Its a more confident putin. I first met Vladimir Putin a few days after that summit. He was still very much the former kgb officer who had risen from obscurity in a couple of years to become the leader of the kremlin. He was very eager to prove himself even to us american journalists. He read his briefing books and he wanted us to know he could reel off facts and figures. You wouldnt see him with that level of insecurity in his own office now. He needs america more than ever because for the last few years since 2014, and the illegal ann ann annexation of crimea, thats the first such armed takeover of territory. He has been an International Outcast ever since then in a coalition largely led and organized by the United States. Vladimir putin, of course, has been seeking readm mimitting to club. He said, i would like to invite you back into the g7. Its important to note how much on the ground he has compared to several years ago. He has a massive presence in syria, a massive base, troops on the ground setting the agenda in syria along with the iranians and assad. We spent years getting the russians out of the middle east. They are back in a big way. He has a base in serbia. He is busy according to latest reports interfering in macedonia. Doesnt want any of the other balkan republics to join nato. He wants to get President Trump to acknowledge this sphere of influence idea that is their geopolitical thing. The president was asked if Vladimir Putin the president said if Vladimir Putin asked him to halt military exercises, joint military exercises with the United States in the balaka states, he said he would consider that. But john bolton said its not on the table. You have a sense with the two guys, these are two alpha males squaring off. Its really putin would come late, he would make its intentional. He made trump wait for him. He came in later. Thats what the senior person does in a relationship. These are not coincidence. Its not like there was a traffic jam. Its really important to note what the russians are saying on state media. A couple of things they have said a state senator and ally of Vladimir Putin i will interview. Before that the state media said now is the real game. This helsinki meeting is the end game. It was just sort of passing through brussels and eu and britain. This is the real game. Helsinki was the eye on the prize, so to speak. Thats important this is important for Vladimir Putin. I think its worth reminding viewers, the Economic Situation that many in russia are facing. Vladimir putin is financially the country has been in trouble in large part because of sanctions and other things. Something like this where he is back on the world stage is certainly it works in his favor. His economy is onetenth the size of the u. S. Economy. Thats right. We continually play into president putins argument for his domestic political audience as well. Christiane made an important point. Where Vladimir Putin and trump actually have a similar world view and a view of great powers like russia, President Trump mentioned china, he said Vladimir Putin at the opening of this meeting, were going to talk about our good friend xi. It shows you President Trump is more comfortable with the notion that the three big men of the world would sit down, russia and china and the United States, rather than this postwar ii vision of multilateral web of alliances and partnerships of democracies. That is a notion that donald trump is not comfortable with. He is not a multilateral guy. He doesnt speak in the elevated language of international diplomacy. Its not just democracy. The west stands for peace and prosperity as well. Thats at stake right now. The economic we should point out, these are alliances which have prevented another world war. You look back world war i and world war ii. There has not been a global war on that scale since world war ii. Theres a reason for that. Its not by accident. Its the alliances which have been formed. Thats right. Its been worth it. Its been worth it. Is someone protesting . What is this . Someone was holding up a sign. Former u. S. Ambassador to nato who served two different president s in the United States said this im not sure whats i dont think we can see it unless somebody on the ground can. He is carrying a handheld sign. Whats going on, jim acosta . Reporter a reporter is being forcibly removed from this room right now. A man who identified himself with being the nation of progressive publication. Im not sure if thats accurate. Thats how he represented himself to Security Officials. They initially asked him to step out of the room, which he did peacefully. They brought him back in to get his stuff. He said the reason why im being removed, talking about limbsehi is that he had a sign. A sign talked about the Nuclear Test Ban treaty. I believe thats what i saw on the sign. Something to do with nuclear testing. As he held it up, Security Officials grabbed him and forcibly removed him from the room. I dont know if you saw that on camera. Its happening in real time in front of us. It was a scuffle between this reporter and the Security Officials here. All day long, Security Officials on both the white house side and the kremlin side have been trying to screen everybody, screen all of the journalists, make sure they get inside without any commotion. Then, of course, as soon as we get inside this president ial palace in helsinki, we had a commotion. Theres a security official coming back in. Not sure if he is u. S. , russian. He is removing the rest of the gentlema gentlemans equipment. That appears to be secret service. Anderson, i dont think it would be accurate to describe this as 100 totally completely a reporter being removed from the room because he was trying to do reporting. I believe it appears he was removed because he was carrying some kind of protest sign. He planned on causing a commotion. Obviously, were watching this unfold in real time. We obviously need to get more information about all of this. It appears that is exactly what took place here. This man, either who is a journalist or was posing as a journalist, had planned on holding up a sign during the press conference. He has been removed from the room quite forcibly. This was not somebody willing to go on his own. Jim, what is it you thought was said on the sign . We will try to rerack the video to see the small sign he was holding up. You said it was something you thought about nuclear something to do with Nuclear Weapons . Reporter yeah. Forgive me for looking at my phone. I did snap a picture of the sign. The sign said, Nuclear Weapons ban treaty. Thats what the sign said. I will climb off the chair right now. Hope you dont mind me doing that. We have the delegation coming into the room. The pompeo, the chief of staff john kelly at the white house, john bolton, National Security adviser, john huntsman, u. S. Ambassador to russia and others. It seems we are getting closer to this president conference getting started. We will let you take your seat. Theres Stephen Miller as well. We havent seen Something Like that for some time. Theres sarah sanders. We dont know who that person was who had that. Thats Sergei Lavrov there. If thats accurate, for all we know that could have been a question. We just dont know. It sounds pretty innocuous, what about the Nuclear Test Ban treaty . Thats one of the things we understand is under discussion today. Thats just talking now from far across the river, just in front, not being in the room. Hard to know what the person was holding up the sign. We dont know. Obviously, the it looks like this is about to take place. The principals are now on hand. We are seeing the kremlin spokesman. Wasnt he inside the lunch . He was in the lunch. I dont believe he was originally scheduled to be there. Originally, it was three on each side. They added a fourth. Glad to see there was one woman in both delegations, National SecurityCouncil Director for russia. Here is Vladimir Putin and president donald trump. Lets listen in. Translator thank you so much. Shall we start working, i guess . Distinguished mr. President , ladies and gentlemen, negotiations with the president of the United States, donald trump, took place in a frank and business like atmosphere. We can call it a success and fruitful round. The future of the relationship key issues of the global agenda. Its clear to everyone that the bilateral relationship are going through a complicated stage. Yet those impediments, the tension, the tense atmosphere essentially have no solid reason behind it. The cold war is a thing of past. The era of confrontation of the two countries is a thing of remote past, today both russia and the United States face a new set of challenges. Those include a dangerous maladjustment of mechanisms for maintaining security and stability, crises, the creeping threat of terrorism and transnational crime. Its the snowballing problems in the economy, environmental risks and other sets of challenges. We can only cope with this challenges if we join the ranks and Work Together, hopefully, we will reach this understanding with our american partners. Todays negotiations reflected our joint wish, our joint wish with President Trump to redress this negative situation in the bilateral relationship. Outline first steps for improving this relationship to restore the acceptable level of trust and going back to the previous level of direction on all mutual interests issues. As Major Nuclear powers, we bear special responsibility for maintaining interNational Security. Vital, we mentioned this during the negotiations, crucial that we fine tune strategic things. We note with suggestions. We believe it necessary to Work Together further to interact on the disarmament agenda, military and technical cooperation. This includes the extension of the Strategic Offensive arms limitation treaty. Its a dangerous situation with the global American Defense system. Its the implementation issue with the imf treaty. And nonplacement of weapons in space. We favor the continued cooperation in counterterrorism and maintaining cyber security. Id like to point out specifically that our special services are cooperating quite successfully together. The most recent example is their operational operation within the recently concluded World Football cup. In general, the contacts among special services should be put system wise basis should be brought to framework. Im reminded President Trump about suggestion to reestablish the working group on antiterrorism. We mentioned crisis not always that our postures dovetail exactly. The overlapping and mutual interests abound. We have to look for points of contact and interact closer in a variety of international forum. Clearly, we mentioned the regional crisis, syria. As far as syria is concerned, the task of establishing peace and reconciliation in this country could be the first showcase example of the successful joint work. Russia and the United States apparently can take leadership on this issue and organize the interaction to overcome humanitarian crisis and help Syrian Refugees go back to their homes. In order to accomplish this level of successful cooperation in syria, we have all the required components. Let me remind you. Both russian and American Military have useful experience of coordination of their action, established the operational channels of communication which permitted to avoid dangerous incidents and unintentional collisions in the air and the ground. Also crushing terrorists in the southwest of syria, the south of syria should be brought to the full compliance with the treaty of 1974 about separation of forces, about separation of forces of israel and syria. This will bring peace to golan heights. And bring more peaceful relationship between syria and israel and also to provide security of the state of israel. Mr. President paid special attention to the issue during todays negotiations. I would like to confirm that russia is interested in this development and this will act accordingly. Thus far, we will make a step toward creating a lasting peace in compliance with the respective resolutions of security council, for instance the resolution 338. Were glad that the Korean Peninsula issue is starting to resolve. To a great extent it was possible thanks to the personal engagement of President Trump who opted for dialogue instead of confrontation. We also mentioned our concern about the withdrawal of the United States from the jcpoa. The u. S. Our u. S. Counterparts are aware of our posture. Thanks to the Iranian Nuclear deal, iran began most controlled country in the world, submitted to the control of iaea, it effectively ensures peaceful nature of Iranian Nuclear program and strengthens the nonproliferation regime. We discussed crisis, we paid special attention to the implementation of minsk agreement. The United States could be more decisive in nudging the ukrainian leadership and encourage to work in this. We paid more attention to economic ties and economic operations. Its clear that both countries, businesses of both countries are interested in this. American delegation was one of the largest delegations in the st. Petersburg economic forum. It featured over 500 representatives from american businesses. We agreed, me and President Trump, we agreed to create High Level Working Group that would bring together cam tptains of russian and american businessmen. They know how to articulate this successful business cooperation. Let them think and make their proposals and suggestions in this regard. President trump mentioned issue of socalled interference of russia with the american elections. I had to reiterate things i said several times, including during our personal contacts, that the russian state has never interfered and is not going to interfere in internal american affairs, including election process. Any specific material, if such things arise, we are ready to analyze together. For instance, we can analyze them through the joint working group on cyber security, the establishment of which we discussed during our previous contacts. Clearly, its past time we restore our cooperation in the cultural area in the humanitarian area. As far as i think you know that recently we hosted the american congressman delegation. Now its portrayed almost as historic event, although it should have been just a current affair, just business as usual. In this regard, we mentioned this proposal to the president. We have to think about practicalities. But also about the rational, the logic of it. We have to engage experts on bilateral relationship who know history and background of our relationship. The idea is to create an Expert Council that would include political scientists, former military experts in both countries who would look for points of contact between the two countries. That would look for ways on putting the relationship on the trajectory of growth. In general, we are glad with the outcome of our first full scale meeting because previously we only had a chance to talk briefly on international forum. We had good conversation with President Trump. I hope that we start to understand each other better. Im grateful to donald for it. Clearly, there are some challenges left when we were not able to clear all the backlog. But i think that we may the first important step in this direction. In conclusion, i want to point out that this atmosphere of cooperation is something that we are especially grateful for to our finnish hosts. Were grateful for finnish people and leadership for what they have done. I know that we have caused some inconvenience to finland. We apologize for it. Thank you for your attention. Thank you very much. Thank you. I have just concluded a meeting with president putin on a wide range of Critical Issues for both of our countries. We had direct, open, deeply productive dialogue. Went very well. Before i begin, i want to thank the president of finland for hosting todays summit. President putin and i were saying how lovely it was and what a great job they did. I also want to congratulate russia and president putin for having done such an excellent job in hosting the world cup. It was really one of the best ever. Your team also did very well. It was a great job. Im here today to continue the proud tradition of bold american diplomacy. From the earliest days of our republic, american leaders have understand that diplomacy and engagement is preferable to conflict and hostility. A productive dialogue is not only good for the United States and good for russia, but it is good for the world. The disagreements between our two countries are wellknown. President putin and i discussed them at length today. If were going to solve many of the problems facing our world, then were going to have to find ways to cooperate in pursuit of shared interests. Too often we have seen the consequences when diplomacy is left on the table. We have seen the benefits of cooperation. In the last century, our nations fought alongside one another in the second world war. Even during the tensions of the cold war, when the world looked much different than it does today, the United States and russia were able to maintain a strong dialogue. Our relationship has never been worse than it is now. However, that changed as of about four hours ago. I really believe that. Nothing would be easier politically that to refuse to meet, to refuse to engage. But that would not accomplish anything. As president , i cannot make decisions on Foreign Policy in a futile effort to appease partisan critics or the media or democrats who want to do nothing but resist and obstruct. Constructive dialogue between the United States and russia forward the opportunity to open new pathways toward peace and stability in our world. I would rather take a Political Risk in pursuit of peace than to risk peace in pursuit of politics. As president , i will always put what is best for america and what is best for the american people. During todays meeting, i addressed directly with president putin the issue of russian interference in our elections. I felt this was a message best delivered in person. Spent a great deal of time talking about it. President putin may very well want to address it and very strongly, because he feels strongly about it. He has an interesting idea. We also discussed one of the most critical challenges facing humanity, Nuclear Proliferation. I provided an update on my meeting last month with chairman kim on the denuclearization of north korea. After today, i am very sure that president putin and russia want very much to end that problem. Going to work with us. I appreciate that commitment. The president and i also discussed the radical islamic terrorism, both russia and the United States has suffered. We have agreed to maintain open communication between our security agencies to protect our citizens from this global menace. Last year, we told russia about a planned attack in st. Petersburg. They were able to stop it cold. They found them. They stopped them. There was no doubt about it. I appreciated president putins phone call afterwards to thank me. I also emphasized the importance of placing pressure on iran to halt its Nuclear Ambitions and to stop its campaign of violence throughout the area, throughout the middle east. As we discussed at length, the crisis in syria is a complex one. Cooperation between our two countries has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives. I also made clear that the United States will not allow iran to benefit from our Successful Campaign against isis. We have just about eradicated isis. We also agreed that representatives from our National Security councils will meet to followup on all of the issues we addressed today and to continue the ro grprogress we h started right here in helsinki. Todays meeting is only the beginning of a longer process. But we have taken the first steps toward a Brighter Future and one with a strong dialogue and a lot of thought. Our expectations are grounded in realism, but our hopes are grounded in americans desire for friendship, cooperation and peace. I think i can speak on behalf of russia when i say that also. President putin, i want to thank you again for joining me for these important discussions and for advancing open dialogue between russia and the United States. Our meeting carries on a long tradition of diplomacy between russia, the United States for the greatest good of all. This was a very constructive day. This was a very constructive few hours that we spent together. Its in the interest of both of our countries to continue our conversation. And we have agreed to do so. Im sure we will be meeting again in the future often and hopefully, we will solve every one of the problems that we discussed today. Again, president putin, thank you very much. Translator the journalists would have chance to ask two questions two set of question each. First the russian journalist will ask question. Give your affiliation. Translator good afternoon. I have a question to President Trump. During your recent european tour, you mentioned that the implementation of the it makes europe hostage of russia. You suggested that you could free europe from this by supplying american this cold winter showed the current model, current mechanism of supply of fuel to europe is quite viable. At the same time, as far as i know, u. S. Had to buy russian gas for boston. I have a question. The implementation of your idea has political tinge to it or is this practical one . Because there will be a gap formed in the supply and demand mechanism and first its the consuming countries who will fall into this gap. The second question, before the meeting with president putin, you called him an adversary, rival. And yet you expressed hope you will be able to bring this relationship to a new level. Did you manage to do this . I called him a competitor and a good competitor he is. I think the word competitor is a compliment. I think that we will be competing when you talk about the pipeline. Im not sure necessarily that its in the best interests of germany or not. That was a decision that they made. We will be competing. As you know, the United States is now soon will be, but i think it is right now the largest in the oil and gas world. Were going to be competing with the pipeline. I think we will compete successfully. Theres a little advantage locationally. I wish them luck. I discussed with merkel in pretty strong tones. I also know where theyre coming from. They have a very close source. We will see how that all works out. We have lots of sources now. The United States is much different than it was a number of years ago when we werent able to extract what we can extract today. Today, were number one in the world at that. I think we will be out there competing very strongly. Thank you very much. Translator if i may, i throw in some two cents. We talked to mr. President , including this subject as well. We are aware of the stance of President Trump. I think that we as major oil and gas power and the United States as a major gas and oil power as well, we can Work Together on regulation of International Markets because neither of us is actually interested in plummeting of the prices. The consumers will suffer as well. The consumers in the United States will suffer as well. The shale Gas Production will suffer. Because beyond a certain price bracket, its no longer profitable to produce gas. Nor we are interested in driving prices up, because it will drain live juices from all our sec sosectors of the economy. We have space for cooperation here. Then about the north stream, mr. President voices his concerns about the possibility of disappearance of transit through ukraine. I reassured mr. President that russia stands ready to maintain this transit. More over, we stand ready to extend this transit contract thats about to expire next year in case if the dispute between the economic entities dispute will be settled in stockholm arbitration court. Thank you. Mr. President , you tweeted this morning that its u. S. Foolishness, stupidity and the Mueller Probe that is responsible for the decline in u. S. Relations with russia. Do you hold russia at all accountable for anything in particular . If so, what would you consider them that they are responsible for . I do. I hold both countries responsibility. I think the United States has been foolish. I think we have all been foolish. We should have had this dialogue a long time ago, a long time frankly before i got to office. I think were all to blame. I think that the United States now has stepped forward along with russia. Were getting together and we have a chance to do some great things, whether its Nuclear Proliferation in terms of stopping, have to do it. Ultimately, thats probably the most important thing that we can be working on. I do feel that we have both made some mistakes. I think that the probe is a disaster for our country. I think its kept us apart. Its kept us separated. There was no collusion at all. Everybody knows it. People are being brought out to the fore. Virtually, none of it related to the campaign. They will have to try really hard to find something that did relate to the campaign. That was a clean campaign. I beat Hillary Clinton easily and, frankly, we beat her and im not even saying from the standpoint, we won that race. Its a shame there could be a cloud over it. People know that. People understand it. The main thing we discussed this also is zero collusion. It has had a negative impact upon the relationship of the two Largest Nuclear powers in the world. We have 90 of Nuclear Power between the two countries. Its ridiculous. Its ridiculous whats going on with the probe. For president putin if i could follow up as well. Why should americans and why should President Trump believe your statement that russia did not intervene in the 2016 election given the evidence that u. S. Intelligence agencies have provided . Will you consider extraditing the 12 russian officials that were indicted last week by a u. S. Grand jury. As you know, the concept of that came up perhaps a little before, but it came out as a reason why the democrats lost an election, which frankly, they should have been able to win, because the Electoral College is much more advantageous for democrats, as you know, than it is to republicans. We won the Electoral College by a lot. 306 to 223 i believe. That was a well fought battle. We did a great job. Frankly, im going to let the president speak to the second part of your question. Just to say it one time again and i say it all the time, there was no collusion. I didnt know the president. There was nobody to include with. There was no collusion with the campaign. Every time you hear all of these 12 and 14 its stuff that has frankly, they admit, these are not people involved in the campaign. But to the average reader out there, they are saying, maybe that does. It doesnt. Even the people involved, some perhaps told misstories. In one case the fbi said there was no lie. Money is else said there was. We ran a brilliant campaign. Thats why im president. Thank you. Translator as to who is to be believed, who is not to be believed, you can trust no one. Where did you get this idea that President Trump trusts me or i trust him . He defends the interests of the United States of america. I do defend the interests of the russian federation. We do have interests that are common. We are looking for points of contact. There are issues where our postures diverge and we are looking for ways to reconcile our differences, how to make our effort more meaningful. We should not proceed from the immediate political interests that guide certain political powers in our countries. We should be guided gi fa ed by. Could you name a single fact that prove collusion . This is utter nonsense. Just like the president recently mentioned, yes, the public at large in the United States had a certain perceived opinion of the candidates during the campaign. But theres nothing particularly extraordinary about it. Thats usual thing. President trump, when he was a candidate, he mentioned the need to restore the russia u. S. Relationship and its clear that certain parts of American Society felt sympathetic about it and different people could express their sympathy in different ways. Isnt that natural . Isnt it natural to be sympathetic towards a person who is willing to restore the relationship with our country, who wants to work with us . We heard the accusations about it. As far as i know, this company hired american lawyers and the accusations doesnt doesnt have a fighting chance in the american courts. Theres no evidence when it comes to the actual facts. We have to be guided by facts, not by rumors. Lets get back to the issue of this 12 alleged Intelligence Officers of russia. I dont know the full extent of the situation. The President Trump mentioned this issue. I will look into it. So far, i can say the following. Things that offered off the top of my head. We have an existing agreement between the United States of america and the russian federation, an existing treaty that dates back to 1999. The mutual assistance on criminal cases. This treaty is in full affect. It works quite efficiently. On average, we initiate about 100, 150 criminal cases upon request from foreign states. For instance, the last year, there was one extradition case upon the request sent by the United States. Th this treaty has specific legal procedures we can offer. The appropriate commission headed by mueller, he can use this as a Solid Foundation and send an official request to us so that we would interrogate, hold questioning of this individuals who he believes are privy to some crimes. Our enforcement are perfectly able to do this questioning and send the appropriate materials to to the United States. More over, we can meet you halfway. We can make another step. We can actually permit representatives of the United States, including the members of this very commission headed by mr. Mueller, we can let them into the country. They will be present at questioning. In this case, theres another condition. This kind of effort should be mutual one. Then we would expect that the americans would reciprocate. They would question officials, including the officers of Law Enforcement and Intelligence Services of the United States whom we believe who have something to do with illegal actions on the territory of russia. And we have to request the presence of our Law Enforcement. For instance, we can bring up the mr. Brouder in this case. Business associates of him have earned over 1. 5 billion in russia. They never paid any taxes. Neither in russia nor in the United States. Yet, the money escape the country. They were transferred to the United States. They sent huge amount of money, 400 million as a contribution to the campaign of Hillary Clinton. Thats their personal case. It might have been legal, the contribution itself. The way the money was earned was illegal. We have solid reason to believe that some Intelligence Officers, guided these transactions. We have an interest of questioning them. That could be a first step. We can extend it. Options abound. They all can be found in an appropriate legal framework. Did you direct any of your officials to help him do that . Translator yes, i did. Yes, i did. Because he talked about bringing the u. S. russia relationship back to normal. Translator i think there can be three questions from the russian pool. You have the floor. Translator thank you so much. Good evening in everyone. Mr. President , would you please go into the details of possibly any specific arrangements for the u. S. To Work Together with russia in syria, if any of these arrangements were made today or discussed . Translator my question to president putin in russian. Since we brought up the issue of football several times, i ask i use the football language. Mr. Pompeo mentioned that when we talk about syrian cooperation, the ball is in the syrian court. Mr. Putin, in russian court, is it true . How would you use this fact of having the ball . I guess i will answer the first part of the question. We have worked with israel long and hard for many years, many decades. I think we have never never has any country been closer than we are. President putin also is helping israel. We both spoke with netanyahu. They would like to do certain things with respect to syria, having to do with the safety of israel. In that respect, we absolutely would like to work in order to help israel. Israel will be working with us. So both countries would work jointly. I think that when you look at all of the progress thats been made in certain sections with the eradication of isis, about 98 , 99 there and other things that have taken place that we have done and that, frankly, russia has helped us with in certain respects. But i think that working with israel is a great thing. Creating safety for israel is something that both president putin and i would like to see very much. One little thing i might add to that is the helping of people. Helping of people. Because you have such horrible if you see ive seen reports and ive seen pictures. Ive seen just about everything. If we can do something to help the people of syria get back into some form of shelter and on a humanitarian basis. Thats what the word was, humanitarian basis. I think both of us would be interested in doing that. We will do that. Thank you very much. For now, no specific agreements, for instance, between the militaries . Our militaries do get along. Our militaries have gotten along probably better than our political leaders for years. Our militaries do get along very well. They do coordinate in syria and other places. Thank you. Translator we did mention this. We mentioned the humanitarian trek of this issue. Yesterday, i discussed this with french president mr. Macron and we reached an agreement that together with european countries, including france, we will step up this effort on our behalf. We will provide military cargo aircraft to deliver humanitarian cargo. I brought up this issue with President Trump. I think theres plenty of things to look into. The crucial thing is that huge amount of refugees are in turkey, in lebanon, in jordan in the states that border or adjacent to syria. If we help them, the migratory pressure upon the european states will be decreased many fold. I believe its crucial from any point of view from humanitarian point of view, from the point of view of helping people, helping the refugees and in general, i agree, i concur with President Trump, our military cooperate quite successfully together. They do get along. I hope they will be able to do so in future. We will keep working. I informed President Trump. We do stand ready to link this effort to the socalled small group of states so that the process would be a broader one, a multidimensional one. We will maximize our fighting chance to gather ultimate success on the issue of syria. Speaking about the having the ball in our court in syria, President Trump has just mentioned that we have successfully concluded the World Football cup. Speaking of the football, actually, mr. President , i will give this ball to you and now the ball is in your court. More the United States will host the world cup in 2026. Thats right. Thank you very much. We do host it. We hope we do as good a job. Thats very nice. That will go to my son. We have no question. Melania, here you go. Final question from the United States will go to Jonathan Lamier from the ap. Thank you. A question for each president. President trump, you first. Just now president putin denied having anything to do with the election interference in 2016. Every u. S. Intelligence agency has concluded that russia did. My first question for you, sir, is who do you believe . My second question is would you now with the whole world watching tell president putin, would you denounce what happened in 2016 and would you warn him to never do it again . So let me just say that we have two thoughts. You have groups that are wondering why the fbi never took the server, why havent they taken the server. Why was the fbi told to leave the office of the Democratic National committee. Ive been wondering that. Ive been asking that for months and months and ive been tweeting it out and calling it out on social media. Where is the server . I want to know where is the server and what is the server saying . With that being said, all i can do is ask the question. My people came to me, dan coats came to me and some others and said they think its russia. I have president putin, he just said its not russia. I will say this. I dont see any reason why it would be, but i really do want to see the server. But i have i have confidence in both parties. I really believe that this will probably go on for a while, but i dont think it can go on without finding out what happened to the server. What happened to the servers of the pakistani gentleman that worked on the dnc . Where are those servers . Theyre missing. Where are they . What happened to Hillary Clintons emails . 33,000 emails gone, just gone. I think in russia they wouldnt be gone so easily. I think its a disgrace that we cant get Hillary Clintons 33,000 emails. So i have great confidence in my intelligence people, but i will tell you that president putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today. And what he did is an incredible offer. He offered to have the people working on the case come and work with their investigators with respect to the 12 people. I think thats an incredible offer. Okay thank you. Translator id like to add something to this. After all, i was an Intelligence Officer myself. And i do know how dossiers are made up. Just a second. Thats the first thing. Not the second thing. I believe that russia is a Democratic State and i hope youre not denying this right to your own country, youre not denying that United States is democracy. Do you believe the United States is a democracy . And if so, if it is a Democratic State, then the final conclusion in this kind of dispute can only be delivered by a trial, by the court, not by the executive, by the Law Enforcement. For instance, the company that is brought up is being accused, its being accused of interference, but this company does not constitute the russian state. It does not represent the russian state. I brought several examples before. Well, you have a lot of individuals in the United States take george soros, for instance, with multi billion capitals, but it doesnt make him his position his posture the posture of the United States. No, it does not. Its the same case. There is the issue of trying a case in the court and the final the final say is for the court to deliver. We are now talking about the individuals and not about particular states and as far as the most recent allegations is concerned about the russian Intelligence Officers, we do have an intergovernmental treaty. Please do send us the request. We will analyze it properly and well send a formal response. As i said, we can extend this cooperation, but we should do it on a reciprocal basis because we would await our russian counterparts to provide us access to the persons of interests for us who we believe can have something to do with intelligence service. Lets discuss the specific issues and not use the russia and u. S. Relationship as a loose change for this internal political struggle. A question for president putin, thank you. Two questions for you, sir. Can you tell me what President Trump may have indicated to you about officially recognizing crimea as part of russia . And secondly, sir, do you does the russian government have any compromising material on President Trump or his family . Translator President Trump well, the posture of President Trump on crimea is well known and he stands firmly by it. He continues to maintain that it was illegal to annex it. Our view point is different. We held a referendum in strict compliance with the u. N. Charter and international legislation. For us this issue and now to the compromising material. Yeah, i did heard these rumors that these allegedly collected compromising material on mr. Trump when he was visiting moscow. Distinguished colleague, let me tell you this, when President Trump was in moscow back then, i didnt even know that he was in moscow. I treat President Trump with utmost respect, but back then when he was a private individual, a businessman, nobody informed me that he was in moscow. Lets take st. Petersburg economic forum, for instance. There were over 500 american businessmen, high ranking, high level ones. I dont even remember the last names of each an every one. Do you think that we try to collect compromising material on each and every single one of them . Well, its difficult to imagine on a bigger scale of this. Please disregard these issues and dont think about this anymore again. And i have to say if they had it, it would have been out long ago. And if anybody watched peter strzok testify over the last couple of days, and i was in brussels watching it, it was a disgrace to the fbi. It was a disgrace to our country. And you would say that was a total witch hunt. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. You have been watching perhaps one of the most disgraceful performances by an american president at a summit in front of a russian leader certainly that ive ever seen. An extraordinary press conference. Im back with cnn Global Affairs analyst susan glasser, david gergen, International Anchor christian amanpour. Christiane, given the opportunity, asked by an american reporter who he trusted on the issue of russian meddling, the u. S. Intelligence or Vladimir Putin, he blinked and he went to Hillary Clintons email server. As to who he holds responsible, he holds both responsible. I think we are all to blame. We have a chance to make some great things. Made no mention of the shooting down of a plane, crimea and election interference. In fact he said all he can do is ask the question about election interference, that Vladimir Putin was very powerful in his denial of it and the president went on to say he doesnt see any reason why it would have been russia who interfered. I think that was it. I dont see any reason why it would have been russia hacking into our election and went on to talk about the server and the 30,000 emails, et cetera. He basically said in russia, they would never have let this stuff happen. I mean it really was quite extraordinary actually. I thought we were going to get out of that press conference with a minimum of damage and that was really, really extraordinary as you just said. An he then said that putin came up with a great offer as to how to figure this out, which of course putin responded as he always does with the sort of obfuscation. Yes, we have a sort of treaty on various issues, but you have to send us a formal letter and well respond and well reciprocate but only in kind. We need to have people of interest. So its very typical putin response. But that was an incredible statement. David gergen, have you ever seen anything like this . No. And its a struggle to put it altogether and comprehend what weve just heard. Ive never heard an american president talk that way, but i think its especially true that when hes with someone like putin, who is a thug, a world class thug, that he sides with him again and again against his own countrys interests, his own institutions that he runs, that hes in charge of the federal government, hes in charge of these intelligence agencies. And he basically dismisses them and he retreats into this weve heard this again and again on an International Stage to be talking about hillarys server. Its embarrassing. Its embarrassing. I want to go to jim acosta, whos in the room. Jim, your thoughts. Reporter yeah, anderson. I think what you were just saying there a few moments ago, i think that sums it up nicely. This was the president of the United States essentially taking the word of the russian president , Vladimir Putin, over his own intelligence community, over his own Law Enforcement community on this critical question of russian interference in the 2016 election. And i think when Vladimir Putin was asked that question by jonathan lemur of the Associated Press at the very end whether or not the russians had compromising information on President Trump, i thought it was very interesting that Vladimir Putin paused for a few moments, seeming to understand the question but not exactly sure how to answer it. And there was some nervous laughter in the room. I dont know if you could hear that on the microphones in the room, but there was some nervous laughter. It took all of us by surprise. It sounded as if Vladimir Putin was trying at that point to come up with a good answer and he didnt really have one. I thought it was striking, anderson, that the russian president did offer to allow Robert Muellers team to come over to russia to continue his investigation. Im not sure that would be greeted very well by President Trump, given that that would