Trump and Putin just talked about the Mueller report


The Mueller report is on everybody's minds — especially those of the two world leaders most mentioned in it.
President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spent more than an hour on the phone Friday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters. Their conversation, she said, touched on Venezuela, North Korea, and, perhaps most interestingly, Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian election interference.
Trump and Putin discussed the report "very, very briefly" and "in the context that it's over," Sanders said. They mentioned that "there was no collusion, which I’m pretty sure both leaders were very well aware of long before this call took place," Sanders continued.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sanders didn't say if Trump brought up the report's clear conclusion that the Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election "in sweeping and systematic fashion." Despite this, Putin's allies have still been publicly lauding the report's findings — or at least putting a "no collusion" spin on them. Trump also didn't seem to mention how Republicans in the Senate were very focused on the report's Russian meddling aspects during a Wednesday testimony with Attorney General William Barr.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
August 16 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include football season anticipation, and Donald Trump angling for Putin's autograph
-
5 hilariously cold cartoons about the Alaska summit
Cartoons Artists take on the Alaskan totem pole, a peace flag, and more
-
Crossword: August 16, 2025
The Week's daily crossword puzzle
-
Border agents crash Newsom redistricting kickoff
Speed Read Armed federal Border Patrol agents amassed outside the venue where the California governor and other Democratic leaders were gathered
-
Man charged for hoagie attack as DC fights takeover
Speed Read The Trump administration filed felony charges against a man who threw a Subway sandwich at a federal agent
-
Trump BLS nominee floats ending key jobs report
Speed Read On Fox News, E.J. Antoni suggested scrapping the closely watched monthly jobs report
-
Trump picks conservative BLS critic to lead BLS
speed read He has nominated the Heritage Foundation's E.J. Antoni to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics
-
Trump takes over DC police, deploys National Guard
Speed Read The president blames the takeover on rising crime, though official figures contradict this concern
-
Trump sends FBI to patrol DC, despite falling crime
Speed Read Washington, D.C., 'has become one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the world,' Trump said
-
Trump officials reinstating 2 Confederate monuments
Speed Read The administration has plans to 'restore Confederate names and symbols' discarded in the wake of George Floyd's 2020 murder
-
Trump nominates Powell critic for vacant Fed seat
speed read Stephen Miran, the chair of Trump's Council of Economic Advisers and a fellow critic of Fed chair Jerome Powell, has been nominated to fill a seat on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors