>> more than half full. that's what's happening. we have a live look on this update. thanks for starting your morning with us. have a great day. good morning. breaking news. high-stakes summit. president trump and russian president vladimir putin meeting in helsinki right now. >> getting along with russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. >> the two leaders defying tradition meeting alone. the talks steeped in intrigue against the backdrop of those new indictments over russian meddling in u.s. elections. the president tweeting overnight once again, calling the investigation into that meddling a rigged witch hunt. we are bringing it all to you live from helsinki. plus, scare in the air. a commercial plane suddenly

loses cabin pressure, forcing the crew to make an emergency landing. dozens of passengers rushed to the hospital. this morning, why people on board that flight are furious with the crew. >> they haven't said anything. i'm going to die and i don't know why. big deal. amazon rolling out its annual prime day today. we'll tell you what to look for before you click. and french blessing. paris lit up in blue, white and red as france celebrates winning the world cup. >> france have won the world cup! >> today, monday, july 16th, 2018. >> announcer: from nbc news, this is "today" with savannah guthrie and hoda kotb live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. and welcome to "today." 10:00 a.m. on the west coast. thank you for joining us on this monday morning. willie is filling in on a very busy news day for savannah. >> it is.

we heard that president trump and putin would be in a room for 90 minutes. they went more than two hours together. let's start with that historic face to face in helsinki between president trump and russian president vladimir putin. >> they met behind closed doors at the 19th century presidential palace for more than two hours, more than the 90 minutes told to be expected. >> their top aides joined them at a working lunch. we'll get your first real glimpse what they discussed in that room during a joint news conference later this morning. we can tell you russian meddling was on president trump's mind before the sit-down. he tweeted overnight it only became a big deal after he won and that then president obama did nothing about it. we have complete coverage starting with nbc's white house correspondent kristen welker in helsinki. kristen, good morning. >> reporter: hoda, good morning to you. after spending that remarkable two hours behind closed doors with president putin, president trump declared this summit is off to a very good start. he had vowed to press putin on

election meddling, but so far hasn't mentioned the issue once in his public remarks today. meanwhile, this video captured by russian tv without any u.s. press in the room, shows some of the chemistry on display here in helsinki. this morning, a brief glimpse of president trump and russian president vladimir putin, expanding their bilateral meeting to include top advisers just moments after a closed door meeting that lasted more than two hours, far longer than the allotted time with only their interpreters in the room. the history making moment coming with high political stakes. after 12 russian intelligence officers were indicted friday on charges of hacking democratic party organizations during the 2016 election. this, part of the wider mueller probe into whether anyone in the trump presidential campaign colluded with russia. president trump blaming former president obama for not doing enough to stop the meddling. tweeting overnight, he thought that crooked hillary was going to win the election and slam what had he calls the rigged witch hunt.

in an interview with cbs news at his golf resort in scotland where he spent the weekend, the president was asked if he will press putin to extradite those russians. >> well, i might. i hadn't thought of that but certainly i'll be asking about it. >> reporter: instead of delivering a stern message to put on that message, he took aim at democrats. >> we had much better defenses so they couldn't. the dnc should be ashamed of themselves for allowing themselves to be hacked. >> reporter: and the president tempered expectations for today's big one on one. >> i go in with very low expectations. i think that getting along with russia is a good thing. but it's possible we won't. >> reporter: so what is on the agenda? president trump says he will discuss issues related to ukraine, the crisis in syria, and the spread of nuclear weapons. and on friday, vowed to raise the issue of election meddling. >> i will absolutely bring that up. i don't think you'll have any gee, i did it, i did it. you got me. it won't be a perimason. you never know what happens.

>> reporter: the timing of today's meeting is adding to the diplomatic drama. president putin hosted the world cup and coming off a presidential victory. president trump feuded with allies at nato over spending and stunned european partners by calling the eu a foe. >> you wouldn't think of the european union but they're a far. >> that sparking a sharp rebuke tweeting sunday america and the eu are best friends. whoever says we are foes are spreading fake news. back in washington, the president demanded the president get tough with putin today. >> i really would feel much better today if there were other americans in the room making sure that we make the point that the first and top point of this agenda should be no further russian interference in our elections. >> some democrats called on president trump to cancel the summit due to those 12 russians indicted on friday. the president dismissed that idea. still today there is broad

bipartisan agreement that president trump needs to take a hard line with putin. willie, hoda? >> kristen welker in helsinki. kristen, thanks. >> lester holt also in helsinki covering this summit for us. lester, good morning. obviously the presidents are now at that working lunch after spending more than two hours in a room together. we'll hear them at a press conference and i guess that's the first time we'll get some sense of what actually took place in the room between the two men. >> reporter: yeah, according to the two men. we noted they were in there alone except for the translators. the fact that it went past two hours, hard to read into it because there were translators, that conversation would not cover as much ground as if you and i were in the room together but it's worth noting they spent that kind of time. perhaps they were able to get in a number of topics the president had just came today they would talk about china, nuclear arms. beyond that we don't know what was on the agenda. >> set the bar for us. what is at stake when these two men walk out and face the cameras? >> reporter: well, as i said.

it's hard to know because they didn't have an agenda going in. clearly nuclear arms control and new agreement that's huge. the president mentioned it and we would hope they're talking about that. but beyond that it's hard to know. i think the stakes are higher when you move beyond where we are and think of all the european allies who have heard some troubling signals and troubling messaging out of the president leading up to this with that parting shot yesterday that the eu is a foe. i think they're going to be watching this very carefully to see, look, is he now treating vladimir putin as a friend, as a potential ally and not us? i think they'll take a hint as to which way that relationship is going to go. >> lester, thank you very much. we'll be back to you as soon as that joint news conference between president trump and president putin gets under way shortly here. >> juan served as deputy security advise for the second bush adviser. he is here now as an analyst. they're all sitting around doing that working lunch. and president trump did have one, i guess, brief statement

where he basically said it's off to a very good start for everybody. >> yeah. >> so what's your take away at this point? >> well, i think couple things. first, the president's trying to set a positive tone. you saw that before the meeting. you now hear that statement. what details they got into, we don't know. i think the working lunch hopefully teases out the various policy issues that they may discuss. obviously there are issues that the president should have raised to confront vladimir putin, cyber issues, the meddling in the elections, trying to deter further meddling in future elections or cyber activity. issues related to syria, the relationship between russia and iran, what russia continues to do provocatively against our european allies, what they're doing in ukraine. those are things that the president should have raised in a way that confront and deter president putin. there are issues where we can cooperate, counterterrorism, arms control, president mentioned china. maybe there are things we can do vis-a-vis china. we have to see how this plays

out. what we hear in the press conferences as to how each leader interpreted the meeting. >> it was interesting, juan, to hear the days leading up to this summit the president setting the barlow. he said on the cbs interview, i have low expectations. john bolton didn't want to call it a summit. he said it was just a meeting. what about the strategy going into this and what can we expect coming out of it? >> well, there's a challenge here because the president has so personalized diplomacy. and he is starting with summits not ending with summits. he doesn't have a classic diplomatic dance here that leads to a summit that has announcements and deliverables. he is relying on his own personality and his own relationship. this means that the summit hopefully becomes an opening for discussions for confrontation when we need it, for cooperation where it's possible and that's where the secretary of state, the national security adviser take the ball and run with it. as we've seen in north korea, it's not easy, of course, but the president thinks he can set a more positive tone. i think that's what he's trying to do.

>> why would they -- why would president trump want two hours alone with president putin? why not have your business privately and discuss things? >> it goes this hyperpersonal diplomacy relationship this president feels. he sees his role as being able to make deals like no other president has been able to. to be able to create a relationship, to understand the other leader. the problem, hoda, as your question suggests, there's a lot of suspicion around the relationship, so why would you invite further suspicion? in addition, you want somebody else there to be your eyes and ears. it can be your secretary of state, your national security adviser to understand what is being said back and forth and maybe even to check what the president's hearing with respect to vladimir putin because putin is a sly actor. he will want to try to divide the president from u.s. policy and try to influence. and having somebody else there who is practiced in diplomacy to

be eyes and ears would be helpful certainly. >> all right, juan, thank you very much. >> thank you. we'll have a lot more throughout the morning including live coverage of the president's news conference with vladimir putin as soon as that gets started. but first, chicago police now have released body cam video of a police-involved shooting that sparked violent protests over the weekend. in the video, you see officers approaching 37-year-old augustus after they suspected he was armed. you can see augustus has a holstered gun and appears to reach for it at his waist multiple times before he is shot and killed. police released the video they say to quell a second night of protests. saturday night protesters rocked chicago's south side, four police officers were injured and at least four demonstrators were arrested. the officer involved in that shooting has been placed on administrative duty during the investigation. now to the latest on that miracle rescue of the young soccer team in thailand. the boys and their coach, who will soon be released from the hospital, have now honored the diver who died in the operation to save them.

nbc's janis mackey frayer has the very latest. hey, janis, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, hoda. the boyce and their coach will be released from hospital this week. every day they're getting stronger and they're learning more about the remarkable mission to rescue them. at the cave where the soccer team was rescued, a ceremony and offering of thanks for the boys' safe return. their families here to honor the diver who died during the mission. >> reporter: at the hospital, the boys and their coach also sending messages to rescuers. >> thank you. >> reporter: but were told only yesterday that the volunteer diver lost his life to save their's. promising to never forget hez sacrifice. the cave is now sealed and it will be for six months until the rains end. it will give time for the cave to dry and importantly keep people out. the boys had gone into the cave late last month to explore for no more than an hour.

then came the rain and a rush of water. the uncle of the team's captain who raises him told us the rising water forced the boys to scramble deeper into the cave where they use their bare hands to dig for an air pocket. >> how many of you? 13? brilliant. >> reporter: that's where diver found them. >> wherever there is air space, we surface, we shout and we smell. in this case, we smelt the children before we actually saw any of them. >> reporter: the incredible rescue mission centered on 200 divers, who practiced in a local swimming pool with kids the same size and weight as the team. >> we bashed in against a rock too hard and it dislodged that mask and flooded the mask, he was a goner. that's why we had to be very slow and careful. >> reporter: with the boys and their coach now set to be released from hospital, there's talk of a hollywood movie. but doctors are warning parents

to protect the boys from their newfound fame. they recommended a month of family time. at their schools, students have been told to avoid asking questions about the ordeal. friends say they're happy to have them back. though teachers say the boys should be ready for homework. a lot of it. families are now able to visit the boys at their bedside. today they had a very special visitor, the medic who stayed with them inside the cave during the entire leadup to the rescue mission. he said that they were so brave that they listened to their coach. he helped them stay calm. and shared what little food he had with them. just an incredible story of teamwork and survival. hoda, willie? >> no kidding. and just to think how young those boys are and just how in touch they are with their feelings to draw that beautiful picture. >> and how honorable to think of him and they just learned of his death yesterday as well. janis just mentioned the world cup. the party far from over in france.

fans are celebrating yesterday's big win. gadi schwartz is in paris for us. gadi, good morning. >> reporter: hey, guys. yeah, here in paris the party is just getting started. you have some fans here right under the arc de triumph. this is where the celebratory march is going to begin. france so excited to see their team lift that iconic trophy on the day after bastille day and introducing to the world a teenager who may become one of the greatest soccer players ever. >> france have won the world cup! >> reporter: a fitting final act. france kicking past croatia, capping a soccer spectacle for the ages. back in paris, fans filling the streets, celebrating their country's second world cup crown. overnight police stepping in when things got out of control. >> welcome to the greatest experience we have as human

beings, the world cup final. >> french president emmanuel macron and russian president vladimir putin taking in the action ahead of his highly anticipated summit with president trump. down on the pitch, things kicked off a little differently. >> no one is entirely craving it but they don't care as france is taking the lead! >> the croatians heading it into their own goal, putting the french on top. >> it takes a wicked deflection. >> from there, a intense back and forth that set the stage far young star to steal the show. >> oh! >> 19-year-old's highlight reel strike extending france's lead. mbappe the second teenager ever to score in a world cup final joining the iconic pele. taking to twitter to congratulate the young phenom, pele writing in part, welcome to the club. adding, it's great to have some company. one of the world's most famous teens helping put the finishing

touches on a real life field of dreams. and here in paris, the celebrations are going to continue. you've got fans lining up. they're very excited to see that march. and if you think about it, the last time france won was 1998, that was 20 years ago. so, mbappe's goal has been on repeat here. that teenager, that phenom inspiring a whole new generation of very young generation. this is their moment that they are sharing with the rest of france. back to you guys. >> all right, gadi. >> world cup fever out there in the streets of paris. thanks, guys. time now for a check of the weather. let's go over to al roker. >> good morning and thanks for your get your first weather from us. we have some unusual weather in the west. we've got heat advisories, heat warnings. limited overnight relief. and so we look at these temperatures, very unusual. portland 14 degrees above average at 95. pendleton 99. spokane 11 degrees above average and redding, california, 107. that's eight degrees warmer than usual.

you look at our weather out west, plenty of sunshine everywhere. we're looking at 104 in phoenix. salt lake 97. san francisco nice and cool at 64 degrees but l.a. sunny skies partly sunny, 84. denver looking at 89 degrees. and as we look at the rest of the country, as we mentioned, more heat in the pacific northwest. severe storms firing up through the south and into the northern plains. a flood threat developing for our friends in the southwest. monsoonal moisture coming not just from the pacific but also from the gulf, converging there. we have to watch out for a flood threat. and this slow-moving cold front going to cause big problems between today and tomorrow for the east coast. so if you are making your way toward the east, expect airport delays, chicago, new york, atlanta all starting with the next 24 hours. heavy showers and thunderstorms and it's going to be warm and muggy here in the northeast. in fact, look for heat advisories and heat warnings in the greatness of an suv? is it to carry cargo...

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>> and that's your latest weather. >> thank you. her suv plunged off a cliff and her troubles really began. t what is woman is saying about that. an emergency landing after a pressure drop in the cabin. dozens of passengers hurt. we'll have the very latest. first this is today on nbc. firs nbc.

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authorities are supposed to provide an update a little later this morning .. on the woman who survived a 200- foot plunge off highway one - authorities supposed to provide an update on a woman who survive add 200 foot plunge only to be rescued a week after her car crash. last friday a couple hiking near the coastline near big sur. they spot add crashed jeep. the crash victim was flenear by. let's hope she is okay.

>> let's see if we should be happy happy about the forecast today. >> yeah. we have more hot weather for the inland valleys. the coast stays nice and cool. we see low clouds start ought this morning. it will be clearing throughout the day. slightly hotter tomorrow. it does cool down if we can call it that, just a couple of degrees heading into the end of the week. san francisco staying in the low 70s over the next few days. we'll continue on for the next several hours but it will clear out for the afternoon with fog right over the bay. let's get an update on how the commute is moving. >> it is moving about the same as it was about a half hour ago. we got reports of a crash north 101. it may be an issue getting in. we'll continue to track that. the rest is the tri valley through 880.

westbound slows the earlier crash. it looks like it may have cleared up. a better flow of traffic now. the by bridge of course is there. back to you! thank you. another update in half an hour.

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back now 7:30 on this monday morning july 16th, 2018. the eyes of the world on helsinki, finland, this morning, as president trump and russian president vladimir putin meet face-to-face. inside studio 1a willie in for savannah this morning. lovely to come visit. >> it's been good to be with you, hoda. it's been an extraordinary day already. let's get right to top stories starting with those historic talks. high-stakes summit. all eyes on helsinki as that meeting between president trump and vladimir putin takes center stage as president trump's comments about the european union send shock waves across the globe. >> you wouldn't think of the european union but they are a foe. returning home.

the u.s. and north korea holding talks discussing the return of the remains of more than 5,000 u.s. service members still missing from the korean war. dramatic rescue. a chopper pilot pulls off a death-defying maneuver, landing near the summit of oregon's mt. hood and rescuing an injured climber. on the prowl. the zoo in new orleans back open this morning after a jaguar escaped and killed several other animals in the park. zoo officials investigating how it happened. >> the safety of our guests and our staff and our animals is our number one priority. and bearing down. >> no, no, no, no. >> harrowing moments caught on camera as a brave woman successfully shouts down a bear attempting to enter her lake tahoe home. >> no. today, monday, july 16th, 2018. never a great day when you're negotiating with bear on your back porch. >> i know. now to a remarkable story of survival after a woman lost control of her car, careening

off the cliff on the california coast and that was just the beginning of her ordeal. nbc national correspondent miguel almaguer has the details for us. miguel, good morning. >> good morning. 23-year-old angela hernandez was driving to visit her family when she accidental swerved off the road and drove off a cliff on to the beach below. incredibly she survived that terrifying 20-store plunge, but it's how she stayed a live for a whole week that is truly amazing. this morning, her family says it's a miracle angela hernandez is alive. >> we just found word my sister was found. >> the 23-year-old rescued friday from the bottom of this steep cliff in big sur, california, where she survived for an entire week after her white jeep accidentally careened over the edge and plunged 200 feet onto the rocky beach below. hernandez describing her ordeal on facebook overnight along with these pictures from before the

accident saying, "i was still in my car, and i could feel water rising over my knees. every bone in my body hurt. i was able to break out of my car and jump into the ocean. i swam to the shore. >> i heard a faint cry for help, and we both turned and saw angela standing in the rocks. >> a vehicle injury accident for a vehicle off a cliff. >> reporter: larmt law enforcement says hernandez had been driving from her home in portland, oregon. down the coast to see her family in southern california. on the way she texted with them from this grocery store parking lot. then angela simply vanished. the last sighting of her jeep, this still photo from a gas station security camera near big sur. >> she told us she was along highway 1. she saw an animal cross in front of her. she naturally swerved to the right. there's no shoulder, so the vehicle went down a cliff. >> amazingly hernandez survived the impact of the 20 story drop

and was able to crawl to safety. but the next week she lived in a makeshift camp she set up near the beach surviving using her smarts. posting, i would walk up and down the beach in search of another human being. i'd climb on rocks to avoid the sharp sand, walk along the shore to avoid the hot rocks. i found a high spot i was able to climb. >> she actually found a hose from the vehicle and used that as a straw to drink water from a natural spring nearby. >> then a miracle, chelsea and chad moore were hiking in the area when they heard angela's cries for help and found her, bruised with an injured shoulder but coherent. >> she could talk, listen, respond, walk. >> she said that she woke up that morning and knew it was going to be a good day, and i think i started crying. >> rescue teams had to hoist angela up the cliff with ropes. they airlifted her to the hospital. battered and bruised, hernandez

enduring multiple injuries, which including a brain hemorrhage, fractured ribs, a collapsed lung, broken collar bones, and ruptured blood vessels in her hands. >> it's day seven and you guys helped us through the whole thing and angela is okay. i'm so happy. i'm so happy. >> on social media, angela's family says she's healing better than expected. they call her a warrior for surviving this ordeal and have set up a gofundme page to help pay for her medical expenses. an incredible story, guys. >> we're just sitting here with our mouths wide open. you look at the car, a 20 story fall and to survive for another week, amazing. incredible. unreal. miguel, thank you very much. another major story this morning, investigators are looking for clues into what caused a terrifying incident on board a flight over the weekend. passengers suffering severe nausea and some bleeding from

their ears as the pilots had to make an emergency landing. tom costello, what do we know about this? >> reporter: good morning. this was a sudden and unexpected depressurization inside the plane that forced the pilots to declare a midair emergency. if a plane loses cabin pressure at cruising altitude, passengers can very quickly kuz consciousness. once on the ground in germany, nearly three dozen passengers were taken to area hospitals. terror at 37,000 feet. just two hours into flight, a rush of cold air, screaming alarms and falling oxygen masks, with passengers describing sudden nausea, headaches, bleeding from the ears, nose and mouth. >> the plane just starts plummeting. we go into a full plummet. everybody can feel it. babies were screaming.

and then the blaring was saying emergency descend. emergency descend. >> they were on board the flight from dublin to croatia. the plane was in trouble. >> i just kept thinking of my family and my boyfriend and what they would think and how they would feel and that soon i'm not going to exist on this world anymore. >> reporter: at that altitude, passengers with who aren't wearing oxygen masks can lose consciousness within seconds. the pilots had to get down fast, dropping 26,000 feet in just seven minutes. >> we had been falling for seven minutes straight, literally falling. they haven't said anything. i'm going to die and i don't know why. >> you can't count on everybody having properly put their oxygen mask on, so you want to be very sure, very careful to get the airplane down as quickly as you can into thick air people can breathe. >> reporter: once safely on the ground in germany, 33 of the passengers were taken to area hospitals. others stuck overnight in the airport complained of little food or information and just a few cots to sleep on.

ryanair apologized claiming it incident on inflight depressurization and admitting to a shortage of available accommodation. the passengers booked on another flight the next morning. sudden depressurization is on a commercial plane is very unusual. especially in a 737. because this plane made an emergency landing in germany, german investigators will now be in charge of determining exactly what the cause was. guys back to you. >> tom, can't imagine how terrifying that was for the people on board. thank you. al is back now with another look at the weather. hey, al. >> good morning, guys. we have a lot going on today. we have a big cold front pushing in through the great lakes. that's going to start generating some showers and thunderstorms during the afternoon today. also into tomorrow, this system will bring storms from new york all the way down to louisiana before it's all over. probably some airport delays tomorrow in the northeast. and, in fact, you can see anywhere from 1 to 3 inches locally in the northeast. as we make our way down into the gulf, some heavier just to the

east of atlanta. and in the southwest, we continue to see the monsoon season bringing all those slow drenching storms, heavy rain threat the mountains of colorado good morning. the clouds we are seeing out there now will be clearing ouch out. we'll have fog with a high of 70 degrees. it will be up to 90 in san ta rosa. low 90s inland. low 90s for the inland area. it will continue through wednesday. it cools off a few more degrees. we do have another hot weekend ahead with 90s for saturday and sunday. >> thank you. and that's your latest weather. >> thank you mr. roker. up ahead, a lot more including the start of amazon prime day. what's the real deal on those deals? we'll take you inside the command center to find out. also ahead this morning the

woman at the center of the so-called plane romance. she's now opening up about the dark side of internet fame. plus the adorable first official photos from the christening of prince louis. and up next, a white cvs manager under fire for calling police on a black customer over the use of a coupon. the apology and the investigation right after this. stretch release and look no marks no mess, much more you. command. do. no harm. crisp leaves of lettuce. freshly made dressing. clean food that looks this good. delivered to your desk. now delivering to home or office.

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it's colder than cold brew. somebody burned down my she shed.. nobody burned down your she shed, cheryl. well my she shed's on fire. your she shed was struck by lightning. zachary, is my she shed covered by state farm? your she shed's covered, cheryl. you hear that victor? i'm getting a new she shi-er she shed. she shi-er? mhhm. that's wonderful news. go with the one that's here to help life go right. state farm. we are back. gang is all here with in-depth today. it's exploding on social media. >> a white manager of cvs in chicago recorded calling police on a black customer over what appeared to be a minor dispute. nbc's morgan radford is here with details on this. morgan, good morning. >> we've seen incidents like

this popping up all over social media, but this time it was a coupon that triggered this viral video and the subsequent apology from the drugstore chain. we caught up on the woman involved who captured the entire incident on her cell phone. >> it's a female. >> reporter: it started out the way so many other viral videos have. >> she is wearing a green -- >> i'll be here when she arrives. >> cvs customer says a simple disagreement over a coupon quickly escalated into a racially charged incident. >> african-american. >> black. i'm not african-american. i'm black. black isn't a bad word. >> the cvs manager morry matson visibly shaken. calls 911. >> thank you. >> reporter: hudson recorded a portion of her exchange while shopping at the chicago drugstore. it's not clear what happened before the camera started rolling. >> he says he's a manager at the store and he's calling because there is a customer harassing him and harassing the other manager. that's when i made sure my phone

was taping. >> reporter: hudson said she was just trying to use a coupon she received after she purchased a defective product. she said a clerk told her it was fraudulent and refused to accept it. when she tried to question him further, she says he stepped in and called the cops. >> i don't take issue, not then, not now, with not accepting the coupon. it's how he didn't accept the coupon. >> reporter: cvs issued a statement saying in part we sincerely apologize to ms. hudson for her experience. cvs does not tolerate any practice that discriminates. against any customer. >> m-o-r-r-y, m-a the s-o-n. >> matson, a delegate for 2016 presidential campaign is running for a chicago city council seat. he's since closed his facebook account and nbc was unable to reach him for comment. other videos of so-called white privilege have been popping up all over social media. from a woman now known as

barbecue becky called 911 about men barbecuing in a local park to another woman called permit patty who called police on a young girl selling bottled water. for hudson, it all comes town to down to a matter of respect. >> there's nothing i said or did that would explain why he was interacting with me and treating me in the manner he was. >> cvs said in a statement sent to nbc news that the employees involved in this incident have been removed from the store pending the outcome of its internal investigation, guys. >> unfortunately as you say the latest in the long list of these incidents we're seeing for the first time, they've been going on forever, but we're seeing them on camera now. morgan, thank you very much. just ahead, how much sharing is too much sharing.e plane bay woman at the center of the fe nom mon weighs in. but first these messages. >> announcer: this is an nbc news special report. here is lester holt.

and good day, everyone, from helsinki. in just a few moments, president trump and president putin of russia will hold a joint news conference following their bilateral meeting at the presidential palace here in helsinki. they met for about two hours, maybe a little over two hours in a private session. the two of them and their respective translators. then in front of a working lunch with some of their advisers and experts. the agenda was not clear going in, so we don't know exactly what was discussed, but we may know that shortly. this was the scene earlier as president trump greeted president putin and the first lady. hallie jackson is in the room with that news conference is going to be held. any hint of what was on the agenda here? >> reporter: well, we got a hint from the president himself, lester, when he talked a little bit about what he wanted to discuss with vladimir putin prior to their meeting, specifically, for example, nuclear he talked about, defense, other issues. but here is the most important thing, lester, it's what he did not mention.

and that is russian election interference. obviously russia's actions in the 2016 election. the president says he has previously discussed this but lester he has yet to condemn putin for those actions. that is going to be likely the first or possibly second question that these leaders get asked here in this room. i will give you a little color behind the scenes. it is absolutely packed. there is intense worldwide interest in what these two leaders will say. there has been interest in this meeting from the very beginning, lester, looking at the body language of these leaders. looking at how they are interacting, what was said in that one-on-one meeting. and that discussion where only interpreters were present with these two leaders. there was obviously an expanded bilateral as well and the president called it a great start. but as far as the nitty-gritty, that's what we're seeking to learn. we also want to talk a little bit or learn a little bit more, as you can see, some of my colleagues in the room getting ready for some of their live shots as well, about, for example, crimea. did the president recognize, for example, crimea as a part of russia, something that would

shock some critics of the president, some analysts of the president's back home. the president has deflected on that question largely so far. there's also the question of syria. putin support of bashar al assad, for example. and whether vladimir putin will, for example, work on some kind of deal with iranians to pull them back from the syrian border. so any moment we expect to see -- i'm looking behind me, lester. the u.s. delegation has not yet entered the room. when that happens that will be our closest signal that this is getting ready to begin. >> all right, hallie. we'll keep an eye on the door. as we do i want to enter deuce kristen welker, ambassador mike mcfaul who worked for the obama administration, former u.s. ambassador to russia, also in moscow, rishard ingle following reaction from there. ambassador mcfaul. what are the key things you're listening for in this news conference. >> two things. will president trump go out of his way to praise vladimir putin

because he wants to befriend him. that would be a serious mistake, but he has a proclivity for doing that. two, did they agree on anything substantive. the agenda of this meeting is rather ambiguous. the president hinted that they might talk about arm's control. so i'll be listening to see is there some real follow through with respect to arms control. >> what was the low-hanging fruit they could walk away with and say look, we accomplished something. >> that to me would be the low hanging fruit. >> kristen welker, you've been here watching all day long the initial meeting lasted better than two hours. some would take that as a sign of progress. what are your thoughts? >> remarkable that that meeting lasted for more than two hours and that there were only interpreters in the room, lester. no one in the room to publicly record what was said, what was stated. as hallie, noted, the president hasn't publicly said he's going to press putin on election meddling. he said it in the past. then today tweeted again this morning that the russia probe

was a rigged witch hunt. >> pulling it off the table. >> absolutely taking it off the table, lester. some would say that in and of itself is a concession. will there be more concessions? will he agree to pull back sanctions and pull troops out of syria? in addition to that, think about the tone. that's what i'm going to be watching for very closely as well. the president is coming on the heels of a nato summit which he clashed with allies, clashed with the british prime minister. and this morning, he praised putin for pulling off what he said was one of the greatest world cups in history. will president trump continue to take aim at allies while embracing this leader who has traditionally been an adversary to the united states. >> on that note, let me go to richard in moscow. richard, how is putin seen these days? been a lot of talk that he comes in having a pretty good year. >> well, he seems like he's at least here in moscow coming in with a very full hand, that he's coming into these negotiations maybe stronger than ever.

as you were just talking about, the world cup here when russia was the center of the world stage. the indictment, specifically accusing 12 russian military intelligence officials by president trump's own government, by his justice department, just hit and yet you have president trump and the russian government both dismissing those allegations in the runup to the talks. so i think when you have a trip, t trump was critical of his allies, then was dismissive of this indictment where russia has been the darling of the international media because of the world cup, yes, russians feel they are going very strong into this meeting and that vladimir putin is really maybe already the winner or certainly the dominant force right now. to watch for, what i would be watching for is grandiose statements. are we going to see president trump and vladimir putin come out and talk about how they are working to make the world a safer place? similar to the way he did in his meeting with kim jong-un and

even in his meeting with theresa may. and if they are both dismissive of this indictment, surely the indictment will come up. reporters will press president trump on how hard he pushed vladimir putin on this what i expect will hear. vladimir putin will speak first. there will be simultaneous translations, as the two men speak. we'll get a realtime reading on what was said. they weren't in the same room, maybe questions of whether they have the same recollection. we know the president and the prime minister of canada recently had a disagreement as to what was said in the g7 meeting. there's always that. >> especially if you met for two hours with just the translators

there. i hope somebody on our side did a sit-down with our translator, somebody i know well, and got the notes. there is a big chance of disagreement about what happened in the meeting. >> when the two of them sat down today, the president came in with this tweet, essentially saying, it is the u.s.'s fault over the last couple of years, and that's why the relationship is so bad. what kind of starting point is that for a discussion? >> it is horrible. first of all, it is not true. second of all, it means that we're the ones that need to change to improve the relationship. vladimir putin is the guy who annexed crimea. we didn't annex any country. putin supported mr. assad killing 500,000 people in syria. vladimir putin is the guy who intervened in our elections with his russian military intelligence officer. >> he is also the guy that asked for this meeting. he picked up the phone. >> well, because he wants to move on. he wants to say, hey, bygones. forget about that. let's talk about peace, love, and understanding.

>> there are sanctions that are laying out there, which was a strong incentive for putin to want to have this conversation. is there any expectation, likelihood, that the president would signal a softening on those sanctions? >> i personally hope not. the sanctions were put in place to change russian behavior. get out of ukraine, we'll lift the sanctions. that was the obama position. with president trump, of course, you never know. he just can change his mind on a whim. >> remember what happened coming out of his summit with north korea's leader, kim jong-un. president announced he was going to suspend the joint military exercises with south korea without having spoken to the south koreans beforehand. it caught some in his administration offguar guard, b certainly allies in the region. this is the concern, that president trump will unilaterally make a decision to offer a concession. lawmakers on capitol hill are watching this unfold very closely. democrats and republicans. in fact, some republican lawmakers out today, including republican senator ben sasse, who tweeted, calling for

president trump to take a very hard line against president putin. remember, some democrats said, president should cancel this summit all together. president obama did that back in 2013, by the way, after putin offered asylum to snowden. this, a very different approach to what happened on friday, which is the 12 russian intelligence officials were indicted for meddling in the u.s. election. >> this video taken at the outset of the day here. we were given guidance when we first came on the air, they were a couple minutes ago. now, a few more. ambassador, you have been in this situation before, helping a u.s. president with a summit. how important is it in the immediate end for someone to record what the president recollects, his feelings, to get something on paper? >> well, that was my job when i worked at the white house before going to moscow. that was my job. one, in the meeting itself, to do that. two, in the one-on-one.

when president obama would walk out of the meetings, i'd pull him aside, and we'd do a dump of the intelligence before the president would forget about what happened. those pull-asides were usually five or six minutes long. not two hours long, like today. >> let me go to hallie jackson, who is in the news conference room at the presidential palace. what do we know about the format? we know the news conference in england the other day was four questions from the british press. four from the u.s. do we know what the format is, how much we may hear, how much questioning there could be? >> reporter: well, that was unusual. we don't typically see a four and four for the white house press core here. lester, the kremlin said late last week, it would be two questions from each group of people from representative nations. two questions from the russian press. two questions from the u.s. press, which is something we typically see. including, for example, at the white house, that is usually what happens with one of these. we expect the leaders to come

out, make the opening statements, make the remarks, which will be telling, as you and richard and the ambassador and kristen have been talking about. what the president says about vladimir putin, as the two of them are standing next to each other, will be fascinating. and watching how these two men interact now, at the podiums, side by side, with critical issues between them, is going to be significant. after that, they will likely open it up to questions. that is the expectation. there will be four in all if, in fact, things go as planned, according to the kremlin, lester. we will be, obviously, working to get one. >> yeah, the news conference after the kim jong-un summit, the president went se lolo and k questions for an extended period of time. now, he'll be with vladimir putin. richard, we haven't discussed syria. there are real issues here in terms of littmilitary involveme. was there room for some kind of

meeting of the minds on syria? >> reporter: well, that's one of the big dangers. you could get a surprise here about syria. there are about 2,000 american special forces in syria. they've been fighting against isis. they have been working with our kurdish allies. russia does not like them there. tur ykey doesn't like them ther. there have been a lot of discussions among middle eastern leaders and the president recently. the question is, what will happen to those american forces in syria? president trump has said in the past, he would love to see them go. he thinks they're at risk. he thinks u.s. involvement in syria, in the middle east in general, has played its course and it is time to wrap it up. i've spoken to military commanders. i've been with the troops in syria. they believe their presence is important, vital to keep up pressure on isis, and they say our kurdish allies would be betrayed if we left them at this stage and handed over the country to russia or some

combination of russia and syrian control. >> it is a beautiful, warm day here in helsinki, finland. the capital of finland on the gulf of finland. a place that hasn't hosted international conferences of this sort before, kristen. >> that's right. this is seen as a diplomatic bridge between the u.s. and russia. this is the location of past meetings between u.s. presidents and russian leaders, including former president bill clinton back in 1997, as well as former president george h.w. bush in 1990 who met with gorbachev then. it is seen as neutral territory, neutral ground. the ambassador can speak to this, but the day started with president trump having breakfast with the president of finland. it was a way to set the table, set the stage and, i think, to strike that diplomatic tone. >> i'll let you weigh in on that, ambassador. >> that's right. you always have to have that bilat before the big meeting.

it does have this cold war overtone, to be back here in helsinki. i think the -- from everything, the indications we've seen, the big difference will be, back then, our leaders met -- during the cold war, the leaders met all the times but never tried to be friends with soviet leaders. they often pushed back. sometimes, summits were confrontational events during the cold war. that's not what i suspect we're going to be seeing today. >> richard engel, what about that? i think the assumption is a summit is always a good thing. is that the case? >> reporter: well, i think that's what you're going to hear president trump say time and time again. he's already said it a few times. that we should be friends. isn't it a good thing if he has a good relationship with vladimir putin? after all, the two are traditional adversaries. the two have nuclear weapons. what's wrong with a president sitting down with a russian leader? frankly, there is nothing wrong with it. you have to -- that's what presidents do. they meet with their friends.

they meet with their rivals. you have to look at the -- this is the culmination of a european trip. on the first leg of the trip, he criticized nato, undermined nato. then he stabbed one of his closest friends, theresa may, in the back. he criticized germany. now, he is going out of his way to meet with vladimir putin. when you look at it in that context, it is not simply just having a meeting with an a adversary to try to make the world safer. it is the meeting that comes on the end of a series of criticisms, a series of calling into questions the basic tenan s -- t that have kept the united states in power for the last few years. >> i hate being in the backseat, hallie, saying, are we there yet, but do we know what the delay is? we were told a couple of minutes. >> reporter: lester, we don't know what the delay is. there was a commotion, a bit of one, in the room a moment ago,

as you may have seen. we are being told there is a journalist who was asked to leave, to walk out of the area where we are. he said he was from an organization called the nation. he did not answer questions as to whether or not he had the credentials to be here. obviously, eghe got into the ro. two people escorted him out. his personal belongings are still in the room. we are working to figure out why exactly he was asked to walk out. this is worth noting, lester, because of what we have seen with journalists in russia, with members of state media, with members -- people who have been critical of leaders in the past. the president himself, president trump, just on his way to the summit in helsinki, tweeted yet again, calling members of the media enemies of the people. we have no idea if any of this is connected, to be very clear. i'll try to find out why exactly this gentleman was take p from the -- taken from the room, and i'll let you know as soon as we know. >> peter alexander is standing by at the white house.

we talk a lot about the president, what he may do and his foreign policy. do his statements though necessarily jive with what is happening on the ground at the state department, the defense department. are there different levels of policies working almost in parallel? >> reporter: that is what has been striking from the president's cozy relationship, his language as he speaks about russia and vladimir putin. this morning, predicting the u.s. and russia would have an extraordinary relationship, is what he says is far askew from what we've heard throughout his administration. the director of national intelligence, dan coats, in recent days, effectively saying, we saw the blinking red lights after these indictments came out about those russian military intelligence officers, wading in, interfering in the u.s. electi election. what has been striking to hear from the president is how what he has said is out of step with traditional presidents. he is focused so much on having

this good relationship but, as you look at the live pictures, lester, i'll send it back to you. >> yeah, let's go to hallie. >> reporter: lester, i'll explain what is going on. i'll stand on my chair so i can get a better vantage point. the reporter from the nation said he was told he had a malicious item, a sign, and held up a piece of paper that said, nuclear weapon ban. there are now one, two, three, four members escorting him out of the room forcibly. you can see they have their hands on him physically. trying to move around the cameras in the room. being walked out at this point. this has not happened in a press conference, obviously, in the trump administration. he is being, as you can see, walked out of the room, lester. as he leaves, we'll work on finali finding out where he is doing. i'll recap. two people walked in and asked this journalist to come with them for what he described as questioning. he is from, again, the nation. that journalist first refused. it was a standoff.

still calm, still peaceful. you probably saw some of the video there. he returned into the room. he left his personal things in there. when i asked, sir, can you explain what happened? what did they want to talk to you about? he said, they say i have a malicious item. they claim i have a sign. he pulled out of his backpack, lester, an 8 by 10 piece of paper, that had the word "nuclear weapons ban" on it. "nuclear weapons treaty ban." we'll get the video in a moment. he was holding it up as members of the media were beginning to take pictures of it, saying, i just wanted to ask about it. that is the point when the commotion really escalated. you saw what i believe are agents coming in. there is somebody now taking and getting this gentleman's personal belongings, his laptop, his phone, his backpack, all remaining in the room. you can see now this person, this security person, is walking out this man's personal belongings. this is remarkable, in a word, lester. it is not clear how these members of security knew that

this man had some kind of a piece of paper or sign in his backpack. again, the sign said, "nuclear weapon ban holding it facing forward. i don't know if there was anything on the back. you might know, based on the camera angles here. the room is now, as you might imagine, buzzing. it is not clear if that specifically was the reason for the delay, but i will tell you, in a room with maybe a couple hundred journalists, there's only, what, one empty seat, maybe two, and it is where the gentleman was sitting. it is a packed room. he's been physically removed. we've had, as you noted, the two-minute warning, an indication the u.s. delegation would have been folliling in, followed by vladimir putin and donald trump. there will be a beat for the room to settle and, perhaps, we'll get on with this highly-anticipated event. >> yeah. the sign said, "nuclear weapons ban treaty." let me ask how these things typically work. are the american reporter, are

they in a separate area from the russian reporters, or is it first come, first serve? >> reporter: typically, and i'll try to step back, lester, for a moment, as the u.s. delegation is walking in. >> we see the first lady. >> typically -- >> the cameras getting in. >> reporter: this is a chaotic way of filling the room. details typically don't matter. press gets in the room, and that is the most important thing. at this point though, almost immediately after that gentleman was escorted out, you can see the first lady walking in, along with the rest of the u.s. delegation. we see, obviously, the top advisers to president trump, including the national security adviser, who are filling the front two rows, as well as the russian delegation. it is an indication we are about to begin my moment. >> ambassador mcfaul, the delegations will be paying closer attention, even more than the journalists, in the room. >> this is where the president of the united states can make policy.

what he says is binding. we hope -- they hope he says what they think is policy. >> they don't want to hear any surprises. >> they don't with a to -- yeah, they don't want surprises. b, as you were talking earlier, there's a big disconnect in the trump administration about policy toward russia. seems like the whole administration has one policy, which is rather confrontational. >> it is tougher, yeah. >> the president doesn't seem to agree with it. today, we're going to learn who makes policy. >> so, the two presidents, we expect, to come out any moment. we're watching that door. we've seen the american delegation come out. i'm not clear if the russian delegation is seated at this point. they will take questions from russian and american journalists who are gathered in the room. we want to have some sense of what happened. as we noted, there was no agenda. here, president trump and president putin.

>> thank you so much. >> translator: distinguished mr. president. ladies and gentlemen. negotiations with the president of the united states, donald trump, took place in a frank atmosphere. i think we can call it a success and a very fruitful round of negotiations. we carefully analyze the current status, the future of the russia and united states, key issues of the global agenda. it is quite clear to everyone that the bilateral relationship are going through a complicated stage and, yet, those impediments, the current tension, the tense atmosphere, essentially have no solid reason behind it. the cold war is a thing of the past. the era of acute, idealogical confrontation of the two countries is a thing of the best. the situation of the world changed dramatically.

russia and the united states face a new set of challenges. those include a dangerous maladjustment of mechanisms for maintaining international security and stability, original crises, the creeping threats of terrorism and transnational crime. it is the snowballing problems in the economy, environmental risks, and other sets of challenges. we can only cope with these challenges if we join the ranks and work together. hopefully, we will reach this understanding with our american partners. today, negotiations reflected our joint wish with president trump to redress this negative situation in a bilateral relationship. outline first steps for improving this relationship, to restore the acceptable level of trust, and going back to the previous level of indirection on all mutual interest issues.

as major nuclear powers, we bear special responsibility for maintaining international security. it is vital, and we mentioned this during the negotiations, it is crucial that we fine-tune the strategic stability and global security and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. we submitted our american colleagues a note with a number of specific suggestions. we believe it necessary to work together further on to interact on the disarmament agenda, military and technical cooperation. this includes the extension of the strategic offensive arms limitation treaty. it is a dangerous situation with the global american defense system. it is the implementation issues with the inf treaty. of course, the agenda of non-placement of weapons in

space. we favor the continued cooperation in counterterrorism and maintain cybersecurity. i'd like to point out specifically that our special services are cooperating quite successfully together. the most recent example is their operational cooperation within the recently concluded world football cup. in general, the context among the special services should be put to a system wise basis, should be brought to a systematic framework. i reminded president trump about the suggestion to reestabli-est the working group on counterterrorism. also, it is not always that our posture is dove tail exactly and, yet, letting mutual interests abound, we have to look for points of contact and

interact closer on a variety of international forums. clearly, we mentioned the regional crises. for example, syria. as far as syria is concerned, the task of establishing peace and reconciliation in this country could be the first showcase example of the successful, joint work. russia and the united states, apparently, can act proactively and assume leadership on this issue, and organize the direction to overcome humanitarian crisis and help refugees go back to their homes. in order to accomplish this level of successful cooperation in syria, we have all the required components. let me remind you, both russian and american military required useful experience of the action. established channels of communication, which permitted to avoid dangerous incidents and

unintentional collisions in the air and near the ground. also, crushing terrorists in the southwest of syria -- the south of syria should be brought to the full compliance with the treaty of 1974 about the separation of forces, about separation of forces of israel and syria. this will bring peace. and bring a more peaceful relationship between syria and israel, and also to provide security of the state of israel. mr. president paid special attention to this during the negotiations, and i would like to confirm that russia is interested in this development, and this will act accordingly. thus far, we will make a step toward creating a lasting peace, in compliance with the respective resolutions of

security council, for instance, resolution 338. we're glad that the korean peninsula issue is starting to resolve. to a great extent, it was possible thanks to the personal engagement of president trump, who opted for dialogue instead of confrontation. we also mentioned our concern about the withdraw of the united states from the gcp 08. well, our u.s. counterparts are aware of our posture. let me remind you, thanks to the iranian nuclear deal, iran became submitted to the control, effectively ensuring the safe nature of the iranian nuclear program, and strengthens the non-proliferation regime. we paid special attention to the

bona fide implementation of agreements by kiev. at the same time, the united states could be more decisive in nudging the ukrainian leadership, and encourage it to work actively in this. we paid more attention to economic ties and economic cooperation. it is clear that both countries, businesses of both countries, are interested in this. the american delegation was one of the largest delegations in the st. petersburg economic forum. it featured over 500 representatives from american businesses. we agree, me and president trump, we agreed to create a high-level working group that would bring together captains of russian and american business. after all, entrepreneurs and businessmen know better how to articulate this successful business cooperation. they can make their proposals

and suggestions in this regard. once again, president trump mentioned the issue of the so-called interference of russia in the american elections, and i had to reiterate things i said several times, including now during a personal context, that the russian state has never interfered and is not going to interfere into internal american affairs, including the election process. any specific material, if such things arise, we are ready to analyze together. for instance, we can analyze them through the joint working group on cybersecurity, the establishment of which we discussed during our previous context. clearly, it is past time we restore our cooperation in the cultural area, in the humanitarian area. as far as -- i think you know

that, recently, we hosted the american congressman delegation, and now it is perceived and portrayed almost as a historic event, though it should have been just a current affairs, business as usual. in this regard, we mentioned the proposal to the president. we have to think about practicalities of our cooperation, but also the logic of it. we have to engage experts on bilateral relationship, who know history and the background of our relationship. the idea is to create an expert council. that would include political scientists, prominent diplomats, and former military experts from both countries who would look for points of contact between the two countries. that would look for ways on putting the relationship on the trajectory of growth. in general, i'd glad with the outcome of our first full-scale

meeting. previously, we only had just talked briefly on an international forum. we had a good conversation with president trump. i hope we start to understand each other better. i'm grateful to donald for it. clearly, there are some challenges left that we were not able to clear, all the backlog, but i think we made the first, important step in this direction. in conclusion, i want to point out that this atmosphere of cooperation is something that we are especially grateful for to our finnish hosts. we're grateful for finnish people and finnish leadership for what they've done. i know we've caused some inconvenience to finland, and we apologize for it. thank you for your attention. >> thank you very much. thank you. i have just concluded a meeting with president putin on a wide

range of critical issues for both of our countries. we had direct, open, deeply productive dialogue. went very well. before i begin, i want to thank president niinisto of finland for graciously hosting today's summit. president putin and i were saying how lovely it was and what a great job they did. i also want to congratulate russia and president putin for having done such an excellent job in hosting the world cup. it was really one of the best ever. your team also did very well. it was a great job. i'm here today to continue the proud tradition of bold american diplomacy. from the earliest days of our republic, american leaders understood that diplomacy and engagement is preferable to conflict and hostility. a productive dialogue is not only good for the united states

and good for russia, but it is good for the world. the disagreements between our two countries are well-known, and president putin and i discussed them at length today. if we're going to solve many of the problems facing our world, then we are going to have to find ways to cooperate in pursuit of shared interests. too often, in both recent past and long ago, we have seen the consequences when diplomacy is left on the table. we have also seen the benefits of cooperation. in the last century, our nations fought alongside one another in the second world war. even during the tensions of the cold war, when the world looked much different than it does today, the united states and russia were able to maintain a strong dialogue.

our relationship has never been worse than it is now. however, that changed, as of about four hours ago. i really believe that. nothing would be easier politically than to refuse to meet, to refuse to engage, but that would not accomplish anything. as president, i cannot make decisions on foreign policy in a futile effort to appease partisan critics or the media or democrats who want to do nothing but resist and obstruct. constructive dialogue between the united states and russia forwarded the opportunity to open new pathways toward peace and stability in our world. i would rather take a political risk in pursuit of peace than to risk peace in pursuit of politics.

as president, i will always put what is best for america and what is best for the american peop people. during today's meeting, i addressed directly with president putin the russian interference in our election. i felt it was a message best delivered in person. spent a great deal of time talking about it. president putin may very well want to address it and very strongly. he feels very strongly about it, and he has an interesting idea. we also discussed one of the most critical challenges facing humanity. nuclear proliferation. i provided an update on my meeting last month with chairman kim on the denuclearization of north korea. after today, i am very sure that president putin and russia want very much to end that problem.

going to work with us. i appreciate that commitment. the president and i also discussed the scourge of radical islamic terrorism. both russia and the united states have suffered horrific terrorist attacks, and we have agreed to maintain open communication between our security agencies to protect our citizens from this global menace. last year, we told russia about a planned attack in st. petersburg, and they were able to stop it cold. they found them. they stopped them. it was no doubt about it. i appreciated president putin's phone call afterwards to thank me. i also emphasized the importance of placing pressure on iran, to halt its nuclear ambitions, and to stop its campaign of violence throughout the area, throughout the middle east. as we discussed at length, the

crisis in syria is a complex one. cooperation between our two countries has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives. i also made clear that the united states will not allow iran to benefit from our successful campaign against isis. we have just about eradicated isis in the area. we also agreed that representatives from our national security councils will meet to follow up on all of the issues we addressed today, and to continue the progress we have started right here in helsinki. today's meeting is only the beginning of a longer process. but we have taken the first steps toward a brighter future, and one with a strong dialogue and a lot of thought. our expectations are grounded in

realism, but our hopes are grounded in america's desire for friendship, cooperation, and peace. i think i can speak on behalf of russia when i say that, also. president putin, i want to thank you, again, for joining me for these important discussions and for advancing open dialogue between russia and the united states. our meeting carries on a long tradition of diplomacy between russia, the united states, for the greater good of all. this was a very construct i div day. it was a very constructive few hour ws we spent together. it is in the interest of both our countries to continue our conversation, and we have agreed to do so. i'm sure we'll be meeting again in the future often. hopefully, we will solve every one of the problems that we diskugdi discussed today. again, president putin, thank

you very much. >> translator: distinguished president, now the journalists would have a chance to ask two questions, two sets of questions each. first, the russian journalist can ask a question. interfox information agency. >> translator: during your recent european tour, you mention thad ted that the implementation of the north stream to the gas pipeline names europe a hostage of russia. you suggested that you could free europe from this by supplying american lng. this cold winter actually showed that the current model, current mechanism of supply of fuel to europe is quite viesable.

at the same time, as far as i know, the united states had to buy russian gas for boston. the implementation of your idea has a political tinge to it, or is this a practical one? because there will be a gap formed in the supply and demand mechanism. first, it is the consuming countries who will fall into this gap. the second question, before the meeting with president putin, you called him an adversary, a rival and, yet, you expressed hope that you will be able to bring this relationship to a new level. did you manage to do this? >> i called him a competitor, and a good competitor he is. i think the word competitor is a supplement. i think that we will be competing when you talk about the pipeline. i'm not sure, necessarily, that it is in the best interests of germany or not, but that was a decision that they made. we'll be competing.

as you know, the united states is now -- or soon will be, but i think it actually is right now, the largest in the oil and gas world. we're going to be solving lng. we'll have to compete with the pipeline. think we'll compete successfully, although there is a little advantage locationally. i just wish them luck. i discussed with angela merkel in pretty strong tones. i also know where they're all coming from. they have a very close source, so we'll see how that all works out. we have lots of sources now, and the united states is much different than it was a number of years ago, when we weren't able to extract what we can extract today. today, we're number one in the world at that. i think we'll be out there competing very strongly. thank you very much. >> translator: if i may, i'd throw in some two cents. we talked to mr. president,

including this subject, as well. we are aware of the stance of president trump. i think that we, as a major oil and gas power, and the united states as a major oil and gas power, as well, we can work together on regulation of international markets. because neither of us is actually interested in the plummeting of the prices. consumers will suffer, as well. and consumers in the united states will suffer, as well. and the shale gas production will suffer. because beyond a certain price bracket, it is no longer profitable to produce gas. nor are we interested in driving prices up because it will drain from all other sectors of the economy. so, we do have space for cooperation here. that's the first thing.

and about the nord stream 2, the president talked about the possibility of a disappearance through ukraine. russia stands ready to maintain the transit. moreover, we took to extent the contract about to expire next year. if the dispute between the economic entities -- dispute will be settled in the stockholm arbitration court. >> first u.s. journalist questions goes to jeff mason from "roueuters." >> thank you. mr. president, you tweeted this morning that it is u.s. foolishness, stupidity, and the mueller probe that is responsible for the decline in u.s. relations with russia. do you hold russia at all accountable for anything in particular? if so, what would you consider them -- that they are responsible for? >> yes, i do. i hold both countries

responsible. i think that the united states has been foolish. i think we've all by foolish. we should have had this dialogue a long time ago. a long time, frankly, before i got to office. i think we're all to blame. i think that the united states now has stepped forward along with russia, and we're getting together, and we have a chance to do great things. whether it is nuclear proliferation stopping, which is probably the most important thing we can be working on. i do feel that we have both made some mistakes. i think that the probe is a disaster for our country. i think it has kept us apart. it's kept us separated. there was no collusion at all. everybody knows it. people are being brought out to the fore. so far that i know, nothing related to the campaign. they're going to have to try really hard to find somebody who did relate to the campaign.

it was a clean campaign. i beat hillary clinton easily and, frankly, we beat her. i'm not even saying from the standpoint -- we won the race. it is a shame there can even be a little bit of a cloud over it. people know that. people understand it. the main thing, and we discussed this also, is zero collusion. it has had a negative impact upon the relationship of the two largest nuclear powers in the world. we have 90% of nuclear power between the two countries. it is ridiculous. it is ridiculous, what's going on with the probe. >> for president putin, if i could follow up, as well, why should americans, and why should president trump believe your statement, that russia did not intervene in the 2016 election, given the evidence that u.s. intelligence agencies provided? will you consider extraditing the 12 russian officials that were indicted last week by a u.s. grand jury?

>> i'm going to let the president answer the second part of the question. as you know, the whole concept of that came up perhaps a little bit before, but it came out as a reason why the democrats lost an election. which, frankly, they should have been able to win. the electoral college is much more advantageous for democrats, as you know, than it is to republicans. we won the electoral college by a lot. 306 to 223, i believe. that was a well-fought battle. we did a great job. frankly, i'm going to let the president speak to the second part of your question. just to say it one time again, and i say it all the time, there was no collusion. i didn't know the president. there was nobody to collude with. there was no collusion with the campaign. every time you hear all of these, you know, 12, 14, it's stuff that has nothing to do --

frankly, they admit, these are not people involved in the campaign. but to the average reader out there, they're saying, well, maybe that does. it doesn't. even the people involved, perhaps some told mis-stories. one case, the fbi said there was no lie. somebody else said, there was. we ran a brilliant campaign. that's why i'm president. thank you. >> translator: as to who is to be believed, who is not to be believed, you can trust no one. where did you get this idea that president trump trusts me or i trust him? he defends the interest of the united states of america. i do defend the interest of the russian federation. we do have interests that are in common. we are looking for points of contact. there are issues where our

postures diverge, and we are looking for ways to reconcile our differences, how to make our effort more meaningful. we should not proceed from the immediate political interests that guide certain political powers in our countries. we should be guided by facts. could you name a single fact that would definitively prove the collusion? this is nonsense. just like the president recently mentioned, yesterday, the public at large in the united states had a certain perceived opinion of the candidates during the campaign. there is nothing truly extraordinary about it. that is a usual thing. president trump, when he was a candidate, he mentioned the need to restore the russian/u.s. relationship, and it is clear that a certain part of american society felt sympathetic about it.

different people could express their sympathy in different ways. isn't that natural? isn't it natural to be sympathetic toward a person who is willing to restore the relationship with our country, who wants to work with us? we heard the ak yccusatiaccusat. as far as i know, this company hired american lawyers, and the accusations don't have a -- doesn't have a fighting chance in the american courts. there is no evidence when it comes to the actual facts. we have to be guided by facts, not by rumors. now, let's get back to the 12 alleged intelligence officers of russia. i don't know the full extent of the situation, but president trump mentioned this issue. i will look into it. so far, i can say the following, the things that are on my head, we have enacted an existent agreement between the united states of america and the

russian federation, an existing treaty, that dates back to 1999. the mutual assistance on criminal cases. this treaty is in full effect. it works quite efficiently. on average, we share 100, 150 criminal cases, upon request, from foreign states. for instance, last year, there was one extradition case, upon the request sent by the united states. so, this treaty has specific legal procedures. we can offer them to the appropriate commission headed by special counsel mueller. he can send an official request

to us, so that we would interrogate. we would hold questioning of these individuals who he believes are preview to some crimes. law enforcement are perfectly able to do this questioning and send the appropriate materials to the united states. moreover, we can meet you halfway. we can make another step. we can actually permit official representatives of the united states, including the members of this very commission, headed by mr. mueller, we can let them into the country, and they will be present for the questioning. in this case, there is another condition of this. this kind of effort should be a mutual one. then we would expect that the americans would reciprocate. they would question officials including the officers of law enforcement and intelligence services of the united states

whom we believe are -- who have something to do with illegal actions on the territory of russia. and we have to request the presence of our law enforcement. for instance, we can bring up mr. browder in this particular case. business associates of mr. browder have earned over $1.5 million in russia. they never paid any taxes. neither in russia nor in the united states. yet, the money escaped the country. they were transferred to the united states. they sent a huge amount of money, $400 million, as a contribution to the campaign of hillary clinton. that's a personal case. it might have been legal. the contribution itself. but the way the money was earned was illegal. we have a solid reason to believe that some intelligence

officers accompanied and guided these transactions. we have an interest in questioning them. it could be a first step, and we can also extend it. options abound. they all can be found in an appropriate legal framework. >> did you want president trump to win the election, and did you direct any of your officials to help them do that? >> ye >> translator: yes, i did. he talked about bringing the russian relationship back to normal. three questions from the russian pool. you have the floor. >> translator: thank you so much. good evening to everyone. >> mr. president, would you please go into the details of possibly any specific

arraignments for the u.s. to work together with russia and syria, if any of these kind of arrangements were made today or discussed? >> translator: my question to president putin in russian. since we brought up the issue of football, several times i've used the football language. when we talk about the syrian cooperation, the ball is in the syrian court. mr. putin, in russian court, is it true? how would you use this fact, that they have the ball? >> well, i guess i'll answer the first part of the question. we've worked with israel long and hard for many years, many decades. i think we've never -- never has anyone, any country been closer than we are. president putin also is helping

israel. we both spoke with netanyahu. they'd like to do certain things with respect to syria, having to do with the syria of israel. in that respect, we absolutely would like to work in order to help israel. israel will be work with us. both countries would work jointly. i think that when you look at all of the progress that's been made in certain sections, with the eradication of isis, 98%, 99% there, and other things that have taken place that we've done and, frankly, russia has helped us with in certain respects, but i think working with israel is a great thing. creating safety for israel is something that both president putin and i would like to see very much. one little thing i might add to that is the helping of people. helping of people.

because you have such horrib horrible -- i've seen reports, and i've seen pictures, i've seen just about everything. if we can do something to help the people of syria get back into some form of shelter, on a humanitarian basis, that's what the word was really, a humanitarian basis, i think that both of us would be very interested in doing that. we are -- we will do that. thank you very much. >> exhucuse me. for now, no specific agreements, for instance, between the militaries? >> well, our militaries do get along. in fact, our militaries have gotten along probably better than our political leaders for years. our militaries do get along very well. they do coordinate in syria and other places. okay? thank you. >> translator: yes, we did mention this. we mentioned the humanitarian trek track of this issue.

yesterday, i discussed this with french president mr. macron, and we reached an agreement that, together with european countries, including france, we will step up this effort. on our behalf, we will provide military cargo aircraft to deliver the humanitarian cargo. today, i brought up this issue with president trump. i think there is plenty of things to look into. the crucial thing here is that a huge amount of refugees are in turkey, in lebanon, in jordan, in the states that are adjacent to syria. if we help them with pressure upon the european states, the drop will be decreased many fold. i believe it is crucial from any point of view, from a humanitarian point of view, from the point of view of helping people handle the refugees, and in general. i agree.

i concur with president trump, our military cooperate quite successfully together. they do get along cht. i hope they'll be able to in the future. russia, turkey, and iran, which i informed president trump about. we do stand ready to link this effort, the so-called small group of states, so that the process would be a broader one. it'd be a multi-dimensional one. so, we will be able to maximize our fighting chance to get the ultimate success on the issue of syria. speaking about the -- having the ball in our court in syria, president trump has just mentioned that we've successfully concluded the world football cup. speaking of the football, actually, mr. president, i'll

give this ball to you. now the ball is in your court. all the more that the united states will host the world cup in 2026. >> that's right. thank you very much. we do host it. we hope we do as good a job. that is very nice. that will go to my son. melania, here you go. >> final question for the united states will go to jonathan lamiere from the "a.p." >> thank you. question for each president. president trump, you first. just now, president putin denied having anything to do with the election interference in 2016. every u.s. intelligence agency has concluded that russia did. my first question for you, sir, is who do you believe? my second question is, 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? >> so, let me just say, we have two thoughts. you have groups that are wondering why the fbi never took the server. why haven't they taken the server? why was the fbi told to leave the office of the democratic national committee? identify been wondering that. i've been asking that for months and months. i've been tweeting it out and calling it out on social media. where is the server? i want to know, where is the server? what is the server saying? with that being said, all i can do is ask the question. my people came to me, dan coats came to me, some others, and they said they think it's russia. i have president putin. he just said it is not russia. i will say this, i don't see any reason why it would be, but i really do want to see the server. i have confidence in both parties.

i really believe that this will probably go on for a while. i don't think it can go on without finding out what happened to the server. what happened to the servers of the pakistani gentleman that worked on the dnc? where are the servers? they're missing. where are they? what happened to hillary clinton's e-mails? 33,000 e-mails, gone. just gone. i think in russia, they wouldn't be gone so easily. i think it is a disgrace that we can't get hillary clinton's 33,000 e-mails. 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. what he did is an incredible offer. he offered to have the people working on the case come and work with their intel gavestigi with respect to the 12 people.

i think it is an incredible offer. thank you. >> translator: i'd like to add something to this. after all, i was an intelligence officer myself. i do know how dossiers are made. just saying. that's the first thing. now, the second thing. i believe that russia is a democratic state, and i hope you're not denying this right to your own country. you're not denying that the united states is a democracy. do you believe the united states is a democracy? if so, if it is a democratic state, then the final conclusion in this kind of a dispute can only be delivered by trial, by the court. not by the executive, by the law enforcement. for instance, the concord company that was brought up is being accused. it's been accused of interference, but this company

does not constituent the russian state. it does not represent the russian state. i brought several examples before. well, you have a lot of individuals in the united states -- take george sarus, for instance, with multi-billion cap l that -- capitals but it doesn't make it the posture of the united states. same case. there is the issue of trying a case in the court. and the final say is for the court to deliver. we're now talking about the individuals and not about particular states. as far as the most recent allegation is concerned, about the russian intelligence officers, we do have an intergovernmental treaty. please do send us the request. we will analyze it properly, and we'll send a formal response.

as i said, we can extend this cooperation, but we should do it on a reciprocal basis. we would like our russian counterparts to provide us access to the persons of interest for us, who we believe can have something to do with intelligence services. then this casts specific issues, not using the russia and u.s. relationship as the loose change for this internal political struggle. >> my question for president putin. thank you. two questions for you, sir. can you tell me what president trump may have indicated to you about officially recognizing crimea as part of russia? secondly, sir, do you -- does the russian government have any compromising material on president trump or his family? >> translator: president

trump -- well, posture of president trump on crimea is well-known. he stands firmly by it. he continued to maintain that it was illegal to annex it. our viewpoint is different. we held the referendum in compliance with the u.n. charter and international legislation. for us, this issue, we believe this issue. now to the compromising material. yeah, i did hear this rumor, that we allegedly collected compromising material on mr. trump when he was visiting moscow. our distinguished colleague, let me tell you this, when president trump visited moscow, back then, i didn't even know that he was in moscow. i treated president trump with utmost respect. back then, when he was a private individual, a businessman, nobody informed me he was in moscow.

let's take st. petersburg economic forum, for instance. there were over 500 american businessmen. the high -level ranking ones. i goent remembdon't remember th all of them. do you think we try to provide compromising material on each and every single one of them? it is difficult to imagine nonsense on a bigger scale than this. well, please just disregard the issue and don't think about this anymore again. >> i have to say, if they had it, it would have been out long ago. if anybody watched peter strzok testify over the last couple of days, and i was in brussels watching it, it was a disgrace to the fbi. it was a disgrace to our country. you would say, that was a total witch hunt. thank you very much, everybody. thank you. >> an absolutely fascinating news conference featuring the

two leaders, two super power leaders, president trump, president putin, covering a lot of ground. as we expected, a lot of the questioning had to do with russian interference in the 2016 election. vladimir putin flatly denying it. at the same time, acknowledging that he wanted donald trump to win the presidency. the other big headline here, and i'll go around the horn here in a moment, but the other big headline is the president's refusal to acknowledge the findings of u.s. intelligence agencies, that there was a russian move to interfere with the u.s. election. nor did he acknowledge the 12 indictments handed down against russian intelligence officers. suggesting that russia had no reason to hack the u.s. election. let me bring in now, if i can, kristen welker, our white house correspondent. michael mcfaul, former russian ambassador -- u.s. ambassador to russia. each of you, headlines? >> i think you hit the nail on the head. the fact that president trump

said he did, in fact, want president trump to win the election, but at the same time, denied that he had interfered in the election. he did respond to questions about those 12 individuals who were indicted on friday. he said he would bring u.s. investigators to russia to have them question the individuals. that is what it seemed like he was offering. well, will that actually happen? we'll have to see. lester, the big moment for me was when president trump was asked to flatly denounce russian meddling, to say to putin, it won't be tolerated, and he didn't do it. instead, he again went back to the familiar talking points, blaming the democrats, trying to shift the subject, talking about the fact that he ran this fantastic campaign, and missed an opportunity to say, this is not going to be tolerated. he also -- the final point i'll make, when he was asked if he blamed russia for anything, he said, effectively, there is plenty of blame to go around. it was a similar response to the one we heard in the wake of the charlottesville riot.

i think those who are looking for president trump to be very firm on the issue of russian meddling did not hear what they wanted to today. >> ambassador mcfaul? >> i agree completely. it was easy. could have hit it out of the park. could have pushed back. he could have agreed with his own intelligence team. he had the opportunity to do it. he decided not to. he obviously decided not to do that. i was deeply disappointed by that. the other thing is, there was no substance in the meeting. they talked about lots of issues. all of the hints we heard about deliver rabble able on and ath? >> no only thing acerca de la seguridad >> you after we know did we they did and what i hear. our president not pushing back

to defend our sovereignty against a hostile intervention in our elections makes me very nervous about any cybersecurity working group between our two countries. >> the press corps, the questions were very, very direct here. they get to the heart of the questions. what was the feeling in the room as the president refused to blame russia? >> reporter: i'm going to think how to characterize the feeling of the room. extraordinary. i have covered this president the moment he s sworp in and have never been to a press conference like this one. starting just moments before the first lady and the rest of the delegation went in, watching the president side by side with vladimir putin, u.s. intelligence agencies have agreed, leave the country that did interfere with the 2016 election and president trump