US president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin talk during the 'family photo' shoot at the Apec Summit in Danang, Vietnam on November 11, 2017. Jorge Silva / Reuters
US president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin talk during the 'family photo' shoot at the Apec Summit in Danang, Vietnam on November 11, 2017. Jorge Silva / Reuters
US president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin talk during the 'family photo' shoot at the Apec Summit in Danang, Vietnam on November 11, 2017. Jorge Silva / Reuters
US president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin talk during the 'family photo' shoot at the Apec Summit in Danang, Vietnam on November 11, 2017. Jorge Silva / Reuters

The Americas

Trump tries to have it both ways on Russia election meddling

The US president said he believes the assessment of America's intelligence agencies - but also the Russian president's sincerity on the issue

Associated Press

November 12, 2017

  • English
  • Arabic

US president Donald Trump tried to have it both ways on Sunday on the issue of Russian interference in last year's presidential race, saying he believes both the US intelligence agencies when they say Moscow meddled and Russian president Vladimir Putin's sincerity in claiming that his country did not.

"I believe that he feels that he and Russia did not meddle in the election," Mr Trump said of Mr Putin at a news conference in Hanoi with Vietnam's president.

"As to whether I believe it, I'm with our agencies," Mr Trump said. "As currently led by fine people, I believe very much in our intelligence agencies."

The CIA and other US intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia meddled in the 2016 election to help Mr Trump defeat his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. An examination of potential collusion between Moscow and Trump campaign aides led by special counsel Robert Mueller — under the supervision of the US justice department — has so far led to indictments against Mr Trump's former campaign chairman and another top aide for crimes unrelated to the campaign, and a guilty plea from a foreign policy adviser to Mr Trump.

Multiple congressional committees are also investigating.

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Mr Trump commented on the Russia election issue for the second straight day on Sunday, shortly before he arrived in the Philippines, the final stop on a five-country trip to Asia. In Manila, Mr Trump is slated to meet with Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte and attend a pair of international summits.

Mr Duterte has come under fierce criticism from human rights groups for overseeing a violent drug war involving extrajudicial killings. But Mr Trump has praised the Philippine president's handling of his nation's drug problems and was not expected to publicly challenge Mr Duterte on human rights.

Questions about whether Mr Trump believes the intelligence agencies' assessment of Russian election-meddling have trailed him since January, when he said for the first time that he accepted Moscow was behind the hacking of Democrats that roiled the White House race.

Mr Trump told reporters travelling with him to Hanoi on Saturday that Mr Putin had again vehemently denied the allegations. The two spoke during an economic conference in the Vietnamese city of Danang. Mr Trump danced around questions about whether he believed Mr Putin, but stressed the Russian president's denials.

"Every time he sees me, he says: 'I didn't do that.' And I believe — I really believe — that when he tells me that, he means it," Mr Trump said, arguing that it makes no sense for him to belabour the issue when Russia could help the United States on North Korea, Syria and other issues.

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Then on Sunday, Mr Trump said he believes that Mr Putin believes Russia was not involved.

"That's very important for somebody to believe," he said in Hanoi.

The US president also lashed out on Saturday at former heads of American intelligence agencies, claiming there are plenty of reasons to be suspicious of their findings and dismissing them as "political hacks". In a tweet on Sunday, he bashed the "haters and fools" he said were questioning his efforts to improve relations with Russia, and accused critics of "playing politics" and hurting the US.

Mr Trump's comments on Saturday drew strong reactions from some US lawmakers.

Senator John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, said Mr Trump's faith in the Russian president's denial was "naive".

"There's nothing 'America First' about taking the word of a KGB colonel over that of the American intelligence community," Mr McCain said, referring to Mr Putin's former career in Soviet intelligence.

He added that Mr Trump's faith in Mr Putin was "naive".

"Vladimir Putin does not have America's interests at heart," he said.

In Hanoi on Sunday, Mr Trump also pointed to sanctions the US has imposed on Russia as punishment for election meddling.

"They were sanctioned at a very high level, and that took place very recently," he said. "It's now time to get back to healing a world that is shattered and broken."

Mr Trump was originally slated to depart Manila for Washington on Monday. He added a day to the schedule amid criticism that he would have missed the final summit.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Cultural fiesta

What: The Al Burda Festival
When: November 14 (from 10am)
Where: Warehouse421,  Abu Dhabi
The Al Burda Festival is a celebration of Islamic art and culture, featuring talks, performances and exhibitions. Organised by the Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development, this one-day event opens with a session on the future of Islamic art. With this in mind, it is followed by a number of workshops and “masterclass” sessions in everything from calligraphy and typography to geometry and the origins of Islamic design. There will also be discussions on subjects including ‘Who is the Audience for Islamic Art?’ and ‘New Markets for Islamic Design.’ A live performance from Kuwaiti guitarist Yousif Yaseen should be one of the highlights of the day.