President Donald Trump said he is done confronting Vladimir Putin over accusations that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election and said he took the Russian leader at his word when he said that his country did not seek to interfere, CNN reported.
"He said he didn't meddle. He said he didn't meddle. I asked him again. You can only ask so many times," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew from Da Nang to Hanoi in Vietnam. "Every time he sees me, he says, 'I didn't do that.’ And I believe, I really believe, that when he tells me that, he means it."
The two leaders chatted Saturday as they walked together during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, Reuters reported.
Although White House officials said no formal meeting between the two leaders was planned, the two men shook hands at a dinner Friday evening and again at the start of Saturday’s main APEC meeting.
Television cameras caught the two leaders talking as they headed toward the area designated for a group photograph, Reuters reported.
Putin said he had a normal dialogue with Trump and described the President as civil, well-educated, and comfortable to deal with.
Trump is in Vietnam on the fourth leg of a 12-day tour of Asia.
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