He added: “By not confronting the issue directly and not acknowledging to Putin: ‘We know that you’re responsible for this,’ I think he’s giving Putin a pass. Trump met regional leaders including Chinese president Xi Jinping and Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe. The former director of national intelligence also told CNN such backtracking was indicative of weakness in front of the leaders of rival powers. “President Trump is not getting played by anybody,” Steven Mnuchin told CNN. “President Trump was focused on some very important issues in North Korea and Syria and those are areas in which we need to work with Russia and get them onboard with our strategy.”

Source: The Guardian November 12, 2017 16:05 UTC