Remarks by President Trump and President Putin of the Russian Federation in Joint Press Conference | Eastern North Carolina Now

    And the second question: Before the meeting with President Putin, you called him an adversary, a rival, and yet you expressed hope that you would be able to bring this relationship to a new level. Did you manage to do this?

    PRESIDENT TRUMP: Actually, I called him a competitor. And a good competitor he is. And I think the word "competitor" is a - it's a compliment. I think that we will be competing, when you talk about the pipeline. I'm not sure necessarily that it's in the best interest of Germany or not, but that was a decision that they made. We'll be competing - as you know, the United States is now, or soon will be - but I think it actually is right now - the largest in the oil and gas world.

    So we're going to be selling LNG and we'll have to be competing with the pipeline. And I think we'll compete successfully, although there is a little advantage locationally. So I just wish them luck. I mean, I did. I discussed with Angela Merkel in pretty strong tones. But I also know where they're all coming from. And they have a very close source. So we'll see how that all works out.

    But we have lots of sources now, and the United States is much different than it was a number of years ago when we weren't able to extract what we can extract today. So today we're number one in the world at that. And I think we'll be out there competing very strongly.

    Thank you very much.

    PRESIDENT PUTIN: (As interpreted.) If I may, I'd throw in some two cents. We talked to Mr. President, including this subject as well. We are aware of the stance of President Trump. And I think that we, as a major oil and gas power - and the United States, as a major oil and gas power as well - we could work together on regulation of international markets, because neither of us is actually interested in the plummeting of the prices.

    And the consumers will suffer as well, and the consumers in the United States will suffer as well, and the shale gas production will suffer. Because beyond a certain price bracket, it's no longer profitable to produce gas, but nor we are interested in driving prices up because it will drain juices, life juices, from all other sectors of the economy, from machine building, et cetera. So we do have space for cooperation here, as the first thing.

    Then, about the Nord Stream 2, Mr. President voiced his concerns about the possibility of disappearance of transit through Ukraine. And I reassured Mr. President that Russia stands ready to maintain this transit. Moreover, we stand ready to extend this transit contract that is about to expire next year, in case - if the dispute between the economic entities dispute will be settled in the Stockholm Arbitration Court.

    SANDERS: (Inaudible) goes to Jeff Mason, from Reuters.

    Q Thank you. Mr. President, you tweeted this morning that it's U.S. foolishness, stupidity, and the Mueller probe that is responsible for the decline in U.S. relations with Russia. Do you hold Russia at all accountable for anything in particular? And if so, what would you consider them - that they are responsible for?

    PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yes, I do. I hold both countries responsible. I think that the United States has been foolish. I think we've all been foolish. We should have had this dialogue a long time ago - a long time, frankly, before I got to office. And I think we're all to blame. I think that the United States now has stepped forward, along with Russia. And we're getting together. And we have a chance to do some great things, whether it's nuclear proliferation, in terms of stopping - because we have to do it. Ultimately, that's probably the most important thing that we can be working on.

    But I do feel that we have both made some mistakes. I think that the probe is a disaster for our country. I think it's kept us apart. It's kept us separated. There was no collusion at all. Everybody knows it. People are being brought out to the fore.

    So far, that I know, virtually none of it related to the campaign. And they're going to have try really hard to find somebody that did relate to the campaign. That was a clean campaign. I beat Hillary Clinton easily. And frankly, we beat her - and I'm not even saying from the standpoint - we won that race. And it's a shame that there can even be a little bit of a cloud over it.

    People know that. People understand it. But the main thing, and we discussed this also, is zero collusion. And it has had a negative impact upon the relationship of the two largest nuclear powers in the world. We have 90 percent of nuclear power between the two countries. It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous what's going on with the probe.

    Q For President Putin, if I could follow up as well. Why should Americans and why should President Trump believe your statement that Russia did not intervene in the 2016 election, given the evidence that U.S. intelligence agencies have provided? And will you consider extraditing the 12 Russian officials that were indicted last week by a U.S. grand jury?

    PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I'm going to let the President answer the second part of that question. But, as you know, the whole concept of that came up perhaps a little bit before, but it came out as a reason why the Democrats lost an election - which, frankly, they should have been able to win, because the Electoral College is much more advantageous for Democrats, as you know, than it is to Republicans.

    We won the Electoral College by a lot - 306 to 223, I believe. And that was a well-fought - that was a well-fought battle. We did a great job.

    And, frankly, I'm going to let the President speak to the second part of your question. But just to say it one time again, and I say it all the time: There was no collusion. I didn't know the President. There was nobody to collude with. There was no collusion with the campaign. And every time you hear all of these - you know, 12 and 14 - it's stuff that has nothing to do - and frankly, they admit, these are not people involved in the campaign.

    But to the average reader out there, they're saying, "Well, maybe that does." It doesn't. And even the people involved, some perhaps told mis-stories or, in one case, the FBI said there was no lie. There was no lie. Somebody else said there was.

    We ran a brilliant campaign, and that's why I'm President. Thank you.

    PRESIDENT PUTIN: (As interpreted). As to who is to be believed and to who is not to be believed, you can trust no one, if you take this. Where did you get this idea that President Trump trusts me or I trust him? He defends the interests of the United States of America, and I do defend the interests of the Russian Federation.

    We do have interests that are common. We are looking for points of contact. There are issues where our postures diverge, and we are looking for ways to reconcile our differences; how to make our effort more meaningful.

    We should not proceed from the immediate political interests that guide certain political powers in our countries. We should be guided by facts. Can you name a single fact that would definitively prove the collusion? This is utter nonsense.

    Just like the President recently mentioned - yes, the public at large in the United States had a certain perceived opinion of the candidates during the campaign, but there's nothing particularly extraordinary about it. That's the usual thing.

    President Trump, when he was a candidate, he mentioned the need to restore the Russia-U.S. relationship, and it's clear that a certain part of American society felt sympathetic about it, and different people could express their sympathy in different ways. But isn't that natural? Isn't it natural to be sympathetic towards a person who is willing to restore the relationship with our country, who wants to work with us?

    We heard the accusations about the Concord country [sic]. Well, as far as I know, this company hired American lawyers. And the accusations doesn't - doesn't have a fighting chance in the American courts. So there's no evidence when it comes to the actual facts. So we have to be guided by facts and not by rumors.

    Now, let's get back to the issue of these 12 alleged intelligence officers of Russia. I don't know the full extent of the situation, but President Trump mentioned this issue, and I will look into it.

    So far, I can say the following, the things that - off the top of my head: We have an acting - an existing agreement between the United States of America and the Russian Federation, an existing treaty that dates back to 1999, the Mutual Assistance on Criminal Cases. This treaty is in full effect. It works quite efficiently.

    On average, we initiate about 100, 150 criminal cases upon request from foreign states. For instance, the last year, there was one extradition case, upon the request, sent by the United States. So this treaty has specific legal procedures.

    We can offer that the appropriate commission headed by Special Attorney Mueller - he can use this treaty as a solid foundation, and send a formal, an official request to us so that we would interrogate - we would hold the questioning of these individuals who he believes are privy to some crimes. And our law enforcement are perfectly able to do this questioning and send the appropriate materials to the United States.

    Moreover, we can meet you halfway; we can make another step. We can actually permit official representatives of the United States, including the members of this very commission headed by Mr. Mueller - we can let them into the country and they will be present at this questioning.

    But in this case, there is another condition. This kind of effort should be a mutual one. Then we would expect that the Americans would reciprocate and they would question officials, including the officers of law enforcement and intelligence services of the United States whom we believe are - who have something to do with illegal actions on the territory of Russia, and we have to request the presence of our law enforcement.

    For instance, we can bring up Mr. Browder in this particular case. Business associates of Mr. Browder have earned over $1.5 billion in Russia. They never paid any taxes, neither in Russia nor in the United States, and yet the money escaped the country. They were transferred to the United States. They sent a huge amount of money - $400 million - as a contribution to the campaign of Hillary Clinton. Well, that's their personal case. It might have been legal, the contribution itself, but the way the money was earned was illegal.

    So we have a solid reason to believe that some intelligence officers accompanied and guided these transactions. So we have an interest of questioning them. 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.

    Q And did you direct any of your officials to help him do that?

    PRESIDENT PUTIN: (As interpreted.) Yes, I did. Yes, I did. Because he talked about bringing the U.S.-Russia relationship back to normal.

    I think there can be three questions from the Russian pool.

    Russia Today, you have the floor.

    Q (As interpreted.) (Speaks Russian.) Thank you so much. And good evening to everyone. My name is Ilya Petrenko, RT TV Channel.

    (Speaks English.) In English, Mr. President, would you please go into the details of possibly any specific arrangements for the U.S. to work together with Russia in Syria, if any of these kind of arrangements were made today or discussed?

    (As interpreted.) (Speaks Russian.) And my question to President Putin, in Russian: Since we brought up the issue of football several times, I ask - I use the football language. Mr. Pompeo mentioned that, when we talk about the Syrian cooperation, the ball is in the Syrian court. Mr. Putin, in the Russian court, is it true? And how would you use this fact - the having the ball?

    PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I guess I'll answer the first part of the question. We've worked with Israel long and hard for many years, many decades. I think we've never - never has anyone, any country been closer than we are. President Putin also is helping Israel. And we both spoke with Bibi Netanyahu, and they would like to do certain things with respect to Syria having to do with the safety of Israel. So in that respect, we absolutely would like to work in order to help Israel, and Israel will be working with us. So both countries would work jointly.

    And I think that, when you look at all of the progress that's been made in certain sections with the eradication of ISIS, we're about 98 percent, 99 percent there - and other things that have taken place that we've done, and that, frankly, Russia has helped us with in certain respects. But I think that working with Israel is a great thing, and creating safety for Israel is something that both President Putin and I would like to see very much.

    One little thing I might add to that is the helping of people - helping of people. Because you have such horrible, if you see - and I've seen reports and I've seen pictures, I've seen just about everything. And if we can do something to help the people of Syria get back into some form of shelter and - on a humanitarian basis. And that's what the word was, really, a humanitarian basis. I think that both of us would be very interested in doing that, and we are. We will do that.

    Thank you very much.

    Q Excuse me, but, for now, no specific agreements? For instance, between the militaries?

    PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, our militaries do get along. In fact, our militaries, actually, have gotten along probably better than our political leaders for years. But our militaries do get along very well, and they do coordinate in Syria and other places.

    Okay, thank you.

    PRESIDENT PUTIN: (As interpreted.) Yes, we did mention this. We mentioned the humanitarian track of this issue. Yesterday, I discussed this with French President, Mr. Macron. And we reached an agreement that, together with European countries, including France, we will step up this effort.

    On our behalf, we will provide military cargo aircraft to deliver the humanitarian cargo. And today, I brought up this issue with President Trump. I think there is plenty of things to look into.

    The crucial thing here is that a huge amount of refugees are in Turkey, in Lebanon, in Jordan - in the states that border - are adjacent to Syria. If we help them, the migratory pressure upon the European states will drop; it will be decreased many-fold. And I believe it's crucial from any point of view - from humanitarian point of view, from the point of view of helping people, helping the refugees.

    And in general, I agree, I concur with President Trump: Our military cooperate quite successfully together. They do get along, and I hope they will be able to do so in future. And we will be keep working in the Astana format - I mean Russia, Turkey, and Iran - which I informed President Trump about.

    But we do stand ready to link these efforts to the so-called "small group" of states so that the process would be a broader one, it would be a multi-dimensional one, and so that we will be able to maximize our fighting chance to get the ultimate success in the issue of Syria.

    And speaking about the having the ball in our court in Syria, President Trump has just mentioned that we've successfully concluded the World Football Cup. Speaking of the football, actually - Mr. President, I'll give this ball to you, and now the ball is in your court. All the more that the United States will host the World Cup in 2026.