2LT International News

WASHINGTON, U.S. – In what came as one of his most belligerent actions this week, the U.S. President Donald Trump slammed critics who have been grilling him throughout the week about what they have described as his “treasonous” performance during his meeting with the Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump, who has drawn criticism from not only his opponents and critics, but also from his own party and some close aides – declared on Thursday morning that he’ll have another meeting with Putin.

The U.S. President, who stood beside his Russian counterpart on Monday and undercut American intelligence agencies, only to backtrack the following day – said on Thrusday that he is “looking forward” to meeting again with Putin, to “begin implementing” issues they discussed during their summit in Helsinki.

Then, he continued his usual attack on the media, dubbing it the “enemy of the people,” and accused the media of distorting the summit and pining for a confrontation between the U.S. and Russia.

In a series of tweets, Trump argued his summit with Putin “was a great success.”

He wrote, “The Summit with Russia was a great success, except with the real enemy of the people, the Fake News Media. I look forward to our second meeting so that we can start implementing some of the many things discussed, including stopping terrorism, security for Israel, nuclear proliferation, cyber attacks, trade, Ukraine, Middle East peace, North Korea and more.”

He added, “There are many answers, some easy and some hard, to these problems…but they can ALL be solved!”

While both Trump or his White House have refused to confirm if any substantive agreements came about between the two countries after the leaders met for over an hour in a closed-door meeting – Putin has signaled that he and the U.S. President reached several agreements.

Over the last two days, Trump, in his own pattern of handling tough situations, has tried to quell the uproar that his Helsinki performance has triggered, but has still refused to change his stance on the issue at the heart of the criticism against him.

The American president continues to refuse to back the assessment by the country’s intelligence community, that concluded that Russians made efforts to influence the 2016 election.

He refused to accept this conclusion when he received details of it, refused to accept it again during a joint news conference with Putin, and upon his return, he refused to back down or apologize over his performance.

On Tuesday, Trump said he misspoke at the news conference in Helsinki, but is yet to acknowledge that Russia meddled in the elections and that there is value in the findings of the U.S. Intelligence agencies.

Trump has continued to stress that there there was “no collusion” between his campaign and Moscow.

He has repeatedly insisted that “other people also” could have interfered in the 2016 election.

Later, in an interview with CBS News, Trump acknowledged that Putin was responsible for the effort to undermine the election, he only attributed that responsibility to Putin being “in charge of the country.” 

Later on Thursday, the White House said in a statement that Trump has asked that Putin be invited to Washington this fall.

In a tweet, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders added that during Trump’s visit with Putin in Helsinki, Finland, on Monday, Trump “agreed to ongoing working level dialogue between the two security council staffs” of the United States and Russia.

Sanders added in her tweet that Trump had asked National Security Advisor John Bolton “to invite President Putin to Washington in the fall and those discussions are already underway.”

She wrote on Twitter, “In Helsinki, @POTUS agreed to ongoing working level dialogue between the two security council staffs. President Trump asked @Ambjohnbolton to invite President Putin to Washington in the fall and those discussions are already underway.”