Trump Defies Critics, Vows to Meet Putin Again

Ololade Adeyanju/

President Donald Trump defied critics of his meeting with Vladimir Putin on Thursday and previewed a second face-to-face with the Russian leader.

Trump continued to insist in tweets that his first summit with Putin was a “great success” as he branded the media the “real enemy of the people”.

“I look forward to our second meeting so that we can start implementing some of the many things discussed, including stopping terrorism, security for Israel, nuclear proliferation, cyber-attacks, trade, Ukraine, Middle East peace, North Korea and more,” he said.

The president assessed: “There are many answers, some easy and some hard, to these problems…but they can ALL be solved!”

Reports said a face-to-face with Putin could come on the sidelines on the United Nations General Assembly in September.

Putin did not make the trip to the U.S. last year to participate in the meeting that is held annually in New York, but could have a change in position this year as a result of Trump’s outreach.

Trump has also said that Putin would be welcome in Washington. The Kremlin said that Trump suggested they could have a White House summit in a March 20 call.

The two presidents are sure to see each other again in November at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Trump and Putin met for the first time at last year’s meeting in Hamburg, Germany.

Trump’s administration has been engulfed in a political firestorm since the Monday meeting with Putin. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and the media have been deriding Trump’s news conference with the Russian leader that took place in Helsinki.

The president took to Twitter to launch an attack on the press again on Thursday, calling them “the fake news media” to complain that the coverage is “total fiction”.

“The Fake News Media is going Crazy! They make up stories without any backup, sources or proof. Many of the stories written about me, and the good people surrounding me, are total fiction. Problem is, when you complain you just give them more publicity. But I’ll complain anyway!,” the president tweeted.

In another tweet, he charged the media with preferring to go to war instead of him having a good relationship with Putin.

“The Fake News Media wants so badly to see a major confrontation with Russia, even a confrontation that could lead to war. They are pushing so recklessly hard and hate the fact that I’ll probably have a good relationship with Putin. We are doing MUCH better than any other country!,” he wrote.

The White House has been inundated with a flood of bad press, tweets criticizing them from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and the intelligence community, plus a statement from the Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coats, countering the president.

The backlash resulted from the president appearing deferential to his Russian counterpart during their press conference in Helsinki.

The president and his staff have attempted to walk back and clarify his comments numerous times since his return to the White House Monday evening.

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