President Donald Trump will take questions Wednesday alongside the prime minister of Norway, a key NATO ally that shares a border with Russia.
Trump and Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg will face questions from reporters — two from US press and two from Norwegian press — for the first time since his public, freewheeling immigration negotiation with Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday. The President used the bipartisan meeting before television cameras to express his eagerness to tackle comprehensive immigration reform after agreeing to a legislative fix on DACA — signaling a break with his hardline position on illegal immigration.
The press availability Wednesday also comes amid reports that special counsel Robert Mueller is likely to seek an interview with Trump as part of his investigation into Russian election meddling in the 2016 election and questions of whether Trump obstructed justice. Trump took to Twitter on Wednesday to slam the various investigations focused on the allegations of collusion between his campaign and the Russian government.
“The single greatest Witch Hunt in American history continues. There was no collusion, everybody including the Dems knows there was no collusion, & yet on and on it goes,” Trump tweeted Wednesday. “Russia & the world is laughing at the stupidity they are witnessing. Republicans should finally take control!”
The special counsel and congressional committees investigating the matter have yet to reach a conclusion about whether any collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia took place.
Trump’s meetings Wednesday with Solberg are also likely to shine a spotlight on Trump’s calls for NATO members to increase their defense spending. Along with most of the alliance’s members, Norway has failed to spend 2% of its GDP on defense as outlined in the alliance’s guidelines.
Still, like other US allies who share a border with Russia, Norway has been a critical US partner in guarding against Russian aggression and relations between Norway and Russia have soured in recent years amid Russia’s increasingly aggressive posture. Norway also drew a rebuke from Russia last year after it welcomed several hundred Marines onto a base about 900 miles from the Russian border.