John Bolton says Donald Trump to ‘size up’ Vladimir Putin at July 16 meeting, talk election meddling

President Trump will use his looming face-to-face meeting with Vladimir Putin to “size up” the Russian president, White House national security advisor John Bolton said Sunday, and will raise the issue of Moscow’s meddling in American elections.

In an interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation” program on Sunday, Mr. Bolton said the president will confront Mr. Putin on Russia’s support for Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, its forced annexation of Crimea and other issues. He also said Mr. Trump “needs” to address the issue of Russian meddling.

“I think that in the president’s mind this is very important because it gives him an opportunity to size up Vladimir Putin, to see where thee are areas where we might make progress together and where there are areas where we may not,” Mr. Bolton said. “We’ll see what happens when the two of them get together.” The two men will meet in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16, the White House announced last week.

Mr. Trump has come under fire for not reacting strongly enough to Russian attempts to interfere in the 2016 election. During his own meeting with Mr. Putin last week, Mr. Bolton said he raised that issue, along with the possibility Moscow could try to tamper with the upcoming midterm elections in November.

“Yes, absolutely, meddling in the 2016 election and our concern about what they’re doing in the 2018 election” were parts of the conversation, Mr. Bolton said.

He added that the Russian leader assured him there was no meddling by the “Russian state” — a statement Mr. Bolton said suggests non-state actors, with the implicit support of Mr. Putin, may have tried to influence the American electoral process.

“That’s very different than saying … There was no Russian meddling at all,” Mr. Bolton said. “Vladimir Putin is the one who makes the decisions and I think our leader needs to speak with him.”