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Hillary Clinton Knocked Trump On Putin, Russia & “The Great Mystery”

by Joseph D. Lyons
Brad Barket/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

The woman who took home three million more votes than Trump in 2016, has some thoughts on the president's job performance. It wasn't positive. Hillary Clinton slammed Trump on Putin, noting his reluctance to endorse the U.S. intelligence community's version of events on Russia meddling in the election. Moreover, warned that the meddling may not be over, and that the November election could be key.

But much of the talk came back to the Russian leader. The former Secretary of State said that her less-than-stellar relationship with Putin was "no surprise" because "hardly anybody who believes in freedom gets along with him because he is always trying to dominate, intimidate and direct how people and nations behave."

But Trump is cozying up to Putin anyhow and invited him to D.C. this week. Clinton addressed the Helsinki summit, offering it as an example for Trump's behavior toward Russia:

The great mystery is why this president has not spoken up for our country, and we saw this most clearly in this recent meeting with Putin. We don't know what was said in the room with just the two of them.

Trump at the summit declined to hold Putin and Russia accountable for the 2016 election hacking and meddling, but later said he misspoke.

Clinton said that the private, one-on-one meeting is not usual with a Russian president — it's even rare with close allies. "You particularly need a note taker so that there can be no mistake about what was said," Clinton told the crowd.

Clinton said that left a question as to what Trump truly thinks. "This idea that somehow we are not sure where our own president stands is deeply disturbing, and the best way to deal with that is to vote in November," Clinton said.

But that could prove a challenge too, if there is more meddling, Clinton argued. "Several of the intelligence professionals, including Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, have said the Russians are still at it," Clinton told the crowd. "They are still looking for ways to steal information about voter registration, for example."

Private tech experts are sounding alarms too, Clinton said. "There are some tech experts in Silicon Valley with whom I have met who say that maybe what they'll do this next time is to really disrupt the actual election — shut down the servers that you send results to, interfere with the operation of voting machines because still too many of them are linked to the internet. We are still very vulnerable and we don't have leadership from the administration."

Clinton made the comments at Ozy Fest, a festival in New York City that featured both politicians and entertainers. New York gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon also spoke.

Clinton didn't focus solely on Russia, she also criticized other Trump policies like immigration and the Trump administration's separation of migrant families. She criticized them, saying that immigration has strengthened the country:

We have decades and decades of proof that absorbing immigrants, creating opportunities ... and opening the doors has been to our advantage. And to those who want to turn the clock back on that and say somehow that it has hurt America, then they're not walking around with their eyes open.

Clinton went back, again and again, to voting and urged the crowd to show up in November. "I keep mentioning this election in November, because for people who care about any of these issues, it really is the most important act you can take,” Clinton told the crowd. “I hope everyone here is registered to vote, and I hope that you will vote in November.”

For Clinton, that's the key to many issues, from immigration policies to Putin.