Yahoo Finance Serwer on Trump-Putin press conference: 'I've never seen anything like it'
President Trump’s press conference with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland, on Monday drew a reaction from just about everyone.
Yahoo Finance Editor-in-Chief Andy Serwer described it as “completely bizarre, extraordinary, and historic” on the Final Round Monday afternoon. “I’ve never seen anything like it in my entire life.”
“The President of the United States and the President of Russia sat down being chummy and President Trump was unable to call out Russia for anything, unlike what he does with Canada and the EU,” Serwer said. “It was mind-boggling to me.”
Trump and Putin met on Monday in Helsinki for the 2018 Russia-United States Summit. The two convened in a closed-door meeting with only interpreters present and then held a joint press conference, in which Trump defended Russia against claims of meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
“My people came to me, [Director of National Intelligence] Dan Coates, came to me and some others they said they think it’s Russia,” Trump said. “I have President Putin. He just said it’s not Russia.
“I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be.”
Serwer noted that the event shouldn’t have much of an effect on the markets. “It wasn’t like they mentioned signing a big new gas pipeline deal or moving gas and oil stocks,” he said. “Basically, Trump spent most of the press conference talking about the witch hunt and Hillary Clinton.”
A bipartisan backlash to Trump’s performance continued into Tuesday, with several prominent Republicans speaking out.
“I personally found it bizarre, crazy, outrageous, startling, unprecedented,” Serwer reiterated on Market Movers (video above). “And I think a lot of American, both Democrats and Republicans,” saw it similarly. “But at the end of the day, what are you going to do about it?”
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