President Donald Trump gave the go-ahead to announce new Russian
election-hacking indictments before his meeting with Vladimir Putin
rather than after -- in the hopes it would strengthen his hand in the
talks, according to accounts from people familiar with the decision.Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein went to Trump last week and
offered him the choice: before or after the Putin summit on Monday in
Helsinki? Trump chose before, ultimately putting the issue into the
spotlight just 72 hours before the high-stakes meeting, the people
said.In the end, Trump faced a torrent of bipartisan criticism for
suggesting he was leaning toward accepting the Russian president’s
denial that his government was behind hacking during the 2016
presidential election, even though Trump had hoped the indictment of
12 Russians on charges of meddling would give him the upper hand, one
of the people said.
Read More: Trump Decided Russia Indictments Should Come Pre-Summit, Sources Say (Bloomberg)