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U.S. NEWS Saturday 4 May 2019

HOAX a closer relationship with ties that cover limited types
Continued from Front Putin. of nuclear weapons or only
"We had a good conver- White House press secretary certain ranges of adversary
sation about many things," Sarah Sanders later said missiles," national security
Trump told reporters in the Trump didn't tell Putin not adviser John Bolton told The
Oval Office. to meddle in the 2020 elec- Associated Press last week.
Trump said the two lead- tion because he's made "Russia and China must be
ers were considering a that clear in the past. "He brought to the table."
new nuclear agreement doesn't need to do that ev- A Kremlin readout of the
"where we make less and ery two seconds," she said. call said the two presidents
they make less. And may- Mueller's report concluded confirmed their mutual de-
be even where we get rid that Russian interference in sire "to intensify dialogue in
of some of the tremendous the 2016 presidential elec- various fields, including on
firepower that we have tion was "sweeping and sys- issues of strategic stability,"
right now." He said they tematic." Ultimately, Muel- but gave no details about
had discussed the possibil- ler's investigators did not White House press secretary Sarah Sanders speaks with report- a possible arms deal.
ity of including China in the find a criminal conspiracy ers outside the White House, Friday, May 3, 2019, in Washington. Trump said the two also
deal and that China would between Russia and the Associated Press spoke extensively about
"very much would like to be Trump campaign, but they North Korea's nuclear
a part of" it. found multiple contacts. other topics, including the ing the current nuclear weapons program. North
But more interesting, per- Indeed, the report con- possibility of the new nu- agreement — as well as Korean leader Kim Jong Un
haps, was what was left cluded that "the Russian clear arms deal between discussions about poten- traveled to Russia last week
unsaid. government perceived it the U.S., Russia and China. tially starting a new one to meet with Putin. Sand-
Trump said that, at no would benefit from a Trump He said U.S. officials had that could include China ers said Trump said several
point, did he warn Putin presidency and worked broached the idea with the as well," Sanders said. times that it was important
not to meddle in the next to secure that outcome, Chinese during ongoing Trump earlier this year an- for Russia to continue to
election. And while he and and that the Campaign trade talks and that China nounced that he was pull- help put pressure on North
Putin did discuss Mueller's expected it would benefit was "excited about that, ing the U.S. out of the In- Korea to denuclearize.
findings , they appeared to electorally from informa- maybe even more excited termediate-Range Nuclear The statement released by
gloss over Mueller's descrip- tion stolen and released than about trade." Discus- Forces Treaty, or INF, a the Kremlin after Friday's
tion of the extensive efforts through Russian efforts." sions on a new nuclear decades-old nuclear arms call said Putin stressed that
Russia took to interfere in Trump has focused only on deal, he said, would likely treaty with Russia. Trump "Pyongyang's conscien-
the 2016 election, including Mueller's top-line conclu- begin shortly between the accused Moscow of vio- tious fulfillment of its obliga-
the 25 Russians indicted for sions, hailing the lack of evi- U.S. and Russia, with China lating its terms with "impu- tions should be accompa-
that effort. dence of a conspiracy as a potentially added "down nity" by deploying missiles nied by reciprocal steps to
"We discussed it," Trump political win. the road." banned by the pact. Mos- reduce sanctions pressure
said of the report. "He actu- Trump tweeted after the Trump did not say which cow denies violating it and on North Korea."
ally sort of smiled when he call that the two had dis- arms control agreement he has accused Washington On Venezuela, Trump in-
said something to the ef- cussed the "Russian Hoax" and Putin had discussed, of being in non-compli- sisted that Putin "is not look-
fect that, 'It started off as a among other topics. but the Russian state news ance. ing at all to get involved in
mountain and it ended up "As I have always said, long agency Tass reported that Trump's decision to exit the Venezuela, other than he'd
being a mouse,'" Trump said before the Witch Hunt start- they talked about the New INF treaty reflected his ad- like to see something posi-
of Putin. "But he knew that ed, getting along with Rus- START treaty, the last major ministration's view that it tive happen for Venezu-
because he knew there sia, China, and everyone arms-control treaty remain- was an unacceptable ob- ela." That's despite the fact
was no collusion whatso- is a good thing, not a bad ing between the U.S. and stacle to more forcefully that Russia has forged a
ever. So pretty much that's thing," he wrote. Russia. confronting not only Rus- political, military and eco-
what it was." Senate Democratic leader The treaty, which was sia but also China. China's nomic alliance with Ven-
Trump has repeatedly de- Chuck Schumer slammed signed in 2010 and expires military has grown might- ezuela over many years
clined to publicly rebuff Pu- Trump for failing to press in 2021, restricts both the ily since that treaty was and is helping to support
tin for the 2016 operation. Putin on the report's "exten- U.S. and Russia to 1,550 de- signed, and the pact had President Nicolas Maduro's
And their latest conversa- sive evidence that Russia ployed strategic nuclear prevented the U.S. from de- embattled government.
tion suggests that Mueller's hacked our elections," say- warheads on a maximum ploying weapons to coun- The Kremlin said that during
findings have done little ing: "Trump's priorities are of 700 deployed interconti- ter some of those being de- the call, Putin stressed that
to persuade Trump of the appalling and undermine nental ballistic missiles and veloped by Beijing. only the Venezuelan peo-
gravity of the threat of for- democracy." strategic bombers. "The world has moved on ple have the right to de-
eign election interference Trump said he and Putin "There was a discussion from the Cold War and its termine the future of their
or derail his efforts to forge had instead focused on about having — extend- bilateral arms control trea- country. q