Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org (Home - Stephen Lendman)

Media scoundrels are all over this story, misreporting what happened.

A White House statement called an alleged second meeting “false, malicious and absurd.”

Trump tweeted: “The Fake News is becoming more and more dishonest! Even a dinner arranged for top 20 leaders in Germany is made to look sinister!”

“Fake News story of secret dinner with Putin is ‘sick.’ All G 20 leaders, and spouses, were invited by the Chancellor of Germany. Press knew!”

NYT fake news said the following:“(T)here was another (Putin/Trump) encounter (at the G20): a one-on-one discussion over dinner that lasted as long as an hour and relied solely on a Kremlin-provided interpreter.”

“There is no official United States government record of the intimate dinner conversation, because no American official other than the president was involved.”

Other scoundrel media reports were similar, making mountains out of nothing. No second meeting occurred. Here’s how the White House explained what actually happened:

“The night of the G20 summit, there was, first, a concert for all the leaders in the new Hamburg opera house. The leaders were all photographed by the press in a group photo before going in.”

“Later that night, Chancellor Merkel hosted a dinner for leaders and spouses only, and the German government set the seating arrangements. The concert and dinner were publicly announced on both the President’s schedule and the G20 schedule, with the clear understanding that all visiting leaders would be present.”

“At the dinner, President Trump was seated between Mrs. Abe, wife of the Prime Minister of Japan, and Mrs. Macri, wife of the President of Argentina. Mrs. Trump was seated next to President Putin.”

“During the course of the dinner, all the leaders circulated throughout the room and spoke with one another freely. President Trump spoke with many leaders during the course of the evening.”

“As the dinner was concluding, President Trump went over to Mrs. Trump, where he spoke briefly with President Putin.”

“Each couple was allowed one translator. The American translator accompanying President Trump spoke Japanese.”

“When President Trump spoke to President Putin, the two leaders used the Russian translator, since the American translator did not speak Russian.”

“There was no ‘second meeting’ between President Trump and President Putin, just a brief conversation at the end of a dinner. The insinuation that the White House has tried to ‘hide’ a second meeting is false, malicious and absurd.”

“It is not merely perfectly normal, it is part of a President’s duties, to interact with world leaders. Throughout the G20 and in all his other foreign engagements, President Trump has demonstrated American leadership by representing our interests and values on the world stage.”

Instead of criticizing Trump for justifiable reasons, he’s relentlessly bashed over nothing - rubbish substituting for responsible journalism.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

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