The White House has confirmed a previously undisclosed meeting between President Trump and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin took place at the G20 summit in Hamburg earlier this month.
The report - which first surfaced in an email from Eurasia Group consultancy to clients - revealed Mr Trump spoke with Mr Putin for almost an hour during a leaders’ dinner at the global summit.
Mr Trump reportedly left his seat during the dinner and took a seat alongside the Russian president, and the pair spoke for almost an hour. The only other person to witness the meeting was a Moscow-employed translator. There is understood to be no written record of the meeting.
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 19, 2017
Mr Trump tweeted on Tuesday night: "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!"
In a second tweet he said: “The Fake News is becoming more and more dishonest! Even a dinner arranged for top 20 leaders in Germany is made to look sinister!”
The revelation of a second meeting, which took place hours after Mr Trump held a two-and-a-quarter hour meeting with Mr Putin that was also attended by the countries’ two foreign ministers, has renewed focus on Mr Trump’s ties with Russia.
A meeting between Mr Trump’s son, Donald jnr, and a Russian attorney in Trump Tower in June 2016, first disclosed ten days ago, has continued to stoke controversy, following revelations that eight people in fact attended the gathering.
Ike Kaveladze, a US-based Russian real estate businessman, also attended the meeting it emerged yesterday, along with Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya, Russian-born lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin, a Russian translator and former British tabloid journalist and publicist Rob Goldstone.
Yesterday, senator Dianne Feinstein of California told reporters that special counsel Robert Mueller informed the judiciary committee that Donald Trump jnr and former campaign manager Paul Manafort, who also attended the meeting, were free to testify before the committee.
Meanwhile, the president will on Wednesday host Republican senators for lunch at the White House in a sign that the Trump administration is seeking to reignite the stalled Republican healthcare proposals.
Following months of negotiations, the Republican plan to repeal and replace Obamacare appeared to have collapsed on Tuesday after a last-ditch effort by Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell to agree a ‘repeal-only’ plan failed to garner sufficient support.
Although Mr Mc Connell conceded the plan to repeal and replace Obamacare had failed “for now”, he said late on Tuesday that he intends to push for a debate on a ‘repeal-only’ bill early next week.
However, at least four senators have voiced their opposition to voting on a 2015 bill that would repeal parts of former president Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act while delaying the implementation of a replacement plan for two years.
With Republicans controlling 52 seats in the 100-seat senate, Mr Mc Connell needs the support of at least 50 senators to hold a debate on the issue.
Speaking on the senate floor late on Tuesday, Mr Mc Connell said Republicans “must continue to push forward” with the healthcare plan. “I regret that the effort to immediate repeal and replace Obamacare will not immediately be successful. That doesn’t mean we will give up.”
Earlier, he outlined his argument for holding a vote on a repeal-only bill that was introduced in 2015.
“We do not simply have 50 senators who can agree on what ought to replace the existing law. What we do have that a vote many of us made two years ago . . . that would repeal Obamacare and with a two-year delay give us an option to build something better on a bipartisan basis,” he said.
Mr Trump, who has been criticised by many for not engaging with the Senate healthcare plan, suggested his party should let Obamacare “fail” and then rewrite a new plan.
“As I have always said, let ObamaCare fail and then come together and do a great healthcare plan. Stay tuned!,” he tweeted. He repeated the suggestion later to reporters. “I’m not going to own it,” Mr Trump said of Obamacare, “I can tell you the Republicans are not going to own it.”
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer strongly criticised the president’s suggestion, accusing Mr Trump of trying to “sabotage the system and hurt millions of Americans”.
“He is actively trying to undermine the healthcare system of this country using millions of Americans as political pawns in a cynical game,” the senate’s top-ranking Democrat said, adding: “The president is playing a dangerous game with the healthcare of this country.”
The latest trouble to beset Republicans’ promise to repeal and replace Mr Obama’s Affordable Care Act erupted late on Monday when two senators - Mike Lee of Utah and Jerry Moran of Kansas - unexpectedly withdrew their support for Mr Mc Connell’s latest draft.
The senate’s top Republican had already been forced to delay a debate on the bill over senator John McCain’s absence due to unexpected surgery.
But the withdrawal of support by Mr Lee and Mr Moran together with the previously announced opposition of senators Rand Paul and Susan Maine left a vote unfeasible.
