How a U.S. President Pivoted Toward Russia

 https://www.wsj.com/world/russia/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-relationship-4decfe96?mod=hp_lead_pos7

When President Trump met Russia’s Vladimir Putin for their first bilateral summit, in the Finnish capital of Helsinki in July 2018, the two men cloistered themselves for hours with no advisers present.

Once they emerged to a packed news conference, Trump tossed a gift from the Russian president—a soccer ball meant for Trump’s son Barron—to the front row where America’s senior-most officials sat. Trump then stunned his team by saying he believed Putin, and not America’s own intelligence services, about whether Russia interfered in the 2016 elections that brought him to power.