Pompeo: Trump Set Up Communications Channel With Russia in Helsinki
US President Donald Trump was able to set up a channel for dialogue with Russia at this week’s summit with Vladimir Putin, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.
"The President was aiming towards creating a channel for communication and dialogue, and he achieved that," he told the EWTN television channel.
Pompeo complained about "a lot of heat" following this Monday’s summit between the two presidents, who met behind closed doors in Helsinki.
"The President had the objective of taking two countries that’d been on a bad path and trying to redirect that," he underscored.
The foreign policy chief added that despite challenges that Russia presented to the United States there were issues – counterterrorism and nuclear weapon risks – that needed to be addressed.
Asked if the world would ever see transcripts from Trump’s private meeting with Putin or from his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in June, Pompeo said it was unlikely.
"I’d be very surprised if we see transcripts from either. That would be ahistorical," he said, adding his own conversations with North Korean officials were equally inappropriate for public release.
Senate Democrats this week called for the US president’s interpreter to reveal in Congress what was discussed between Putin and Trump when they met in the Finnish capital earlier this week.
https://sputniknews.com/us/201807201066525053-usa-russia-pompeo-dialogue-helsinki/