WASHINGTON, May 3, 2019 — President Donald Trump on Friday spent over an hour talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin without warning the Moscow strongman against repeating the campaign of assistance Russia mounted to aid the President’s 2016 election effort.
The phone call was first disclosed by White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who told reporters that the two leaders spoke for more than 60 minutes Friday morning in order to discuss a number of subjects, including trade, a potential nuclear agreement, North Korea, Russia’s occupation of Crimea and the presence of Russian forces in Venezuela.
But when the Wall Street Journal’s Vivian Salma asked Trump if he’d raised the issue of Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election during an Oval Office photo opportunity with Slovak Republic Prime Minister Peter Pelligrini, he became irate and began interrupting the reporter.
“Excuse me. I’m talking. I’m answering this question. You are very rude,” Trump interjected after Salma asked if he’d told Putin not to meddle in the upcoming 2020 election. When other reporters asked again shortly after that, Trump curtly replied that he did not discuss election interference with Putin.
But Trump said that he did speak to Putin about Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russia’s efforts to aid his campaign, and even took a moment to describe Putin’s reaction and relay his comments to reporters.
“He actually sort of smiled when he said something to the effect that it started off as a mountain and it ended up being a mouse,” Trump said. “But he knew that because he knew there was no collusion whatsoever.”
Although Trump continues to claim that Mueller found “no collusion” between his campaign and any Russians, the special counsel’s 199-page Volume 1 report, which dealt with Russia’s interference in the 2016, does not back up his assertion.
While Mueller was not able to charge any Americans associated with the President or his campaign with conspiring with the Russian government to swing the 2016 election in his favor, he identified a multitude of contacts between Trump associates and various Russian nationals with connections to the Kremlin, including a meeting between Trump campaign bosses and a Russian lawyer offering “dirt” on Hillary Clinton.
The volume also chronicled meetings between Trump campaign Chairman Paul Manafort and a Russian oligarch, during which Manafort turned over sensitive internal polling data which detailed the Trump campaign’s election strategy.
The special counsel also detailed significant efforts by Russian military hackers to steal data from the Democratic National Committee and the campaign of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, data which was later released by WikiLeaks and heavily promoted by Trump himself.
Although Trump claimed that Putin “smiled” during Friday’s phone call, White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley said the two leaders did not speak by videoconference.
“It wasn’t video. [It was] a phone call,” Gidley said. “He [Trump] meant like, he [Putin] laughed, chuckled.”