President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a second, private meeting during a G20 summit dinner earlier this month, the White House confirmed Tuesday.
The discussion, which was first reported by BuzzFeed News on July 8, was described by a source as a “long chat” right after a dinner party for world leaders.
On Tuesday, National Security Council spokesman Michael Anton confirmed to CNN that the previously undisclosed meeting happened at a “couples-only social dinner at the G20.” He did not elaborate, noting that no staff or Cabinet members were present, just translators.
However, Trump was not joined by his own translator, according to Ian Bremmer, the president of the Eurasia Group think tank who reported the meeting in a newsletter to group clients Tuesday. He called the meeting a breach of national security protocol that the president “likely wouldn’t be aware of.”
First lady Melania Trump had been seated next to Putin at the dinner. Trump sat next to Juliana Awada, the first lady of Argentina.
White House aides only heard Trump’s version of the conversation, reporters were not informed, and there was no formal readout of the meeting, one official told the Washington Post.
The meeting also reportedly stunned other world leaders who witnessed the interaction.
“Pretty much everyone at the dinner thought this was really weird, that here is the president of the United States, who clearly wants to display that he has a better relationship personally with President Putin than any of us, or simply doesn’t care,” Bremmer told the New York Times. “They were flummoxed, they were confused and they were startled.”
Earlier that day, Trump and Putin had met formally for nearly two hours, far surpassing the 30-minute timeframe that had been scheduled.
—Brianna Sacks
