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Article snippet: WASHINGTON — President Trump will meet next week with President of inquiries into whether Mr. Trump’s associates colluded with Russia. The White House would not say whether Mr. Trump plans to press Mr. Putin on the issue of Russia’s meddling in last year’s election — a topic the president has avoided talking about despite deep concern inside his own administration and on Capitol Hill. The meeting, the first between the two since Mr. Trump took office, will occur on the sidelines of the faces deep skepticism on the world stage. “There’s no specific agenda — it’s really going to be whatever the president wants to talk about,” said Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, the president’s national security adviser. The encounter could have broad implications for American foreign policy. But it is also fraught with political overtones for Mr. Trump, who is under scrutiny about his willingness to be tough on Moscow after a campaign in which he praised Mr. Putin effusively and exhorted Russia — in what his aides now call a joke — to hack into Hillary Clinton’s email. Congressional committees and a special counsel are digging more deeply into possible ties between the president’s campaign and Moscow. But Mr. Trump has repeatedly cast doubt on the unanimous conclusion of United States intelligence agencies that Russia sought to interfere in the 2016 race, often describing the assertion as a hoax perpetrated to undermine his presidency. Yet even as the Trump administration has sought to ... Link to the full article to read more