Trump Didn't Have Note Taker at First 2017 Putin Meeting: WSJ

(Bloomberg) -- When Donald Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time as heads of state in Germany in 2017, only Putin asked to have a note taker present, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing several officials familiar with the matter.

• Without a note taker, only then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson accompanied Trump, and Tillerson took notes to brief the administration later
• In addition, many of Trump’s top officials were never briefed on the meeting with Putin nor were leaders for many allies, the newspaper reported
• A foreign official says phone call transcripts have been reduced since leaks early in Trump’s tenure
• NOTE: Jan. 12, Trump says he’s not hiding Putin face-to-face chat details

To contact the reporter on this story: Nick Lichtenberg in New York at nlichtenberg@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Chakradhar Adusumilli at cadusumilli@bloomberg.net, Virginia Van Natta, Linus Chua

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.