President Donald Trump Doesn't Care What People Think About His Relationship With Putin

President Donald Trump speaks with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the their bilateral meeting at the G-20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany on July 7, 2017.Carlos Barria / Reuters

Stephen Collinson, CNN: Trump doesn't care what people think about his relationship with Putin

(CNN)President Donald Trump clearly doesn't care what anyone thinks about his baffling, opaque and deferential relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In a demonstration of his growing willingness to flout diplomatic convention and the concerns of US allies, Trump apparently plans to meet with the Russian leader alone, likely with only translators in the room, at the start of their summit in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16.

A source familiar with the planning of the meeting told CNN's Kevin Liptak on Monday that the encounter would parallel Trump's initial private encounter with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last month in Singapore, before their summit expanded to include other top officials.

It's not particularly unusual for presidents to sit down solo with other leaders before more formal diplomatic talks involving their delegations. And if a connection between Trump and Putin stems the slide in relations between the world's premier nuclear powers, it would benefit US national security and the whole world.

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WNU Editor: I can say the same thing about Putin not caring what others may think about his relationship with Trump.