Hillary Clinton appeared at the OZY Fest in New York City’s Central Park on Saturday night to talk about President Donald Trump and his summit meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Clinton criticized Trump for not taking a strong stand against Russian election meddling. She also said she is confused about Trump’s motives in meeting repeatedly with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and she doesn’t have a good feeling about them.
“The great mystery is why the president hasn’t spoken up for our country,” she said. “We don’t know what was said in the room with just the two of them.”
Hillary Clinton calls Trump and Putin Helsinki meeting “deeply disturbing” and “alarming on many, many levels”
Hillary Clinton calls Trump and Putin Helsinki meeting "deeply disturbing" and "alarming on many, many levels" https://t.co/wGZMhSsrDV pic.twitter.com/rsf1rphONJ
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) July 22, 2018
Clinton said she met several times with Putin while serving as President Barack Obama’s Secretary of State, but never alone.
“There were always at least one or two other people with us, and most importantly, a notetaker,” she said. “You particularly need a notetaker so there can be no mistake about what was said.”
The lack of any official notes from the Trump/Putin meeting is particularly troublesome because Putin has been talking about the details of his meeting with Trump and the White House has remained silent.
“What’s happening now is that Putin is basically telling the world what was decided in that room. He’s giving press statements, he’s calling in Russian ambassadors to other countries, he’s reaching out to other leaders,” she said. “Meanwhile, we’re hearing crickets from the White House. Nothing is being put out that is in any way contradictory or replacing the Putin agenda with whatever Trump was doing.”
Clinton said the whole thing was “deeply disturbing” and it should be a motivation to turn out to vote in this year’s elections.
“So this idea that somehow we are not sure where our own president stands is deeply disturbing,” Clinton said. “And the best way to deal with that is to vote in November.”
Clinton also warned that she believes Russia will continue to attack American elections, specifically suggesting Putin would directly influence vote counts in the midterms.
“There are some tech experts in Silicon Valley whom I have met who say that maybe what they will do this time is really disrupt the actual election,” Clinton said onstage. “Shut down the servers you send results to, interfere with the operations of voting machines because too many of them are linked to the internet. We are still very vulnerable.”
Hillary Clinton Says Russia Could Hack This Year's Election https://t.co/TNektjJKuK via @ozy
— Muckmaker™ (@RealMuckmaker) July 22, 2018
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