Trump-Putin meeting: John McCain among many to launch blistering attacks on US president's performance at Helsinki summit press conference
Both Democrats and Republicans lambast Mr Trump as 'weak' as he declines to defend US intelligence reports that Moscow sought to interfere in 2016 vote
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump has caused outrage in Washington after backing Russian President Vladimir Putin's denial that Moscow was involved in meddling in the 2016 US presidential election - over his own nation's intelligence reports
Mr Trump, who was seeking to change the relationship between the White House and the Kremlin, said he could think of "no reason" why Russia would be involved. There is consensus among US intelligence agencies that Russia did seek to alter the election, although Mr Putin has repeatedly denied it.
In Washington, the condemnation came thick and fast. Former CIA director John Brennan called Mr Trump's actions "treasonous", while Republican Senator John McCain called it “one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory.”
The Arizona Republican said the summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki was “a tragic mistake.”
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Outside the Helsinki palace where the meeting took place hundreds of protesters gathered in the streets in support of a variety of causes including abortion rights, gay rights and anti-facism. One sign read: "Lets make human rights great again".
The US president's summit with Mr Putin follows contentious visits to Nato in Brussels and to the UK, where he was greeted with widespread demonstrations against his administration.
Mr Putin meanwhile is on a high after Russia's triumphant hosting of the World Cup, although questions linger over the novichok poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal on British soil.
In an interview on Good Morning Britain before heading off to Helsinki, Mr Trump described his Russian counterpart as a "competitor" and said it was too early to say whether they were friends or enemies.
He also claimed that the EU was one of America's biggest enemies because of "what they do to us in trade" and repeated his description of the media as the "enemy of the people".
Mr Trump went on to issue a tweet blaming "US foolishness and stupidity" and what he called the "rigged witch hunt" for bad relations with Russia, to which the Russian Foreign Ministry replied "We agree".
He had been due to meet alone with the Russian president for one-and-a-half hours from around 11am UK time, but Mr Putin arrived at Helsinki airport half an hour later than expected. The joint press conference was due to start at 2.50pm.
The US president has said he was going into the meeting with "low expectations". There is no official agenda for the talks and Democrats have raised fears that Mr Putin will "try to take advantage", such as by reaching an agreement on the annexation of Crimea.
Donald Trump has now arrived at the palace for the meeting.
The summit has met with opposition from both Democrats and Republicans. Nebraska senator Ben Sasse described Mr Putin as a crook and a murderer, while Hillary Clinton asked Mr Trump "Do you know which team you play for?"
Donald Trump said "getting along with Russia is a good thing not a bad thing" as he sat down with Vladimir Putin before their one-to-one meeting.
"I really think the world wants to see us get along, we are the two great nuclear powers," the US president told reporters.
He said they had a lot to talk about including trade, nuclear weapons and military issues. "We'll be talking a little bit about China. Our mutual friend president Xi," he added.
The US president's remarks in full:
First of all Mr President I’d like to congratulate you on a really great World Cup. One of the best ever from what everybody tells me and also for your team, itself, doing so well.
I watched quite a bit and in the United States we call it soccer and I watched quite a bit of it and I watched the entire final and the semi-finals and they were really spectacular games, but it was beautifully done so congratulations on that.
Most importantly we have a lot of good things to talk about ... we have discussions on everything from trade to military, to missiles, to nuclear, to China, we’ll be talking a little bit about China – our mutual friend President Xi.
I think we have great opportunities together as two countries that frankly we have not been getting along very well for the last number of years. I’ve been here not too long but it is getting close to two years, but I think we will end up having an extraordinary relationship. I’ve been saying, and I’m sure you’ve heard, over the years ... that getting along with Russia is a good thing not a bad thing.
I really think the world wants to see us get along. We are the two great nuclear powers. We have 90% of the nuclear – and that’s not a good thing it’s a bad thing. I think we can hopefully do something about that because it is not a positive force it is a negative force so we’ll be talking about that among other things.
And with that the world awaits and I look forward to our personal discussion which I think begins now and then we are going to meet our whole team. You have quite a few representatives as I do. We all have a lot of questions and hopefully, we will come up with answers most importantly. It is great to be with you.
Vladimir Putin appeared to smirk when journalists asked Donald Trump about Russian meddling in the US presidential campaign.
Mr Trump refused to answer the question.
The Russian president spoke briefly during the short joint appearance before the media, occasionally nodding as he slouched in his chair.
Mr Putin, who brought a notepad and pen with him, said that "the time has come to talk thoroughly about bilateral relations as well as various hotspots in the world."
Why does Donald Trump want to meet with Vladimir Putin one-on-one first?
A US official told CNN that it was to "develop a leader-to-leader relationship", prevent leaks of sensitive information and stop aides interrupting him during the meeting.
Here is the translation of Mr Putin's remarks to Mr Trump before the one-on-one session started. Not exactly glowing, but no animosity.
“Distinguished president, I am delighted to be able to meet you here in Finland. We have been in continual contact by telephone since the last time, and obviously the time has come to have a business-like conversation because there is so much happening in the world that we need to talk about.”
While Mr Trump and Mr Putin are meeting alone, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are also holding talks in Helsinki.
The parallel meeting is their first since Mr Pompeo's appointment.
A number of members of Congress had called for the summit to be cancelled over the allegations of election meddling - and the lack of other people in the room for the meeting between Mr Trump and Mr Putin.
Democrat Adam Schiff explains his reasoning below, while Democrat Mark Warner had previously warned that Mr Putin could "take advantage" of the US president given the lack of oversight of the meeting.
As we wait for for the two leaders to emerge from their chat - a press conference is scheduled for an hour from now - we should note that Finland is using its opportunity to have its say about the Trump presidency.
The country's largest newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat has been running a campaign about press freedom following Mr Trump's repeated attacks on Fake News and the US press - particularly CNN and the New York Times.
Billboards have been running with the phrase "Mr President, welcome to the land of the free press".
In the last Reporters Without Borders World Press freedom report Finland ranked at number 4, the US ranked at 45.
Some context for our UK readers, Britain placed at 40th.
Protesters in Finland have also used the summit as a pre-text to air a whole litany of grievances.
Abortion-rights activists dressed up Monday in bulging bellies and Trump masks. Anti-fascist protesters carried signs with expletive-laden insults. Free traders, anti-war Ukrainians, environmentalists and rainbow flag-waving gay rights supporters all vied for attention from the world's media.
At the city's Senate Square, about 20 male "pregnant Trumps" and 20 women wearing pink gags railed against a Trump order reinstating what critics call a "global gag rule" that bans providing federal money to international family-planning groups that perform abortions or provide information about them.
Another march that drew hundreds of people was a mishmash of messages — some supporting German Chancellor Angela Merkel and some shouting "Fascists go home!" Some marchers questioned the legitimacy of Trump's election victory since he lost the popular vote. Another sign read: "A woman's place is in the Resistance."
"I don't think the two people meeting today are going to care whether we are here or not, frankly," Helsinki protester Tina Aspiala, told the Associated Press. "It's more of a global solidarity against a lot of things that are messed up, and I think that that's why it's worth coming out."
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