Image copyright Reuters Image caption The leaders will reportedly discuss US-Russia relations and national security issues on Monday
A summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin will go ahead as planned despite tension over Moscow's alleged election meddling, the White House says.
The pair will meet for talks in the Finnish capital, Helsinki, on Monday.
"It's on," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters.
But there are calls for the meeting to be cancelled after the US charged 12 Russian intelligence officers with election interference on Friday.
For its part, Russia said it was looking forward to the meeting.
"We consider Trump a negotiating partner," said Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov. "The state of bilateral relations is very bad. We have to start to set them right."
The announcement that the Russians had been charged with hacking Democratic officials during the 2016 presidential election sparked a heated war of words between Washington and Moscow.
Russia's foreign ministry said the claims were a "heap of conspiracy schemes" intended to "damage the atmosphere" before Monday's summit.
It said there was no evidence linking any of the dozen officials to hacking or military intelligence.
But US Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein insisted that "the goal of the conspirators was to have an impact on the election."
The 11-count indictment names the Russians defendants, alleging they began cyber-attacks in March 2016 on the email accounts of staff for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.
They are accused of using keystroke reading software to spy on the chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and hack into the party's computers.
Mr Rosenstein said the conspirators used fictitious online personas, including "DCLeaks" and "Guccifer 2.0", to release thousands of stolen emails.
They are also accused of stealing the data of half a million voters from a state election board website.
During a joint news conference with UK Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday, Mr Trump said he would "absolutely" ask the Russian president about alleged election meddling.
But top Democrats have urged him to cancel the planned summit altogether following the indictment.
"President Trump should absolutely cancel this meeting with Putin on Monday," said DNC chairman Tom Perez. "He is not a friend of the United States."
"President Trump should cancel his meeting with Vladimir Putin until Russia takes demonstrable and transparent steps to prove that they won't interfere in future elections," said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer.
Republican Senator John McCain said the summit "should not move forward" unless the president "is prepared to hold Putin accountable".
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Putin laughs at political chaos in US
Special Counsel Robert Mueller is investigating US intelligence findings that Russians conspired to sway the 2016 election in Mr Trump's favour.
As of Friday, the inquiry has indicted 32 people - mostly Russian nationals in absentia - as well as three companies and four former Trump advisers.
None of the charges allege Trump advisers colluded with Russia to interfere with the presidential campaign.
Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and George Papadopoulos, a former foreign policy adviser, have pleaded guilty to making false statements about their contacts with Russians.
Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his deputy Rick Gates were charged with money laundering relating to their political consultancy work in Ukraine.
PoppinKREAM on July 14th, 2018 at 04:43 UTC »
What we know:
The United States Intelligence Agencies have confirmed that a foreign adversary interfered with the 2016 election process.[1] We know two dozen state election systems came under attack.[2] The Intelligence Agencies heads unanimously agree that the Russians will attack the 2018 election.[3] The cyber security head of the Department of Homeland Security has stated that the Russians had successfully penetrated voter registration rolls in several states before the 2016 election.[4] A bipartisan Senate investigation led by Republican Senator Burr found that Putin interfered in the 2016 U.S. election to specifically help Donald Trump.[5]
U.S. officials, including former National Security Advisor General H.R. McMaster, have claimed that this administration has not done enough to dissuade Russian meddling.[7] Most recently President Trump put the brakes on economic sanctions on Russia a day after U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley laid out a preliminary plan to impose new sanctions. The decision by President Trump came after the Kremlin denounced the sanctions plan as international economic raiding.[8] Furthermore, NSA Director Admiral Rodgers testified to Congress that Trump has given no order to counter Russian election meddling.[9] While former National Security Advisor General H.R. McMaster warned of Russian election meddling and publicly denounced their continued attacks, he was removed by President Trump and John Bolton took his place. National Security Advisor Bolton has been pushing to eliminate a top Cyber-Security position in the White House as he attempts to reorganize the National Security Council.[10]
Special Counsel Mueller's indictment of 25 Russians:
Earlier today the Justice Department indicted 12 Russian intelligence officers linked to Guccifer 2.0 and their role in hacking Clinton and the DNC.[11] The Russians had access to information on 500,000 voters.[12]
Earlier this year Special Counsel Mueller indicted 13 Russian nationals and 3 Russian entities for election interference.[13] The Russian election meddling operation was a sophisticated attack against the West. This operation was funded through Russian fronts, including a catering company run by a close friend of Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin. They used stolen American identities. Operatives bought political ads on social media sites. Operatives visited the United States, traveled across 9 states and discussed escape routes if they were caught inside the country. Operatives bought equipment including burner phones and SIM cards. The operation included hundreds of employees and millions of dollars, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein put it best - the Russians conducted information warfare during the election.[14] According to the indictment Prigozhin met Mikhail Bystrov, a leader of the Internet Research Agency (IRA), regularly in 2015 and 2016.[15] Prigozhin funded the Internet Research Agency and their meddling of the American election. This was a sophisticated operation that spanned over several years.[16] Prigozhin has been Putin's go to guy for under the table missions, including recruiting mercenaries for the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.[17]
1) New York Times - Trump Misleads on Russian Meddling: Why 17 Intelligence Agencies Don’t Need to Agree
2) NPR - 10 Months After Election Day, Feds Tell States More About Russian Hacking
3) Washington Post - The nation’s top spies said Russia is continuing to target the U.S. political system
4) Washington Examiner - DHS official: Russians 'successfully penetrated' voter registration rolls in several states before 2016 election
5) New York Times - White House Penalizes Russians Over Election Meddling and Cyberattacks
6) Bloomberg - Senate Intelligence Committee Agrees That Putin Meddled to Help Trump
7) Washington Post - America is still unprepared for a Russian attack on our elections
8) Washington Post - Trump puts the brakes on new Russian sanctions, reversing Haley’s announcement
9) New York Times - White House Has Given No Orders to Counter Russian Meddling, N.S.A. Chief Says
10) Politico - Bolton pushing to eliminate White House cyber job
11) Justice Department indictment of 12 Russian Intelligence Officers
12) CNBC - 5 key takeaways from the latest indictment in Mueller's Russia probe
13) Justice Department - Indictment of 13 Russians and 3 entities
14) Politico - Mueller shifts focus back to Russian 'information warfare'
15) Washington Post - The rise of ‘Putin’s chef,’ the Russian oligarch accused of manipulating the U.S. election
16) The Guardian - Putin’s chef, a troll farm and Russia's plot to hijack US democracy
17) New York Times - Yevgeny Prigozhin, Russian Oligarch Indicted by U.S., Is Known as ‘Putin’s Cook’
Randolm on July 14th, 2018 at 04:20 UTC »
Trump also 'jokingly' said this about Kim Jong Un:
So this decision is of very little surprise.
CadetCovfefe on July 14th, 2018 at 04:09 UTC »
The mid-year performance review will not be cancelled.