Trump rejects Putin’s proposal to let Russia interrogate US citizens

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump rejected a proposal by Vladimir Putin to allow Russian officials to interrogate a former US ambassador and other American citizens, amid outrage across Washington that he would even consider it.

While Trump originally called the idea an “incredible offer,” and continued to weigh it through Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said he has now decided against it. “It is a proposal that was made in sincerity by President Putin, but President Trump disagrees with it,” Sanders said. Putin unveiled the proposal in a joint press conference with Trump on Monday following their summit meeting in Helsinki, Finland. Asked whether he would extradite 12 Russian intelligence agents indicted in the United States last week for hacking Democratic Party computers, he said he could meet the US government “halfway.” “We can actually permit official representatives of the United States... into the country and they will be present at this questioning” of the 12 inside Russia. “Then we would expect that the Americans would reciprocate and they would question officials, including the officers of law enforcement and intelligence services of the United States ... who have something to do with illegal actions on the territory of Russia, and we have to request the presence of our law enforcement.”