Trump hid details of face-to-face meetings with Putin even from senior officials, says report

In his reaction to the report, Trump referred to his interactions with Indian Prime Minister Modi and said in an interview: "I meet Modi. In Japan I meet with Abe. I meet all of them but nobody says anything.”

(FILES) In this file photo taken on July 16, 2018, US President Donald Trump (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands ahead a meeting in Helsinki. - The Federal Bureau of Investigation opened an inquiry in 2017 into whether US President Donald Trump was working on behalf of Russia, The New York Times reported on January 11, 2019. The investigation -- a dual counterintelligence and criminal probe -- was launched after the president fired FBI director James Comey in May 2017, the Times said, citing anonymous sources. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP)

New Delhi: Furthering the woes of the US President Donald Trump at a critical time marked by longest ever government shutdown in US history, a media report has alleged that Trump has hidden the details of his face-to-face meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin even from his senior officials. A report in Washington Post has said that the US President has gone to extraordinary lengths to conceal details of his conversations with Putin, including at least one occasion where he took possession of the notes of his own interpreter and instructed him not to discuss what had transpired with other administration officials. As per the report this happened after a meeting between Putin and Trump in Hamburg that was also attended by then-secretary of State Rex Tillerson. The people in administration found out about the meeting when a White House adviser and a senior State Department official sought information from the interpreter, of what transpired beyond the readout shared by Tillerson. Citing unnamed officials, the report stated there is no detailed record of the meetings between Trump and Putin at five locations over the past 2 years. “Such a gap would be unusual in any presidency, let alone one that Russia sought to install through what U.S. intelligence agencies have described as an unprecedented campaign of election interference”, it said. Reacting to the report, Trump said in an interview broadcast: “The details of the meeting are up for grabs. I wonder why no one asks about my meetings with other world leaders." Referring to his interactions with Indian Prime Minister Modi, he said: "I meet Modi. In Japan I meet with Abe. I meet all of them but nobody says anything.” Trump also lashed out against a report by New York Times on Friday that alleged after Trump fired former FBI director James Comey, “the agency had launched an investigation to check if the president was working for the Russian or was under their influence”. Trump said it was the most insulting article written about him.