Donald Trump says 'can' ask Putin to hand over accused Russian hackers

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump said he Vladimir Putin during their upcoming summit to be delivered to the 12 Russian intelligence services of the US accused of attempts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.

Speaking in an interview with CBS Evening News conducted on Saturday prior to his meeting with the Russian leader in Helsinki on Monday, the US president tried to dampen expectations about how much could be achieved.

Asked whether he would push Putin to send to the US members of the Russian military intelligence agency, accused of hacking Hillary Clinton's failed presidential campaign, he said," Well, maybe.

" I would not have thought about that, but I will certainly ask, but again, this was during the Obama administration, they did whatever it was during the Obama administration."

Trump added that his Republican party was also the target of Russian hacking efforts, but had taken superior cybersecurity measures.

" I think the DNC (Democratic National Committee) should be ashamed of letting themselves be hacked," he said." They had a bad defense and they could be hacked, but I heard that they were also trying to hack the Republicans. but - and this can be wrong - but they had much stronger defenses."

CNN reported in January last year that then-FBI director James Comey told a panel of the Senate that" old emails" The Republican National Committee had been the target of hacking - but the material was not publicly released - and there was no sign for it. the current RNC or Trump campaign was successfully hacked.

The two Presidents have shared personal bonhomie in the past, but apart from the alleged hacking of the American elections, their countries are deeply divided over a large number of other cases, including Syria and Ukraine.

Before he came to Europe, Trump predicted that his meeting with Putin would be the" easiest" stage of a tour with stops in Brussels and Great Britain.

But he told CBS that he went there with 'low expectations'.

" I do not go with high expectations," he said.

Trump also defended his decision to hold the meeting after he came under attack from opposition Democrats in the aftermath of the charges.

" I think it's a good thing to meet," he said." I believe it was a good thing to have a meeting with chairman Kim, I think it was very good to have a Meeting with the President of China.

" I believe it is very good, so if I have meetings with Russia, China, North Korea, I believe in it, there is nothing wrong with it and maybe something good will come out."

A fragment of the interview is broadcast on Sunday, while the rest is broadcast on Monday.