US Secretary of State 'shocked' by the way Trump questioned Putin

The US Secretary of State appeared "shocked" by how President Trump brought up the topic of Russian interference in the US election during his meeting with President Putin on July 7th.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin during a private meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit. Photo: AP.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told an associate he was "shocked" by how President Donald Trump addressed the question of Moscow's interference in the 2016 U.S. election with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin during a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, the New York Times reported on July 8.

Trump began the meeting by directly asking Putin: "I'll be blunt: Did you do it?" Trump's advisors were not entirely sure beforehand whether he would raise the issue of Russian interference in the US election at the meeting, "though he leaned toward challenging" President Putin on the topic.

The Russian and American sides provided conflicting accounts of the meeting. US Secretary of State Tillerson told reporters that Trump and Putin had "long and frank exchanges" regarding the allegations and that the Russian president firmly denied Moscow's interference in the US election process.

However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov gave a different account of the dialogue between the two leaders. "US President Trump said he heard a firm affirmation from Russian President Putin that the accusations of Russian interference in the US elections are untrue," Lavrov told reporters at the G20 summit. "Trump said he accepts those affirmations."

The Russian president also said on July 8 that the US president "seemed satisfied with his answers."

On the morning of July 9th, on Twitter, Mr. Trump affirmed that he had "twice pressed" his Russian counterpart on the suspicion of Moscow's interference in the US election during their meeting, but emphasized that "it's time to move forward by cooperating constructively with Russia."

According to VNE