PLUS: “I Don’t Know If He’ll Make the Ask” Says Huntsman of Trump Asking Putin to Extradite the 12 Russian Intel Officers Charged by Mueller on Friday
ALSO: Sen. Warner (D-Va.) “Would Feel Much Better if There Were Other Americans in the Room” with Trump and Putin, Since Trump “Kind of Goes in and Wings It”
TONIGHT & TOMORROW: Lester Holt Anchors “NBC Nightly News” Live from Helsinki
JULY 15, 2018 – “It isn’t a summit… This is a meeting,” says U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman on “Meet the Press” of President Trump’s meeting tomorrow with Russian President Putin in Helsinki. “No state dinner, no joint statement, no deliverables that are going to be pre-packaged. You don’t know what’s going to come out of this meeting.”
When asked if Trump will ask Putin to extradite the 12 Russian intel officers charged by Special Counsel Mueller on Friday and if the paperwork has begun, Huntsman tells moderator Chuck Todd: “I don’t know if he’ll make the ask, but it may be part of the agenda. It may be part of their bilateral meeting together. We’ll have to see.”
“The agenda is the president’s. Everything will be his call, but I think it’s highly unlikely that you’ll see any change in Crimea,” shares Huntsman regarding NATO’s position that Crimea belongs to Ukraine and not Russia. Watch the full interview.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, also joined the broadcast, telling Todd: “I really would feel much better if there were other Americans in the room making sure that we make the point that the first and top point of this agenda should be no further Russian interference in our elections,” after noting Trump “doesn’t do a lot of prep work for these meetings. He kind of goes in and wings it.”
Reacting to the indictments by Mueller on Friday, Warner notes, “It appears a rather strange coincidence that the very day that Mr. Trump calls on the Russians to hack into Clinton emails, well, the Russian spies actually try to take that action.”
“It’s abysmal that this administration has not made 2018 election security a higher priority,” says Warner. “I would feel a lot better if there was a concerted, whole-of-government effort to make sure not only at the state and local registrar level, but on the companies that manipulate and own the voter files and maintain the voter files behind the scenes. I think we need to really step up our game.” Watch the full interview.
In an exclusive interview, Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) tells Todd: “If the president is giving in on lifting sanctions without Putin taking action, I think that would be a mistake.” The Alaska senator says that if Putin “wants a better relationship… he’s got to take actions to make that happen.” Watch the full interview.
Tune in tonight as “NBC Nightly News” anchor Lester Holt broadcasts live from Helsinki ahead of the president’s meeting tomorrow with Putin. Read more about NBC News’ in-depth coverage.
Radio host Hugh Hewitt, NPR’s Joshua Johnson, TIME’s Elise Jordan and The Cook Political Report’s Amy Walter preview tomorrow’s meeting on the show’s roundtable, with Johnson pointing out that, with Bitcoin, the Russians “literally minted money to hack our election system. Now, the president saying, “Well, I don’t know if I’m going to ask for extradition” is stunning. If someone broke into the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and stole American dollars to commit a crime against the United States, it would be an immediate call for extradition.”
Read the full transcript of “Meet the Press” this morning, and follow the show on Twitter and on Facebook for the latest.
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NBC NEWS’ “MEET THE PRESS WITH CHUCK TODD”
“Meet the Press with Chuck Todd” is where newsmakers come to make news — setting the political agenda and spotlighting the impact Washington decision-making has on Americans across the country. It is the #1 most-watched Sunday public affairs show across the board for the 2016-2017 season, reaching more than three million viewers every Sunday and millions more through social, digital and on-demand platforms. “Meet the Press” brings its authority and influencer interviews to MSNBC with “MTP Daily” weekdays at 5 p.m. ET and to the “1947: The Meet the Press Podcast”. It’s the longest-running show in television history, expanding its brand to include a political documentary film festival in collaboration with the American Film Institute. Chuck Todd is the political director of NBC News and the moderator of “Meet the Press“; John Reiss is the executive producer.
