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5 Things to Know About Donald Trump's Controversial Meeting with Vladimir Putin

President Donald Trump is facing overwhelming criticism after he publicly accepted Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s denial of interfering in the 2016 presidential election — despite the findings of Trump’s own U.S. intelligence agencies that Putin’s forces launched a cyber attack on the U.S. with the intent of disrupting the election.

Following his highly anticipated one-on-one meeting with Putin in Helsinki, Finland, on Monday, Trump lashed out at Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Russian cyber attack on the 2016 U.S. election, and credited Putin with a forceful denial of any wrongdoing.

“I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today,” Trump said.

Here are five more key things to know about the meeting.

1. The infamous alleged “pee tape” came up — and Putin didn’t deny its existence

Putin chuckled Monday over rumors that the Russian government had collected “compromising material” on Trump before he was president, but never outright denied the existence of the infamous “pee tape.”

The long-rumored and unconfirmed allegation — which was included in the Steele dossier compiled by a former British intelligence officer during the 2016 presidential campaign — is that Russian intelligence agents filmed Trump with female prostitutes in a Moscow Ritz-Carlton hotel room in 2013 as he instructed the women to urinate on the bed.

Donald Trump (left) and Vladimir Putin

Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP/REX/Shutterstock

Asked by a reporter if the Russian government had any “compromising material” on Trump or his family, Putin responded, “Yeah, I did hear these rumors that we allegedly collected compromising material on Mr. Trump when he was visiting Moscow.”

Addressing the reporter, the Russian president continued: “Distinguished colleague, let me tell you this: when President Trump was in Moscow back then, I didn’t even know that he was in Moscow. I treat President Trump with utmost respect. But back then, when he was a private individual — a businessman — nobody informed me that he was in Moscow.”

Putin added that the idea that the Russian government would collect compromising material on any American businessman was “utter nonsense.” “Please just disregard these issues and don’t think any more about this any more again,” Putin concluded.

2. Even some of Trump’s most reliable supporters criticized him for his refusal to denounce Putin over election meddling.

At Fox News, which tends to broadcast Trump-friendly opinion shows, analyst Brit Hume tweeted that when Trump was asked about who he believes on Russian interference, Trump’s “vague and rambling non-answer, with renewed complaints about Hillary’s server” was a “lame response, to say the least.”

Fox News’ chief political anchor Bret Baier tweeted that he thought the press conference was “surreal.”

Guy Benson, a Fox News contributor, called Trump’s answer on whether he believed U.S. intelligence or Putin “atrocious.” He also tweeted that Trump’s support of support of Putin is “rooted in an embarrassing, juvenile, insecure, consuming obsession over his own legitimacy.”

Top Republicans in Congress, known not to criticize Trump — at least publicly — have also slammed him.

House Speaker Paul Ryan issued a press release contradicting Trump, saying “there is no question that Russia interfered in our election and continues attempts to undermine democracy here and around the world.”

“That is not just the finding of the American intelligence community but also the House Committee on Intelligence. The president must appreciate that Russia is not our ally.”

3. Putin gave Trump a gift — a soccer ball.

In the public moments surrounding the meeting, Trump focused on praise for Russia’s recent World Cup hosting duties, rather than the country’s 12 intelligence officials charged on Friday by the U.S. Justice Department with hacking into the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.

At a press conference, Trump lavished praise on Putin for the World Cup — ”It was really one of the best ever … it was a great job,” Trump said at a lectern beside Putin, who presented Trump with a soccer ball. Trump tossed the ball to First Lady Melania Trump, who was seated in a front row, and said they would bring it home for their soccer-playing son, Barron, 12.

4. Putin admitted that he wanted Trump to defeat Clinton in the presidential election.

Asked if he wanted Trump to win the US presidential election, Putin responded, “Yes, I did,” and added, “Because he talked about bringing the U.S.-Russia relationship back to normal.” Trump did not respond to Putin’s admission, but in the past he has repeatedly dismissed the idea that the Russian government supported his presidential campaign.

5. Trump and Putin met privately for two hours with only translators, no notetakers or witnesses.

Some diplomats, political pundits and everyday citizens are voicing concerns that there is no official record of the meeting.

Trump had opposed having a notetaker in the room during the meeting because he was worried about potential leaks, a foreign official brief on the plans told The Wall Street Journal.

The Intercept, an investigative news outlet funded by Ebay billionaire Pierre Omidyar, noted in a tweet: “Trump and Putin have concluded their extended private meeting, which lasted more than two hours. There will be no official record of the exchange, since notetakers and all aides except for two translators were kept out of the room.”

And author Stephen King, a vocal Trump critic, tweeted: “Unless one of the translators talks, we’ll never know what went on in that Helsinki meeting. Putin’s a liar and Trump’s another. They are both showmen, and this is made-for-TV entertainment.”

raw video showing Russia’s unstoppable ‘Satan II’ hypersonic missile being tested

President Vladimir Putin said Russia has tested an array of new strategic nuclear weapons that cannot be intercepted

Vladimir Putin confirms and boasts Russia has tested new sophisticated nuclear weapons

Russian President Vladimir Putin boasted Thursday that Russia has developed a new generation of nuclear weapons capable of bypassing any missile defense system — a claim that drew a rebuke from the White House and raised the specter of a rekindled Cold War-style arms rivalry.

Some analysts said the bellicose tone of Putin's state of the nation speech appeared mainly meant to bolster a tough image in advance of this month's presidential election, in which his victory is a foregone conclusion. Others questioned whether the new Russian weapon, if it exists, would represent a genuine threat to American security.

Putin's rhetoric, replete with warnings that the Kremlin would respond accordingly to any nuclear attack on Russia or its allies, marked some of the most aggressive language he has deployed in the 13 months that President Trump has been in office.

"No one was listening," the Russian leader declared. "Now you will listen."

The White House, in turn, called Putin's comments a vindication of Trump's pledge to modernize the U.S. nuclear arsenal and beef up defensive capabilities.

"President Putin has confirmed what the United States government has known all along, which Russia has denied — Russia has been developing destabilizing weapon systems for over a decade, in direct violations of its treaty obligations," said White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Trump, she said, "understands the threats facing America and our allies in this century, and is determined to protect our homeland and preserve peace through strength."

Putin's annual address to the Federal Assembly, which includes both houses of Russia's parliament, was marked by not only rhetorical flourishes, but also eye-catching visuals. As he stood at the podium, animated videos and graphics were projected onto the large screen behind him, aiming to illustrate the might of the new weapons, which he said included the nuclear-powered, nuclear-armed cruise missile, an underwater drone and a hypersonic missile.

The new weapons would render NATO's U.S.-led missile defense system "useless," Putin intoned as a video behind him showed a graphic of a missile weaving around purported missile defense systems on a spinning model of the Earth.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert called the simulated attack "cheesy," adding, "We don't regard that as the behavior of a responsible international player."

The Putin presentation marked "a mix of old and new news," said Malcolm Chalmers, the deputy director-general of the Royal United Services Institute, a British defense think tank.

"This is an election speech he was making," said Chalmers, noting that the United States and Russia have for decades had the ability to overwhelm each other's defenses with a massive nuclear strike aimed at multiple cities — but with the deterrent factor that such a strike would be met in kind while missiles were still in the air.

Nonetheless, he and others said the new cruise missile, as described by Putin, reflects Russian fears about U.S. defensive capabilities. The Trump administration last month released a Nuclear Posture Review that says the U.S. "now faces a more diverse and advanced nuclear-threat environment than ever before," which it vowed to contain.

Some analysts said the Putin speech reflected an increasingly muscular posture by Moscow that is already playing out on the ground.

Thomas Karako, the director of the Missile Defense Project at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Putin's speech demonstrates a desire to "come up with new and innovative ways to deliver nuclear weapons," but also fit a larger pattern of menacing neighbors and North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies.

"This is an example of Russia being provocative," Karako said. "We have to take that seriously."

In his speech, Putin accused other nations of fueling the arms race by trying to outdo Russia's weapons and imposing sanctions meant to hinder Russia's weapons development.

"All [that] you wanted to impede with your policies already happened," he said. "You have failed to contain Russia."

The new cruise missiles, which Putin said were tested in the fall, have unlimited range and the ability to operate at high speeds, allowing them to avoid any missile defense system. The Russian leader also devoted nearly 40 minutes to touting development of underwater drones, hypersonic warheads and "menacing" intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Putin blamed the U.S. for abandoning the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, from which President George W. Bush withdrew the United States in 2002, and subsequently refusing to cooperate.

"At some point, it seemed to me that a compromise [on missile defense with the U.S.] could be found. But no," Putin said.

Because of this, he said, Russia was forced to create new weapons to respond to U.S. actions that deployed missile defenses on the territory of other countries. Putin was probably referring to NATO's defense systems in former Warsaw Pact countries that Russia has said threaten regional stability.

Some observers saw an increasingly dangerous dynamic.

"For the foreseeable future, it looks that the U.S.-Russia agenda will be limited to just one item: war prevention. Good luck to us all," Dmitri Trenin, an analyst with the Carnegie Moscow Center, tweeted after Putin's address.

Only three weeks before the March 18 presidential election, Putin's annual address was meant to outline his vision for the country for the first time since announcing his bid for reelection in December. With an 80% approval rating, Putin — who has been either prime minister or president since 1999 — is expected to easily win a fourth term and remain in power until 2024.

Until Thursday's speech, Russian voters had heard very little about the president's goals for the next six years. With the outcome of the election all but guaranteed, the buildup to the vote has been met with very little excitement from the Russian public.

Seven other candidates are competing for Putin's post, although none are considered to be in real opposition to the Kremlin.

Putin predictably focused the first hour of the speech on domestic issues, such as poverty reduction and improving the country's health and education infrastructures.The Kremlin leader said Russia's economic growth, which was 1.6% in 2017, should exceed the expected global level of growth of 3.1% in 2018 — a forecast some analysts deemed overly rosy.

"He seems to be talking about something wildly optimistic," said William Courtney, a Rand Corp. analyst and a former ambassador to Georgia and Kazakhstan, both ex-Soviet republics. Nationalist rhetoric on weaponry, he said, may have been intended to paper over sagging economic prospects.

The annual national address has in the past been held at the gilded Kremlin Palace. Thursday's speech was relocated to the Moscow Manege, a 19th century exhibition hall just outside the Kremlin's red-brick walls.

The audience included both houses of parliament, regional governors and members of the Cabinet and administration. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev sat in the front row close to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, whose presence in Russian politics had played a key role in Putin's nationalistic response to what the Kremlin sees as Western attempts to undermine Russia's emergence.

In a seemingly lighthearted echo of Trump's populist showmanship, Putin announced a name-the-weapon contest for Russia's new cruise missile and unmanned underwater drone. Participants can log onto Russia's Defense Ministry website to enter their ideas, he said.

"We are waiting for your responses," Putin said to applause.

Polish Official Says Putin Responsible for Plane Crash That Killed President

WARSAW, Poland – Poland's defense minister says a plane crash that killed the nation's president in 2010 in Russia was preceded by two explosions on board, calling on Russian President Vladimir Putin to "take responsibility for what happened."

Antoni Macierewicz was reacting Thursday to words by Putin, who denied any explosions on board and called on Poland to stop investigating for any potential Russian role in the crash that killed Poland's President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others in western Russia.

Macierewicz heads a commission re-investigating the crash and alleges it was preceded by two explosions, which he says would suggest Russia played a role.

Polish and Russian aviation experts concluded it was an accident.

Macierewicz said in a radio interview that Putin "should have the courage to take responsibility for what has happened."

President Putin on fishing vacation shows Off His macho adventures

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin has gone spearfishing in southern Siberia’s mountains, the latest outdoor exploit for the adventure-loving Russian leader.

Footage released yesterday by Russian state television stations showed Putin steering an inflatable boat and fishing bare-chested with a rod, accompanied by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and other officials.

“It’s a good catch,” a beaming Putin said, displaying his spoils.

During the trip earlier this week across pristine mountain rivers and lakes near the border with Mongolia, Putin also tried for the first time to fish underwater with a spear gun.

Action camera footage showed Putin moving underwater in a swimsuit and shooting a pike.

“It’s very sly and cautious,” the Russian president said of his prey after getting out.

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier this week that the president spent two hours pursuing a pike before finally getting it.

The Russian leader has frequently offered macho images of his sporting life, which has included flying combat jets, riding horses, scuba-diving and riding a horse bare-chested.

A longtime judo master, he now regularly plays ice hockey.

In other televised escapades underlining his love for nature, Putin accompanied a flock of cranes on a motorized hang glider, shot a tiger with a tranquilizer gun, tracked polar bears and released leopards into a wildlife sanctuary.

His go-to show of force comes a day after a Russian court extended probation for opposition leader Alexei Navalny by one year, a sentence that should bar him from running for office until at least 2021.

Navalny, who rose to prominence with his investigations of official corruption, spearheaded a series of anti-corruption protests across Russia this year, the most wide-spread in decades.

He wants to run for president of Russia next year and has been signing up campaign volunteers even though he technically is ineligible as a candidate.

He says banning him from office is illegal and he’s campaigning to put pressure on authorities.

A lawyer by training, Navalny was convicted of fraud in 2013 and 2014 after trials that supporters characterized as politically motivated.

He was given a five-year suspended prison sentence along with 1 1⁄2 years probation this year after a retrial of one of the cases.

The court in Moscow on Friday granted a motion filed by penitentiary officials who asked for Navalny to be kept on probation a year longer, until December 2020.

The officials argued that he has repeatedly violated the terms of his suspended sentence.

Navalny has signed up more than 130,000 volunteers in more than 60 cities across Russia.

How Russians Takes Their Issues Directly To Vladimir Putin Via A call-in show

MOSCOW — Facing a wave of popular unrest not seen in Russia in years, President Vladimir Putin took to the nation’s airwaves Thursday for his annual call-in show that gives Russians the chance to take up their problems directly with the Kremlin leader.

“Direct Line with the President” is airing just three days after tens of thousands of people turned out in more than 180 cities across Russia to express their dissatisfaction with the Russian government, the most widespread protest in the country since Putin returned to the presidency in 2012.

But barring an unforeseen — but not unprecedented — glitch, don’t expect anyone to truly put Putin on the spot. The event is highly choreographed to show the Russian leader as a man who understands the lives of his citizens, especially their mistrust of the bureaucracy that stands between them and the Kremlin.

“As always, unfortunately, people often say that it can be easier to get through to the president than to the leaders of their own regions,” Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, acknowledged in remarks to reporters on Wednesday.

In previous years, the telethon has lasted close to four hours as Putin answers usually about 80 questions from citizens who are shown on split screens making their appeals — all of them pre-screened.

In the days leading up to this year’s show, more than 1.5 million Russians had submitted questions, some of which were displayed on the official website of the show.

Many of them asked Putin to address the poor state of roads, housing, construction projects, the mortgage market, education and the accountability of officials. One young man asked why so many young Russians want to emigrate. Several asked Putin to explain why the rest of the world fears Russia. And there was the odd softball, such as the Russian who wanted to pass along his hope for peace in Syria.

In recent months, there have been rallies by long-distance truckers angry about road tolls, apartment owners angry about a massive plan to relocate as many as 1.6 million Muscovites, and Russians up in arms about official corruption.

This turbulence is not likely to prevent Putin, whose approval rating hasn’t been below 80 percent in three years, from winning reelection next March, but pollsters say Russians feel like their leaders are unaccountable.

Putin often uses the annual call-in forums to press a central point — Ukraine in 2014, the economic crisis in 2015 — but also takes queries about such issues as the need for exercise machines in provincial health centers and a marital dispute about getting a new dog.

One man living in an isolated village in Russia’s Far East complained about the high cost of motor-vehicle taxes, even though there are no roads in his village and the nearest highway is 50 kilometers away. In response, Putin started laughing on air and asked the man, “Why do you need a car, if there are no roads? Where do you drive? Hahaha!”

Putin’s responses may come off as spontaneous, but the show is not, except for the occasional glitch.

In 2015, a crawl on the bottom of the screen showed questions that were obviously unedited, such as “Why has Mr Putin established an authoritarian regime which is turning into a totalitarian one?”

The news site RBC.ru this week reported that a rehearsal of the call-in show took place in a Moscow suburban resort. Guests were divided into groups and asked to read their questions for Putin to clerks who “made notes in a notebook,” according to the report.

The audience were advised not to drink alcohol the day before the show, and not to drink too much water because the show could last up to five hours. The audience were also advised not to wear checkered or striped clothing.

Peskov acknowledged that there was meeting with participants to discuss logistics but denied that it was a rehearsal.

Natalya Abbakumova contributed to this report.

Vladimir Putin Claimed He Didn't Have A Personal Interaction With Michael Flynn At Dinner Party

Russian President Vladimir Putin claims that he had limited personal interaction with former U.S. National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, when asked by NBC's Megyn Kelly in an exclusive interview about the nature of their relationship — and a widely circulated December, 2015 photo that shows the two sitting next to each other at dinner during an event to celebrate Russian TV network RT (Russia Today).

"You and I, you and I personally, have a much closer relationship than I had with Mr. Flynn," Putin told Kelly in Russian, translated to English. "You and I met yesterday evening. You and I have been working together all day today. And now we're meeting again.

"When I came to the event for our company, Russia Today, and sat down at the table, next to me there was a gentleman sitting on one side," Putin continued. "I made my speech. Then we talked about some other stuff. And I got up and left. And then afterwards I was told, 'You know there was an American gentleman. He was involved in some things. He used to be in the security services' ... that's it. I didn't even really talk to him... That's the extent of my acquaintance with Mr. Flynn."

Vladimir Putin sits down with NBC News' Megyn Kelly NBC News

Putin made the comments during an exclusive interview that will air on June 4th at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT during the premiere of "Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly" on NBC.

Retired Lt. Gen. Flynn served as an adviser to Trump's presidential campaign, and then served as President Donald Trump's national security adviser in the White House for less than a month before he was fired for what the administration said was lying about his conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak to Vice President Mike Pence.

Flynn was paid $45,000 to speak at the gala, and was placed in the "seat of honor" next to the Russian president.

"It is not coincidence that Flynn was placed next to President Putin," Michael McFaul, U.S. ambassador in Moscow from 2012 to 2014 and now an NBC News analyst said in April. "Flynn was considered a close Trump adviser. Why else would they want him there?"

The head table of a gala celebrating the tenth anniversary of Russia Today in December of 2015 included Russian President Vladimir Putin and American retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. Mikhail Klimentyev / Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, file

Flynn told the Washington Post in August, 2016 that he did not ask to sit next to Putin or worry about the optics. "I was one of the guests there," he told the newspaper. "Some interesting characters. I found it a great learning opportunity. One of the things I learned was that Putin has no respect for the United States leadership. Not for the United States, but the leadership."

The FBI is now conducting an investigation, led by former FBI Director Robert Mueller, into Russian attempts to interfere in the last U.S. presidential election, including whether there could have been any connection to associates of the Trump campaign.

NBC News has reported that Flynn is considered a formal "subject" of the Russia probe, which includes a deep look at his business interests, though no evidence has surfaced into the current public sphere that links him to the election meddling effort and his lawyers say he did nothing wrong.

Senior U.S. intelligence officials have also told NBC News that they believe Putin was personally involved in the Russian effort to interfere with the U.S. election and that the Russian president personally directed how hacked material was used to try to damage Democrats.

Elsewhere in his interview with Kelly, Putin claimed that "a child" could have hacked the U.S. election — and also alleged Russia may have been framed

New Video Emerges Showing That Putin Saluting A Pigeon is Fake (Watch)

A video purportedly showing a pigeon raising its wing as if it were “saluting” Russian President Vladimir Putin spread on social media on 1 June 2017:

Setting aside the fact that this pigeon most likely does not recognize Vladimir Putin or know how to salute, the winged motion shown in this footage is fake.

In fact, Ruptly TV, RT’s Berlin-based video news agency, posted the original footage YouTube TV along with a message explaining how the pigeon had given Putin the cold shoulder:

Russian President Vladimir Putin was ignored by a humble pigeon, while walking in the grounds of the Rogozhskaya Zastava Spiritual Centre, Moscow, on Wednesday.

As the president greeted the little bird, it simply wandered away from his waving hand.

The original video simply shows Vladimir Putin and pigeon passing each other on the streets of Moscow:

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