Rand Paul delivers letter from Trump to Putin

Sen. Rand Paul on Wednesday delivered a letter from President Donald Trump to Russia President Vladimir Putin that "emphasized the importance of further engagement" between the two leaders. “I was honored to deliver a letter from President Donald J. Trump to President Vladimir Putin’s administration,” Paul said in a statement. The letter also highlighted how Putin wants to continue to work together with the U.S. on "countering terrorism, enhancing legislative dialogue and resuming cultural exchanges," Paul said. Paul has been visiting Moscow this week where he met with Russian officials, in addition to visiting the U.S. embassy in the city. Paul gave the letter to representatives of Putin, as the Russian president has been out of Moscow all week. On Monday, Paul announced that Russian lawmakers have agreed to visit the U.S. Capitol, which would be the first time in almost three years that an official Russian delegation has visited the U.S. Capitol. The letter comes nearly a month after Trump and Putin met in Helsinki, Finland. The meeting between the two leaders created waves on both sides of the aisle as lawmakers criticized Trump for not endorsing the U.S. intelligence community's assessment of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. The letter also comes after Putin publicly announced late last month that he invited Trump to Russia for another face-to-face meeting. Trump had initially invited Putin to Washington D.C. this fall, but the White House later announced it was delaying a second meeting between the two leaders. source: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/08/rand-paul-delivers-letter-to-trump-from-putin-766743 #Headlines by: rmorin@politico.com (Rebecca Morin)

Original Post: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/08/rand-paul-delivers-letter-to-trump-from-putin-766743