President Trump is considering turning over former US ambassador Michael McFaul to Moscow for questioning.
Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin about McFaul and other Americans during their Helsinki summit and is mulling the decision with his national security team, according to the White House.
“There was some conversation about it, but there wasn’t a commitment made on behalf of the United States,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Wednesday.
“And the president will work with his team, and we’ll let you know if there’s an announcement on that front.”
Putin mentioned Americans he’d like to question during a joint press conference with Putin after their private meeting.
“We would expect that the Americans would reciprocate,” Putin said when asked about the 12 Russian officials who were indicted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
” …and that they would question officials, including the officers of law enforcement and intelligence service of the United States, whom we believe are — who have something to do with illegal actions on the territory of Russia, and we have to — to request the presence of our law enforcement.”
McFaul responded to the Russian allegations by asking the White House to deny the “ridiculous” request.
“I hope the White House corrects the record and denounces in categorical terms this ridiculous request from Putin,” McFaul tweeted.
“Not doing so creates moral equivalency between a legitimacy US indictment of Russian intelligence officers and a crazy, completely fabricated story invented by Putin.”