The weirdest moments of the Trump-Putin summit
Despite praising each other ahead of the meeting, the body language between the two leaders was anything but warm. Hillary Clinton's emails, awkward hugs and non-answers were the major takeaways from the summit.
Stiff body language
Although the US president had nothing but warm words for his Russian counterpart ahead of their meeting, their posture upon meeting was significantly more awkward. As they met for a brief photo call before closed-door talks, the two men avoided eye contact and seemed unsure of how best to approach one another, with Trump slouching in his seat and Putin remaining enigmatic.
Trump questions US intelligence services
"They said they think it's Russia; I have President Putin, he just said it's not Russia," said Trump, on assurances from US intelligence agenices that the Russian government meddled in the 2016 presidential elections. This came mere seconds after Putin admitted in a press conference that he had be hoping for him to win over rival Hillary Clinton.
Reporter pulled for protest
A reporter for the progressive US publication "The Nation" was forcibly removed from the presidents' joint press conference, apparently for holding a sign that seemed to read "Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty."
But her emails
After giving a series of rambling answers to questions about Syria and Russian hacking, Trump was asked why he would trust President Putin's assurances over his own intelligence services. He abruptly changed the subject to Hillary Clinton. "Where are those servers?" he asked. "Where are Hillary Clinton's emails?"
Power posturing
President Putin reacted aggressively to questions from US reporters from the new agencies Reuters and the Associated Press. "Can you name a single fact?" he asked. He also swerved around a US reporter's question as to whether he directed government agents to interfere in American politics.
In your court
"The ball's in your court," said Putin with an air of forced joviality as he presented Trump with a gift to mark their meeting. Trump had already congratulated the Russian president on "one of the best ever" World Cup tournaments. After he was handed the soccer ball, Trump appeared to surprise onlookers by tossing it into the crowd, where it was given to his wife Melania Trump.
Half-hearted hug
The two men again appeared ill at ease with one another at the end of the press conference, a stark contrast to their vows to work towards stronger ties. Both leaders were uncomfortably prompted to deny the existence of a "dossier" of compromising material collected by Russian agents during Trump's visits to the country before he was president.