Trump’s friendliness toward Russia puts him at odds with McMaster: report

President Trump’s embrace of Russian President Vladimir Putin has put him at odds with national security adviser H.R. McMaster and other top aides, The Associated Press reported Thursday.

McMaster vocally disapproved of Trump’s meetings with Putin at the Group of 20 (G-20) global summit earlier this month, the report said. He also opposed Trump meeting with top Russian officials at the White House and the president’s decision not to speak out against Russian aggression in Europe.

{mosads}McMaster did not attend Trump’s bilateral G-20 meeting with Putin in a highly unusual move. Trump brought only Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and a translator. Such meetings typically also include the national security adviser and a National Security Council expert.

Foreign officials told the AP they sensed “mixed signals” between Trump and his team on Russia. And U.S. officials said they were “dumbfounded” by Trump’s approach to Russia given the evidence that Moscow interfered in last year’s presidential election.

Trump held a second, informal talk with Putin hours after their formal bilateral sit-down at the G-20 summit in Hamburg earlier this month, the White House confirmed Tuesday.

In their second conversation, Trump spoke with the Russian leader for roughly an hour, joined only by Putin’s translator, according to Tuesday reports. The meeting had previously gone undisclosed by the administration.

The White House confirmed that Trump and Putin spoke at a dinner for G-20 leaders and their spouses. But a White House official disputed that the discussion lasted an hour, saying the two only spoke “briefly” near the end of the dinner. 

Both past and present advisers have said that characterizing any conversation with Putin as casual is a mistake.