WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a second, previously undisclosed meeting earlier this month that lasted an hour at the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, Germany.
The talk, during a dinner for G-20 leaders and their spouses, was first disclosed by Ian Bremmer, the head of the Eurasia Group, an international consulting business. Bremmer said he was told about the meeting by two people who were at the dinner and watched Putin and Trump talk but could not hear what they said.
White House officials subsequently confirmed the meeting to The Washington Post and the Associated Press.
Television coverage of the beginning of the dinner showed first lady Melania Trump seated next to Putin. According to Bremmer, Trump, who was sitting next to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, got up midway through the dinner and sat next to Putin, talking "privately and animatedly."
The two talked for roughly an hour, with no aides present and using only Putin's interpreter for translation, Bremmer said.
Reporters who were outside the dinner saw both presidents leave around the same time, shortly after 11 p.m. local time.
The White House did an extensive read out of Trump's formal meeting with Putin, which lasted more than two hours but made no mention of the second, informal discussion.
