White House addresses Putin-Trump dinner meetup

The White House dismissed claims Tuesday that President Donald Trump had a second, undisclosed meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 7 at the G-20 summit. The two presidents convened for about two hours during an official meeting on the sidelines of the summit in Hamburg, Germany, earlier this month. During dinner later that evening, Trump left his chair to speak with Putin for a second time. Ian Bremmer, president of the New York–based Eurasia Group, reported Tuesday that the two presidents had a lengthy conversation that lasted about an hour at the dinner. Bremmer told The Washington Post the encounter surprised two unnamed witnesses with whom he spoke. A spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who hosted the dinner, said Wednesday that nothing at the event surprised or confused her and the evening “did, exactly as hoped, produce a lively exchange.” In a statement, the White House confirmed the conversation occurred, but said news reports mischaracterized it: “There was no ‘second meeting’ between President Trump and President Putin, just a brief conversation at the end of a dinner.” Trump addressed the speculation directly in a pair of Tuesday evening tweets. “Fake News story of secret dinner with Putin is ‘sick,’” Trump wrote. “The Fake News is becoming more and more dishonest! Even a dinner arranged for top 20 leaders in Germany is made to look sinister!”