♪ [ cheers and applause ] tonight -- >> great to be with you. >> the historic summit. president trump and russian president vladimir putin. an hours-long closed-door meeting. then side by side taking questions about the alleged russian election interference. >> president putin, he just said it's not russia. i will say this. i don't see any reason why it would be. >> reporter: president trump appearing to believe president putin over his own u.s. intelligence agencies. a fierce backlash tonight. some accusing him of making a momentous mistake. a look at special counsel robert mueller's investigation so far and a journey inside russia, where president putin's power is on full display. >> announcer: this special edition of "nightline," "trump &

putin: the helsinki summit," will be right back.

>> announcer: this special edition of "nightline," "trump & putin: the helsinki summit," continues. here now, dan harris. good evening. and we begin here tonight with the historic summit in helsinki. a rare sight. the american and russian presidents side by side.

now leading to a bipartisan backlash over president trump's comments. when asked whether he believed america's intelligence agencies or putin when it came to russian meddling in the 2016 election, trump appeared to side with putin. tonight the controversial comments, the global response, and we go inside putin's russia. it began with a handshake. a quick photo opportunity. president trump with a grin. president putin stone-faced. and then it was down to business. >> great to be with you. >> reporter: after the cameras left the room, it was just the two men and their translators. an unprecedented two-hour off the record meeting. they emerged together, the president of the united states standing side by side with the president of russia, addressing the world and pointed questions about russia's interference in america's election. >> do you hold russia at all accountable for anything in particular?

>> yes, i do. i hold both countries responsible. i think that the united states has been foolish. i think we've all been foolish. and i think we're all to blame. there was no collusion at all. >> reporter: those comments coming on the heels of last week's grand jury indictment of 12 russian intelligence officers for their alleged roles in committing cyber crimes to interfere in the 2016 elections. >> the indictment charges 12 russian military officers by name for conspiring to interfere with the 2016 presidential election. >> reporter: today putin offering his own response to questions of meddling. and then this offer. he says he would allow russian authorities to question the 12 indicted officers with mueller's team present. but he added a condition. russia must then be allowed to interrogate american

intelligence agents. president trump sounded enthusiastic at the prospect. >> and what he did is an incredible offer. he offered to have the people working on the case come and work with their investigators with respect to the 12 people. i think that's an incredible offer. okay? thank you. >> reporter: but here was the moment that truly ignited the firestorm today. when president trump appeared to throw america's intelligence community under the bus. >> would you now, with the whole world watching, tell president putin, would you denounce what happened in 2016 and would you warn him to never do it again? >> my people came to me, dan coats came to me, and some others, they said they think it's russia. i have president putin. he just said it's not russia. i will say this. i don't see any reason why it would be. so 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. >> reporter: the reaction was swift and furious.

former cia director john brennan calling it "nothing short of treasonous." the current director of national intelligence dan coats, hand-picked by trump, stating that the intelligence community has been clear in their assessment of russian meddling in the 2016 election. the condemnation even coming from members of his own party. john mccain calling the press conference "one of the most disgraceful performances by an american president in memory." the republican chairman of the senate foreign relations committee unloading on trump. >> the president's comments made us look as a nation more like a pushover. >> reporter: and staunch trump ally and friend newt gingrich coming down hard on the president as well. "president trump must clarify his statements in helsinki on our intelligence system and putin. it is the most serious mistake of his presidency and must be corrected immediately." the conservative press also breaking rank. "the drudge report" running this headline, "putin dominates in

hell." even fox news following suit. >> this has got to be the most incredible thing i've ever witnessed. >> it was not a very forceful presentation from president trump with putin standing right next to him. >> reporter: white house officials are keenly aware that this did not go well, this did not go according to plan. what is most striking about what the president said in helsinki is his words standing in stark contrast to what his own top advisers have been saying. abc's terry moran right there and describing the energy on the ground at the summit. >> well, that was something else. i don't think any american has ever seen a press conference quite like that from an american president and a russian leader who is described by all of our allies as an adversary and a dangerous one. president trump has decided to deemphasize america's traditional relationships with western european countries and institutions and bet closer to the kremlin. >> reporter: hairi ka sachlt anis director of defense studies at the center for national interest, thought the yfd a summit to improve relations was a good step by president trump.

>> we need to have at least a working relationship with them. does that mean we need to be friends or allies or best friends with vladimir putin who's, let's face it, a dictator? but we do need to have at least open paths to communicate with each other. we need to explain to each other our red lines on different issues. >> reporter: although he saw room for improvement today. >> you could try to say, well, i try to give everybody the benefit of the doubt. but when multiple u.s. intelligences tell you the russians tried to hack our election, you have to believe them. it seems like president trump for whatever reason has it in his head that the russians did not try to hack our election. when all evidence points to quite the contrary. and for the president to deny that for whatever reason, maybe because he's afraid that it might tarnish his election results, maybe he's afraid it might open him up to political attack, is probably the reason he's doing it. and i think today he's made a very, very big mistake. >> reporter: while there was no official white house agenda published before the summit,

trump telling fox news's sean hannity moments after it ended -- >> it discussed so many different things, including nuclear, including war and peace, including economic, syria, ukraine. i'll tell you that i thought it was a really amazing time. not about that. i think it's a shame we're talking about nuclear proliferation, we're talking about syria and humanitarian aid, we're talking about all of these different things and we get questions on the witch hunt. >> let's put a fine point on this. for those, for the mort conspiratorial among us who watched today's doings in helsinki and see something dark afoot on the part of president trump, what do you say to them? >> well, if we're going to go to the darkest side of the room, that he's an asset of the russians, i think that's very unlikely. but there's a lot of troubling issues well short of that. >> reporter: we know now at least 13 trump allies including some of donald trump's innermost

circle his son don jr. and campaign manager paul manafort had more than a dozen meetings and numerous in person communications with russians between june of 2015 and inauguration day 2017. most of these meetings and communications were not known until after trump took office. >> but if you look at the extent of the ties between people in his orbit and/or on his campaign and russia, i mean, it's -- when you take it in totality it's quite striking. what do you make of it when you look at it all that way in sum? >> personally i do think he's compromised to a certain extent through his actions and through the actions of the people around him. i don't know as a professional intelligence officer, it's hard for me to say that the russians have had this long-term plan and he's been a plant for a long time. i don't see that. but i do see a lot of unethical and unpatriotic behavior and a lot of almost sort of

gangster-like activities that could put him in a difficult place and certainly the people around him that he's chosen to work with him have made a lot of bad choices. >> reporter: to date robert mueller's investigation into possible coordination between the trump campaign and russia has brought criminal proceedings against 32 people and three russian organizations and sentenced one person to prison, all in just 14 months. and just today in a separate fbi investigation a russian gun rights activist linked to the national rifle association arrested on charges that she acted as a kremlin agent. she crossed paths with donald trump and his son, don jr., in july of 2015. >> did the russians need an american partner with whom to collude? given that they were able to get access to all this information anyway. >> in the past every one of these campaigns, these active measures campaigns that they've done, they have benefited by having people in place, sources and spies, that could help them understand and aim and direct

the work they've done. in this case i would suspect there is too. whether they're specifically tied to the trump campaign, i don't know. but if the past is any explanation, yes, they've always had people on the ground that can help them direct the kind of activity they're doing here. >> reporter: while mueller continues his work to find out if anyone lent the russians a hand in election meddling, on the pr front it seems putin got a huge lift today from the american president. on russian television he seemed delighted, calling trump very qualified and an interesting conversation partner. and in a post-summit interview with chris wallace of fox news -- >> may i give this to you to look at, sir? >> reporter: -- he brushed off a copy of mueller's latest indictment. >> here? >> should we be expecting more meddling by russia and are we prepared to deal with it? >> yes and no. the answers to those questions. russians will absolutely continue to meddle.

mr. trump has not acknowledged the 2016 attack on the election. and certainly has not pushed back to the point that would make russia back off and not do these things. and so absolutely russia will continue to push up to that line. they've got to be careful not to push over it and force us to react. but i think we can expect that for sure. next here, putin's global power on full display in helsinki today. but how does he maintain his iron grip on russia itself? we're there as his police crack down on protesters. and what happens when we try to get inside the infamous troll factory where they allegedly cooked up all that fake news? fd summer sales event and now is the best time to buy. and check out the all-new ecosport. protect those who matter most, and make the summer go right with ford, america's best-selling brand. now during the ford summer sales event, get 0% financing for 60 months on a huge selection of suv's.

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and we're back now with our special edition of "nightline," following the major headline today. presidents trump and putin meeting face to face. and tonight we're going to take inside russia. we spent ten days on the ground there late last year in a country where vladimir putin is power personified. so we're seeing another group of police here. these are the riot police with the batons and the masks. this is part of their show of force. >> reporter: if you want to get a sense of the harshness of vladimir putin's leadership style inside russia, go to an anti-government protest. you've got this group of protesters here completely surrounded by riot police. looks like they're getting ready to do something here.

they're yelling that this is an unauthorized march. driving people to the corner. protesting in russia has real consequences. possible arrest. possible violence at the hands of police. when the police aren't wading into the crowd, we're told they're sending in instigators to stir up trouble. are they trying to start a fight? >> yes. >> reporter: here we go. this kind of thing in america, people protest the government all the time. they have for years. here it is a radical act. we didn't see anyone get hurt at this protest in october. but others who have opposed putin have suffered much worse. within sight of the kremlin we find this shrine to an anti-government activist who was murdered. despite his brutality vladimir putin is intensely popular here

in russia. he's viewed as having restored the country's status as a global power after the humiliation of the collapse of the soviet union. intelligence agencies say part of putin's plan for doing so is to try to destabilize perceived adversaries such as the united states by meddling in our elections. notwithstanding his continued denials. >> translator: the russian state has never interfered and is not going to interfere into internal american affairs, including the election process. >> reporter: while today president trump appears to have sided with putin -- >> i have president putin, he just said it's not russia. i will say this. i don't see any reason why it would be. >> reporter: america's intelligence agencies have confirmed that the russian government not only hacked the democrats but also launched a massive disinformation campaign ahead of the 2016 election. so during our trip we went to a so-called troll factory, where

fake news is allegedly created. >> i'm from abc news in the united states. >> [ bleep ] turn off the camera! >> reporter: we barely make it past the front door. this is the epicenter of russia's propaganda war. something they clearly don't want us to see. inside we're told dozens of internet trolls are endeavoring to exploit america's divisions. these are just some of the thousands of ads they posted online during the 2016 presidential election that reached 126 million americans on facebook alone. we didn't make it inside. >> where are we? >> reporter: but we're now on our way to meet someone who says she did. >> she lives way out here. >> reporter: ludmila savchuk is a journalist who went undercover in 2015 working at the factory for about $700 a month. she says she and some other

ex-trolls shot these undercover videos inside the building, showing tight security and rows of trolls typing away. russia's heavy hand has extended beyond its borders in more tangible ways as well. in 2014 armed men seized airports and regional government buildings in crimea, a region of ukraine. backed by russian military vehicles and helicopters. the move brought international condemnation and sanctions. we traveled to rostov-on-don, just 70 miles from the ukrainian border, where we encountered a scene of urban warfare. thousands of russian volunteers have streamed over the ukraine border to volunteer in the civil war there. these guys deny they're part of that effort. >> reporter: none of this is

real. it's training put on by a pro-putin pair amilitary group. dennis ryazov is an officer in the russian military reserves and the combat training leader here. >> pretty hardcore. kind of close contact. again, not exactly what i'd imagine you'd be training for in a civilian situation. this guy is really fast. >> yeah. >> reporter: turns out last year the u.s. government named ryazov in its sanctions saying he helped train fighters for that invasion of crimea. although ryazov denies that's what they're training for. is what you're teaching here, is this applicable to self-defense or more like being in a war zone? so to be clear, you are not training people to fight in ukraine? he also denies training and sending anyone into conflict, saying that would be illegal.

throughout our ten days on the ground in russia late last year we discovered overwhelming support for vladimir putin. and after today's meeting with president trump one thing seems clear, putin's hold on power, both in russia and around the world may be more secure than fsh. ever. and we'll be right back. crabfest is back at red lobster! discover our largest variety of crab and crab dishes all year! like new crabfest combo. your one chance to have new jumbo snow crab with tender dungeness crab. or try crab lover's dream. sweet, juicy king crab and jumbo snow crab cozied up with crab linguini alfredo. even our shrimp is crab-topped! so hurry in and get your butter-dunkin' game on! 'cause crabfest will be gone in a snap. and now bring home the seafood you crave with red lobster to go. call or order online today. man: are unpredictable crohn's symptoms

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thank you for watching "nightline" tonight. we'll have much more on the helsinki summit on "gma" first thing in the morning. as always, we're online 24/7 on our "nightline" facebook page. thank you again for watching. and have a great night. at night.

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