President Trump concealed details about encounters with Russian President Vladimir Putin from officials in his administration on multiple occasions, current and former U.S. officials told the The Washington Post in a report published on Saturday.
The Post reported that there is a lack of detailed records on five of Trump’s face-to-face meetings with Putin.
On one occasion, Trump reportedly took notes on an encounter from his own interpreter and directed the linguist not to discuss the meeting with other officials in his administration.{mosads}
The White House did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment on the new report.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders responded to the Post’s story, calling it “outrageously inaccurate.”
“The Washington Post story is so outrageously inaccurate it doesn’t even warrant a response,” she said.
“The liberal media has wasted two years trying to manufacture a fake collusion scandal instead of reporting on the fact that unlike President Obama, who let Russia and other foreign adversaries push America around, President Trump has actually been tough on Russia.”
The Post highlighted a 2017 meeting in Hamburg between the two presidents where a White House adviser and a senior State Department official sought information beyond a prepared readout.
Trump has received criticism for alleged ties to the Kremlin, and his campaign is currently thought to be being investigated by special counsel Robert Mueller for potential collusion during the 2016 election.
One source of that criticism comes from the president dismissing claims of Russian interference in American elections as a “hoax.”
Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told the Post that he “was present for the entirety of the two presidents’ official bilateral meeting in Hamburg,” but declined to discuss the content of the meeting and did not respond to questions about whether Trump had instructed the interpreter to remain silent or had taken the interpreter’s notes.