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HAMBURG, Germany President Donald Trump's G-20 trip was dominated by news of his "very robust" first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin but other critical issues hinged on his ability to maneuver through diplomatic channels.

After a rough reception last month during the NATO summit, foreign policy experts predicted an icy reception for Trump especially as his recent policy pronouncements on climate and trade put him out of step with the other allies gathered in Germany.

But the international trip played better than that Brussels stop, according to Jamie Fly, a senior fellow with the German Marshall Fund, and Trump seemed to have "navigated some of the differences that everyone knew would exist with the Europeans."

Optics was but one of Trump's challenges, however. These five issues are the top takeaways of the summit:

Tensions over North Korea were already high before the G-20, with urgency for a resolution over how to handle the isolated nation renewed after an intercontinental ballistic missile test earlier in the week.

"Something has to be done about it," Trump reiterated at the start of a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday, adding that he appreciates what's been done by China regarding North Korea.

That's a new tone from the one Trump took days earlier, chastising China for growing their trade relations with the regime of Kim Jong Un.

"So much for China working with us but we had to give it a try!" Trump tweeted Wednesday.

The Xi-Trump meeting lasted over an hour and a half, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters in a plane gaggle en route to Washington. It would have lasted longer, he said, "if we didn't have to get pulled out to leave."

The White House strategy in North Korea has counted heavily on a helping hand from the Chinese, but Secretary of State Rex Tillerson described their actions Friday as "uneven."

The United States has kept the pressure on Beijing sanctioning a Chinese bank last week and excluding China from a trilateral meeting with leaders from South Korea and Japan prior to the start of the G-20. That meeting yielded a joint statement from the three countries, pressing for the early adoption of a new U.N.Security Council resolution that would put additional sanctions on North Korea to show "that there are serious consequences for its destabilizing, provocative, and escalatory actions."

U.S. bombers practiced their attack capabilities at a training range in South Korea on Friday, NBC News learned a clear show of force to the North Korean regime just days after they tested the intercontinental ballistic missile.

Local media reported that the bombers flew close to the demilitarized zone that separates North and South Korea, but they did not cross demarcation lines.

Perhaps the most-watched policy piece of this summit of world leaders was on climate change as it related to the Paris Climate Agreement. After a climate change session, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters Trump participated and "even made a contribution" to discussions.

But by the end of the two-day summit, America was officially standing alone.

The United States was singled out in a G-20 statement for its stance on climate issues, and the other countries took the uncharacteristic step of noting America's lone position in rebuffing the accord.

"We take note of the decision of the United States of America to withdraw from the Paris Agreement," the end-of-summit document read. "The United States of America announced it will immediately cease the implementation of its current nationally-determined contribution and affirms its strong commitment to an approach that lowers emissions while supporting economic growth and improving energy security needs."

The other G-20 leaders called the Paris Agreement "irreversible" and French President Emmanuel Macron announced an end-of-year summit in France to fete the accord's two-year signing anniversary.

But the White House balked at the idea that the statement was done to brush aside the United States.

National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn told reporters on Air Force One that "it was never a situation where there was isolated forces" as "everyone accepted" the U.S. decision to get out of the Paris Agreement early on.

Another instance that set the U.S. apart from its G-20 partners came on trade, with leaders giving an early rebuttal to possible U.S.-imposed tariffs on steel imports a decision the White House is expected to move on soon.

On Friday, European leaders were direct in their opposition. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker promised, metaphorically, that "we are prepared to take up arms if need be," but hoped it wouldn't be "actually necessary."

President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel attend a panel discussion on the second day of the G20 summit on July 8, 2017, in Hamburg, Germany. Pool / Getty Images

Experts told NBC News before the G-20 that

In closing out the summit in her home country, Merkel told reporters that G-20 leaders were clear that markets must be open, while fighting against protectionism and unfair practices.

Fly, who served on the National Security Council and in the Pentagon during the administration of George W. Bush, said the Trump administration should be cautious on the pending tariffs decision.

He told NBC News that it needs to "make sure that they're not, at the end of the day, going after countries that are really not the root of the problem on that issue."

Trade tensions, he noted, are "added to all the other emotions about Trump and about Paris Climate Agreement withdrawal that the imposition of tariffs that affect our European allies would have a very negative impact on Trans-Atlantic relations."

Tillerson announced Friday that the United States, in tandem with Russia and Jordan, agreed to a de-escalation in southwest Syria, a "first indication of the U.S. and Russia being able to work together in Syria."

National security adviser H.R. McMaster said Saturday that a "de-escalation zone" will go into effect noon local time (5 a.m. ET) Sunday.

But there have been ceasefire attempts before amid the country's civil war and questions remain over who will be monitoring the ISIS-ravaged region.

Related:

"At the end of the day, this is Syria," one senior State Department official said Friday, briefing reporters anonymously to better discuss details of the ceasefire deal and acknowledging the complications there.

The question also remains of what to do with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Tillerson has said of the country's future: "There will be a transition away from the Assad family."

The White House pledged $50 million to a new World Bank initiative geared toward breaking down barriers to female economic empowerment.

The introduction of the Ivanka Trump-backed group drew Merkel, Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to the podium to praise efforts to help women around the world achieve greater success.

Trump

Ivanka Trump's White House role is nebulous, but she has consistently focused on projects that support female economic advancement. Her role in this particular initiative would not be one of a fundraiser, a senior administration official insisted, but instead, one of a global champion and advocate.

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G-20 Summit: Top Five Takeaways From Trump's Trip - NBCNews.com

President Trumps trip to Poland and the Group of 20 summit in Germany is yet another reminder that his presidency has the qualities of a three-ring circus, with activity coming from a variety of directions all at the same time and with no easy way in the moment to decide what is most important or credible.

Two events dominated the presidents European visit: his eagerly anticipated meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday and his tone-setting speech about the future of the West a day earlier in Warsaw. Each rightly drew worldwide attention. Both could prove to be potential foundational moments in the Trump presidency.

But there were other discordant moments that distracted from the big set pieces. They were a reminder of how difficult it is to find consistency or predictability in Trumps presidency. They included the presidents public equivocation about Russian interference in the 2016 election and his dissing of U.S. intelligence capabilities during a news conference in Poland, and then a bizarre and inaccurate tweet on Friday morning about John Podesta and Russian hacking hours before Trump was to see Putin.

[Podesta calls Trump our whack job president in response to error-filled tweet]

No recent meeting between world leaders came with such advance hype as the session between Trump and Putin. Thats because no relationship has been more fraught for Trump, because of Russias efforts to meddle in his behalf during the election backdropped by Trumps regular expressions of admiration for Putin.

This was more than an opportunity for Trump and Putin to get acquainted and to take a measure of each other, more than a moment for photo ops and handshakes and other trappings that often signify little. Dangers from North Koreas nuclear pursuits, the war in Syria (where the two agreed to try to enforce a cease-fire in the southwestern part of the country) and the overall fight against the Islamic State demanded serious and presumably frank discussions.

That their meeting lasted far longer than scheduled at two hours and 15 minutes, it was more than twice as long as planned was not a surprise. The leaders of the nations with the worlds biggest nuclear arsenals and with clear differences about many issues had a potential agenda that could have kept them together hours longer. The lengthy meeting was a constructive sign, given the state of the relationship.

What isnt known is what Trump, who is quick to judge the strengths and weaknesses of people, made of Putin. Did he emerge from their two hours of talks and sparring with a different impression of the Russian leader? Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the two had good chemistry. Trump is susceptible to flattery. Did he leave with a feeling that Putin was more trustworthy or less trustworthy than when he entered the room?

Then, of course, there was the elephant in the room, which was Russias role in the U.S. election. Pregame speculation questioned whether Trump would even address it face to face. He did, but there were conflicting accounts of what was said on that topic.

Tillerson said Trump had started the meeting by raising the issue of Russian interference and that Putin had offered what is his standard denial that the Russians did anything nefarious during the 2016 campaign.

Just how forcefully Trump pressed the issue Tillerson said the president brought it up more than once is so far unknown. There was no immediate indication of any softening of the sanctions imposed by the Obama administration in retaliation to the hacking, which has been a Russian goal. But the readouts suggested that Trump had no appetite for a sustained argument about Russias behavior.

As he has signaled in other interactions with other world leaders, Trump is transactional and therefore willing to look past such things as human rights abuses and other transgressions that have drawn rebukes from previous U.S. administrations as he pursues other goals. Whether that approach will produce desired results hasnt been given a full test, although it has not prompted the kind of tough action by China toward North Korea that Trump wants.

Tillerson told reporters in Hamburg that neither leader was eager to re-litigate the past, that their differences on Russian meddling were intractable and that each was looking for a way to put the relationship between these two adversaries on firmer and more positive footing.

On one key point, the accounts of the meeting were at odds. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Trump had listened to Putins denial of interference, had accepted those statements and had dismissed the investigation into Russian interference. Tillerson said Putin, despite the denials, had nonetheless agreed to talks about noninterference in U.S. elections.

[Kremlin defends account of Trump-Putin talks]

What Trump said in response to Putins denial is a critical question, given what he said the day before at a news conference. Asked by reporters on Thursday whether he fully accepted U.S. intelligence findings of Russian interference, Trump again declined to give a clear answer. I think it could very well have been Russia, but I think it could well have been other countries, he said. Trump added that a lot of people interfere and have been for some time. Nobody really knows for sure, he said.

If that is Trumps true belief, and he has said it often enough over many months to make it seem as though it is what he thinks, then how exactly did he raise the issue directly with Putin, and how forcefully did he press the case when Putin offered his denial? Having raised it with the Russian leader, is that the end of it for the president, at least in terms of what he plans to do either to punish the Russians or aggressively look to prevent a repeat performance in 2018 or 2020?

His true feelings may have come out on Friday morning when he tweeted, Everyone here is talking about why John Podesta refused to give the DNC server to the FBI and the CIA. Disgraceful! There are any number of inaccuracies in that tweet, and Podesta, on a road trip with his wife, pointed them out in a response published by The Washington Post. Trumps tweet was a reminder that, on matters related to Russia and the election, the president continues to look for diversions and digressions, raising more questions about what transpired in his meeting with Putin.

Trumps speech in Warsaw drew more positive reviews than his address to NATO when he was in Europe in May. In Poland, he unequivocally reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to Article 5 of the NATO treaty dealing with common defense. In May, he pointedly did not.

His speech was nationalistic in tone, yet different from some in the past. Critics found the speech still too dark in tone. The Economist called it a departure from past administrations, and not that far from the American carnage language of his inaugural address, a philosophy that champions closed borders and that does not celebrate pluralistic values.

More positively, the Wall Street Journal said that, in his affirmative defense of the western tradition, Trump offered the core of what could become a governing philosophy. The editorial ended with this statement, It was an important and, we hope, a defining speech for the Trump presidency and for Donald Trump himself.

That, like the question of what Trump truly thinks about Putin, Russia and the interference in American democracy, is the persistent puzzle about this president. Are speeches like the one he gave in Warsaw genuine expressions of his views or more the assembled consensus of his advisers? Are his views expressed best in readouts by advisers from his private discussions with the likes of Putin, or by what he says during his infrequent news conferences or his more frequent tweets? Answers still to come.

See the rest here:
Who is the real Donald Trump? - Washington Post

U.S. President Donald Trump wrapped up his time at the Group of 20 Summit Saturday in Hamburg, Germany, his second overseas trip since moving into the White House, and it certainly made for a jam-packed couple of days rife with some accomplishments and some head-scratching moments.

Per usual, Trump summed up his time abroad with a quick little Twitter burst, shouting out German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the anarchists who waged protests throughout as well as the security forces that contained them and praise Chinese President Xi Jinping for their talks on trade & North Korea.

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Indeed, the trip allowed Trump to somewhat make up for his first European trek earlier this year, one that was widely panned by critics.This time the Republican did make some progress in various areas.

Heres a quick synopsis of Trumps time before and during the G20.

Putin Showdown

This was the main event that much of the country and globe had marked on their calendars for months. Trump had the opportunity to directly confront Russian President Vladimir Putin on a number of issues, but most importantly the accusations that Russiahacked the 2016 election in order to elevate Trump and defame Democrat Hillary Clinton and her party.

Putin and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said Trump accepted the formers denials and even stated Trump had said some in the U.S. had exaggerated Russias efforts.

US President Donald Trump prepares to give a speech during the panel discussion "Launch Event Women's Entrepreneur Finance Initiative" on the second day of the G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany, July 8, 2017. REUTERS/Patrik Stollarz

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the subject was the first brought up in the six-person sit down Trump, Tillerson, Putin, Lavrov and two translators and afterward told reporters the question was how the two nations could move forward.

According to media reports, White House officials later said that Russias interpretation of Trumps acceptance was not accurate.

Praising the West

Though Trumps speech in Warsaw, Poland occurred Thursday, one day before the G20, it served as a precursor or warm-up before the summit in front of a rather friendly crowd eager to hear him speak. The president criticized his two predecessors in Barack Obama and George W. Bush, as well as the U.S. intelligence community, breaking with years of tradition, The New York Times reported.

Trump also posed several questions about the West and its will to face challenges.

The fundamental question of our time is whether the West has the will to survive, he said. Do we have the confidence in our values to defend them at any cost? Do we have enough respect for our citizens to protect our borders? Do we have the desire and the courage to preserve our civilization in the face of those who would subvert and destroy it?

Global Famine Aid

The presidents signature mantra of Make America Great Again was credited for helping him claim the White House last year, but it was also accused of spreading nationalism or isolationism, two things the U.S. has not been known for quite some time.

But Trump appeared to break from at least the isolationism when he agreed Saturday to provide $639 million to the United Nations World Food Programme to help those starving from famine and drought in Somalia, South Sudan, Nigeria and Yemen, Reuters reported.

Each country is scheduled to receive more than $120 million, and the new infusion puts the U.Ss grand total aide to all four countries at $1.8 billion. Altogether the U.N. has estimated that more than 30 million people are being affected by the famine.

Making Women Business Leaders

Consider this one a victory for Trump and his daughter Ivanka. Trump pledged $50 million to a new World Bank fund to help women entrepreneurs. The program, called the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative, is aimed at helping women find better avenues for capital, training and increasing policies, ABC News reported. To date, World Bank Group president Jim Yong Kim said the fund has received $325 million in pledges so far.

Left Out of Climate Change

The summit closed onperhaps a sour note for Trump, at least when it comes to his decision to pull the U.S. out of the multi-lateral Paris Climate Accord earlier this year. When Trump made the announcement June 1, he did leave the window open for re-entering the voluntary accord if he could re-negotiate.

However, at the G20, the other 19 nations leaders all reached an agreement stating the accord is irreversible, leaving the U.S. as the only one out.

Read more from the original source:
What Did Donald Trump Do and Not Do At The G20 Summit? - Newsweek

Less than a week after President Donald Trump posted a video on Twitter edited to show the president body slamming the CNN logo, Donald Trump Jr. is continuing the anti-media meme war.

On Saturday, Donald Trump Jr. posted a video on Instagram that shows footage from "Top Gun" edited to appear as if Donald Trump is shooting a missile at a jet covered with the CNN logo. The CNN jet explodes after being hit by a missile from the Trump jet (the president's face is superimposed over that of Tom Cruise's "Maverick" character).

According to the Daily Caller, a far right news site, the video was originally posted on Twitter by the website's chief video editor, Richard McGinnis.

Trump Jr. reposted the video from Old Row Sports, a website owned by Barstool Sports.

President Trump has been extensively criticized for threatening the media by posting the video that appeared to portray him assaulting "CNN."

"It is a sad day when the President of the United States encourages violence against reporters," CNN said in a statement released Sunday after Trump's tweet went out.

However, supporters argued that Trump was merely attempting to communicate his views to the country, as he believes the media has treated him unfairly.

"There's a lot of cable news shows that reach directly into hundreds of thousands of viewers, and they're really not always very fair to the president," homeland security adviser, Thomas Bossert, told ABC's "This Week." "So I'm pretty proud of the president for developing a Twitter and a social-media platform where he can talk directly to the American people."

Trump's body slam video is still up on Twitter, despite arguments that it and other tweets from the president could violate the social network's abuse and harassment policy. Instagram, on the other hand, is known for more actively enforcing its anti-harassment policy, so Trump Jr.'s meme may not be up for long.

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Donald Trump Jr. one-ups his dad with new Instagram that shows the president shooting down 'CNN' - AOL

An Iowa woman pleaded guilty to election misconduct this week after being accused of illegally voting twice for Donald Trumplast year, according to The Associated Press.

The woman, 56-year-old Terri Lynn Rote,reportedly cast a ballot during early voting in Polk County and attempted to cast a second one at a satellite voting location, where she was arrested. Rote told police she voted twice because she believed Trumps claims that the 2016 election would be rigged and thought her first ballot would be changed to a vote for Democrat Hillary Clinton, according to CBS News.

Rotes plea comes as Trump has focused national attention on voter fraud. He has claimed 3 million to 5 million people voted illegally last year in the 2016 election, but has offered no evidence to support that claim. Multiple investigations, including one by the Justice Department under President George W. Bush, have found that while a handful of people such as Rote do vote illegally, it is not a widespread phenomenon.

Rotes attorney told the court in January that she believed her client had cognitive limitations and a mental health disorder. Sentencing is set for Aug. 15, and Rotes attorneys are recommending two years probation with community service.Election fraud can be punished in the state by up to five years in prison, according to the AP. Prosecutors agreed to drop a perjury charge against Rote because she pleaded guilty to a felony charge, the AP reported.

Punishments for illegal voting vary from state to state. In February, for example, a Texas mom and noncitizen was sentenced to eight years in prison for voting in U.S. elections and faces likely deportation. She said she didnt know she was ineligible.

In April, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R), secured his first plea from a noncitizen who admitted to voting. The man was put on unsupervised probation for up to three years and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine.

In North Carolina, by contrast, a prosecutor declined to even bring chargesagainst a woman who admitted she voted for Trump on behalf of her deceased mother in 2016.

Iowa enacted a voter ID law earlier this year, despite concerns it would make it more difficult to vote. Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate (R) pushed the bill, even though he said the states elections were already fair and clean.

More:
Iowa Woman Pleads Guilty To Voting Twice For Donald Trump - HuffPost