President Trump “heard” Russian President Vladimir Putin deny that the Kremlin was involved in meddling with the 2016 presidential race but ultimately decided to move on to discussions about Syria, Ukraine and other issues during their first face-to-face meeting in Germany last week, White House deputy press secretary Sarah Sanders said Monday.
“The president heard Putin’s denial,” Sanders told reporters at the White House. “[Trump] heard his answer and he moved forward with places he thought they could work together.”
Sanders noted Trump “decided to move on from that point of the conversation” but declined to specify whether Trump trusts Putin.
Although Putin touted the formation of a U.S.-Russian cyber task force shortly after the meeting at the G-20 summit concluded on Friday, Sanders said the White House has not committed to teaming up with Russia to develop cyber capabilities.
“Discussions may still take place, but that’s as far as it is right now,” she said.
Critics have questioned whether Trump’s approach to election meddling with Putin was aggressive enough. Trump never condemned the cyberattacks during the presidential campaign to the same extent he raised them in his meeting with Putin.
Sanders said Trump and Putin did not talk about the full range of sanctions levied against Russia during their meeting.
“Sanctions specific to election meddling were discussed, but not beyond that,” Sanders said of the meeting.
