Good news—no need for a back-channel anymore. Donald Trump just plans to talk with Vladimir Putin one-on-one at the outset of their July 16 summit in Helsinki—meaning no aides, no note-takers, no documentation whatsoever of the meeting. Likely just one or two translators. CNN writes:
He had said before the Singapore talks that he wanted to take the measure of Kim personally and gauge their chemistry. In the case of Putin, Trump has already assessed their interpersonal ties up close, but wants more time to develop the leader-to-leader relationship, according to the person familiar with the summit's planning.
Absolutely. So much to talk about: plans for Trump Tower Moscow, Russian hacking this fall in the midterms, acquiescing to Putin on Syria, political asylum if it ever comes to that. Perhaps just a simple "thank you" is in order.
It's not the first time Trump has insisted on cutting the American people he supposedly serves out of the loop. In his "epochal" meeting with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, the two leaders kicked things off with an hour-long face-to-face that only included their translators. During that time, Trump clearly made verbal commitments that weren't written into the record—such as ending military exercises with South Korea.
He also did that with Putin at last year's G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany.
In a second conversation during dinner at the same summit, Trump was without a translator who spoke Russian, so instead relied on Putin's. The men spoke for about an hour without any other aides present, officials said later.
Stuck without your translator? Use Putin’s—what could go wrong? Of course, the difference now is that Trump is demanding to go solo in advance of the talks, whereas no one learned about that lengthy Trump-Putin exchange at the G-20 until after it happened.
But no need to cover anything up now. First, results don't really matter—Trump has declared the North Korea nuclear threat over even as the country provably continues to build its capabilities. Second, the Republican Congress has cleared the way for Trump do anything and everything he wants without facing any scrutiny, oversight, pushback, etc.
So now Trump and Putin can just let it all hang out—rubbing the overt secrecy in our faces. Man, that must be a real load off.
