White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Wednesday criticized the media's treatment of the previously undisclosed meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 summit, saying that to act like it was a secret was "absolutely absurd."
After an official bilateral discussion earlier in the day, Trump and Putin spoke at a social dinner on July 7 for world leaders and their spouses; Putin was seated next to First Lady Melania Trump, and President Trump came over and spoke to Putin at the event.
A reporter said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson provided a readout of Trump and Putin's official meeting and asked why a similar summary was not provided for their dinner discussion.
Sanders said the press was using a double standard, claiming the press did not require a readout of Barack Obama's social discussions at the G-20 in 2011.
"This was a publicly disclosed event. The president participated in an official dinner of the G-20," she said. "That was part of his schedule that was released publicly. You guys came and took pictures of it. It wasn't like this was some sort of hidden dinner ... So to act as if this was some secret is just absolutely absurd."
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said their conversation was essentially small talk.
Trump himself tweeted about the media reaction to the conversation as "fake news."
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