Earlier this month President Trump traveled to Helsinki to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Many speculated that the meeting would help begin to chisel out each country's stance on current issues like the arms race, the Syrian deal, sanctions relief, and what has been happening in Russia's backyard.
But following the summit, many are saying that the waters have been muddied even more-- and even worse, many are saying that if collusion between the Trump administration and Russia was not clear before it is now crystal clear. The reason why many are becoming more and more confused with the multiple reports and transcripts is that none of them can paint the same clear picture, instead, the people are being given multiple reports with multiple conclusions not knowing where to start and what to believe.
To start, let's find out why American's found their President in Helsinki, Finland in the first place. Following Trump's meeting with NATO in England and meeting with Prime Minister Theresa May, the President traveled to Helsinki to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin following his appearance at the World Cup finals.
The goal of the official meeting, to get a feel for each of the country's respective feelings towards hot-button topics such as the Syrian conflict, sanctions, conflicts with Ukraine, and Russian involvement in the 2016 U.S. Presidential race.
While all these topics are ones that greatly need to be talked about the problem that there is no one person that holds the official transcripts of all that was talked about between the two. While it can be understood that not every conversation can be recorded because of privacy, the problem is that no one can seem to get a straight answer from anyone within the Trump administration. In an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, this is what Secretary Pompeo had to say following a question by Zoe Daniel about how much Pompeo really knew.
"Yeah. I wasn't in the room, but I've had a number of conversations with President Trump. I've spoken with Foreign Minister Lavrov. I think I have a very good understanding of what took place between the two leaders" -via the U.S. Department of State
While that may seem to solidify everyone's anger and confusion as to why no one knows what could have been shared, another report from CNN has many Americans fuming. It all comes down to a single question asked by Reuters reporter, Jeff Mason. According to reports by CNN and MSNBC, the White House has omitted that important question from the transcripts of the last press conference between President Trump and President Putin.
And if that wasn't enough, the actual video recording of the press conference does not have the same audio. So what does this mean? Well according to The Atlantic, if you were to watch the Russian government, PBS, or the Associated Press' video of the press conference you can hear Mason ask a very striking question. However, if you watch the White House's video or official transcripts, that question ceases to exist. And that is the root of the problem because the question that was asked was in regards to Russian involvement in the U.S election.
If you were to watch the Russian, PBS, or AP coverage Jeff Mason gets the microphone and this is what you will hear.
"Jeff Mason: 'President Putin, did you want President Trump to win the election and did you direct any of your officials to help him do that?'
President Putin: 'Yes, I did. Yes, I did. Because he talked about bringing the U.S.-Russia relationship back to normal.' "
But, if you were to watch the White House video or read their official transcripts this is the conversation that we get makes President Putin seem to be talking about Robert Mueller's investigation.
"President Putin: 'That could be a first step, and we can also extend it. Options abound, and they all can be found in an appropriate legal framework.'
Jeff Mason: 'And did you direct any of your officials to help him do that?'
President Putin: 'Yes, I did. Yes, I did. Because he talked about bringing the U.S.–Russia relationship back to normal.' "
The problem here is obvious, why do four broadcasting have different audio, and most importantly why is the White House the only one to differ from the other three? According to multiple reports, the reason for the mix-up has been due to a translation lag or possibly even technical difficulties with the microphone.
Whatever the case, the White House now finds itself in deep trouble and finds many Americans demanding an answer as to what actually happened at the summit.
