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Reuters
WASHINGTON
While US President Donald Trump defended his efforts to build a relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, aides said on Friday there is some frustration that the US intelligence chief did not know about plans for a second summit and they hope that meeting will follow a more traditional pattern.
Since Monday's summit and joint news conference in Helsinki, Trump and his aides have been trying to control the damage done when he stunned the world by siding with Putin over US intelligence agencies on the question of Moscow's meddling in the 2016 US election.
The US director of national intelligence Dan Coats, who on Monday immediately defended intelligence personnel on the election issue, expressed surprise at Trump's invitation on Thursday to Putin to visit Washington in the autumn.
Coats was on camera while at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado when news broke of the invitation, clearly taking him aback.
He advised against a one-on-one meeting with Putin, saying he"would look for a different way of doing it."
If Coats had been in Washington instead of the conference, he would have been informed about the plan, one source familiar with the inner workings of the White House said on condition of anonymity.
"That DNI Coats was surprised, and his fanciful reaction, is what is most alarming to people,"the source said.
