US lawmakers demand questioning of interpreters involved in Trump-Putin talks

Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump. Photo: AP

"Senators have sent a request to the White House to confirm that President Trump kept records of all his conversations with Russian President Putin, and asked the White House to allow Congress to question interpreters who attended those meetings," US media reported.

The US media as well as lawmakers are paying special attention to this issue, related to an article in the Washington Post. The author of the article said that President Trump hid from members of the US administration the details of his meetings with President Putin, including the meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Hamburg (Germany) in July 2017.

It is worth mentioning that after this meeting, President Trump was accused of confiscating the interpreter's notes during the face-to-face meeting with his Russian counterpart, to prevent the contents of the exchange from being leaked, and at the same time asked the interpreter not to disclose this incident to other members of the government apparatus.

As a result, US officials said there were no detailed records or classified data about direct conversations between Mr. Trump and the Russian leader - America's main rival - on five occasions in the past two years.

In an interview with Fox News on January 12, the White House boss emphasized that he never tried to hide any details about his conversations with the Russian President.

The first meeting between the leaders of Russia and the United States took place on the sidelines of the G20 Summit, lasting more than two hours, instead of the planned 30 minutes. The main topics of the dialogue revolved around the issues in Syria and Ukraine, the situation on the Korean Peninsula and issues of ensuring security in cyberspace.

Meanwhile, the first US-Russia Summit took place in July 2018 in Helsinki (Finland). Here, Russian President Putin and US President Trump discussed a series of international issues and improved bilateral relations.

The restrictions imposed by President Trump are part of a broader effort to keep his communications with Mr. Putin secret from public scrutiny and prevent senior officials within his own administration from knowing the full extent of what he said to one of America’s chief adversaries.