Tweeting later his first conference with Putin on Friday, Trump announced that it is the time to operate constructively with Moscow, guiding to a ceasefire deal in southwestern Syria that came into force on Sunday.
“Putin & I talked forming an inscrutable Cyber Security unit so that poll hacking, & many other negative things, will be secured and safe,” he said regarding their talks at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany.
Trump said he had proposed declarations of Russian intervention in the 2016 U.S. presidential election with Putin.
“I strongly urged President Putin twice about Russian interference in our election. He vehemently denied it. I’ve already given my opinion…..”
He added: “We arranged a ceasefire in parts of Syria which will save lives. Now it is time to go forward in working constructively with Russia!”
Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida promptly criticized the move on Twitter, saying Putin was not a trusted ally.
Associating with Putin on a “Cyber Security Unit” is similar to partnering with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on a “Chemical Weapons Unit,” he wrote.
Investigations by a distinctive counsel, Robert Mueller, and several U.S. congressional committees are seeing into whether Russia intervened in the election and intrigued with Trump’s campaign. Those inquiries are focused most exclusively on Moscow’s actions, lawmakers and intelligence officials say, and no proof has surfaced publicly associating other countries.
Moscow has denied any meddling, and Trump says his campaign did not cooperate with Russia.
