart. I think it’s kept us separated,” Trump said.
In his own comments, the Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was not familiar with the full extent of the matter but promised to look into extraditing the 12 Russians indicted by a US grand jury last week.
“I don’t know the full extent of the situation. President Trump mentioned this issue. I will look into it,” Putin said via a translator.
The Justice Department on Friday announced indictments against 12 Russian nationals as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election, accusing them of engaging in a “sustained effort” to hack Democrats’ emails and computer networks.
Reacting to President Trump’s comments at the press briefing, former CIA Director, John Brennan, said in a tweet @ JohnBrennan, that it “was nothing short of treasonous.”
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His tweet read, “Donald Trump’s press conference performance in Helsinki rises to & exceeds the threshold of “high crimes & misdemeanours.” It was nothing short of treasonous. Not only were Trump’s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin. Republican Patriots: Where are you???”
CNN’s Anderson Cooper also reacting to President Trump’s comments and performance at the press briefing said, “You have been watching perhaps one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president at a summit in front of a Russian leader certainly that I’ve ever seen. An extraordinary press conference.”
