Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin's interests did not just align during America's 2016 presidential election, but continue to align in their attempt to get Americans to forget about election interference, the former Ambassador to Russia explained on MSNBC's "The 11th Hour."
"Russia’s interference in our last presidential election came up, as you might imagine, during Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s trip to Russia where today he met with Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov," anchor Brian Williams reported Tuesday.
"Putin was kind enough to invite everyone to his summer home in Sochi for today’s meeting where he made a point of complimenting special counsel Mueller while calling the end of the Mueller inquiry an opportunity," he noted.
The host noted a Washington Poststory on the meeting.
"The Kremlin has accused what it calls Washington’s anti-Russian establishment of blocking Trump’s efforts at closer ties," The Post reported. "The Mueller investigation was the prime culprit in that narrative, weaving a web of suspicion around Trump and Putin to prevent the two from working together."
For analysis, Williams interviewed Ambassador Michael McFaul.
"I think it’s an attempt by the Trump Administration to forget about the past," McFaul said.
"I applaud the Secretary of State for reading a tough statement when he was with Lavrov and saying what I think should be the policy of the United States," McFaul noted. "He said that on the record things that President Trump has never said, but that’s all a setup to now what I think is going to be a meeting between the two presidents on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Japan and it’s all like bygones."
"You know, forget about what happen 2016. Forget about annexation in Ukraine. Forget about seizing two dozen Ukrainian sailors illegally. Let’s move on and just restore relations. That was the verb that President Putin used, at least during the remarks that he had with Pompeo," McFaul explained.
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