Analysis | Donald Trump may have raised election interference with Vladimir Putin but how hard did he press him?
Trump has tried to shift the focus to what then-president Barack Obama did after he was briefed before the election about what Russia was up to
Under intense pressure to do so from his Democratic opponents and even some fellow Republicans, Trump would have been pilloried even before he got home from his European trip had he not broached the subject.
The president can now point to the Putin meeting when challenged on whether he’s been tough enough on the Russians. But it’s still to be seen how forcefully Trump will deal with the issue going forward to prevent future meddling and to ensure consequences for what’s already occurred.
“If anything, we’ve seen Russia continue to pursue similar tactics in the French election. If anything, it feels to be intensifying, and if we now say we’re done with this, we are not adequately protecting our country,” said Heather Conley, a Europe expert at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.
Without knowing exactly what Trump said to Putin on the issue during in their two-hour-plus meeting, it is hard to know whether Trump’s approach toward to the matter has shifted significantly.