‘Where are the Servers?’: Trump Chooses Putin Over US Intelligence

Trump and Putin shake hands at the Helsinki summit.

(Photo: ANI Screengrab)

Video Editor : Abhishek Sharma

The recent Helsinki Summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin was a lesson in showcasing bonhomie. Trump defended Putin against allegations that Russia had meddled in the 2016 US presidential elections, going against the evidence of his own intelligence agencies.

I have President Putin. He just said it’s not Russia. I will say this. I don’t see any reason why it would be.

Donald Trump, US President

Trump countered the question of Russian meddling by talking about ‘servers’. He also brought Hillary Clinton into the discussion, questioning how her emails disappeared.

Where are those servers? They’re missing. Where are they? What happened to Hillary Clinton’s emails? 33,000 emails gone – just gone. I think in Russia they wouldn’t be gone so easily. I think it’s a disgrace that we can’t get Hillary Clinton’s 33,000 emails.

Donald Trump, US President

Trump held his own country also responsible for the decline in ties with Russia. Saying that the United States had been “foolish”, Trump said that the dialogue between the two countries should have happened before he came into office.

The meeting between the two leaders came just days after 12 Russian intelligence officers were charged with hacking Democratic officials in 2016 by the US Department of Justice.

(With inputs from BBC.)