There was no doubt the summit between President Trump and Russian Leader Vladimir Putin in Helsinki would stir fierce criticism and it did.

"We have not been getting along for the last number of years. I've been here for not too long but it's getting close to two years. But I think we will end up having a fantastic relationship," Trump said.

 

There was nothing but high remarks from President Trump following his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki. That and speculation about American Intelligence Agency's legitimacy.

"There was nobody to collude with. There was no collusion with the campaign. And every time you hear 12 and 14 -- it's stuff that has nothing to do -- and frankly they admit that these are not people in the campaign. But to the average reader out there, they're saying ‘maybe that does,’ that doesn't. Even the people involved -- some people told miss stories, we ran a brilliant campaign,” Trump said.

According to Taylor, President Trump's flattery remarks were not unusual. But Taylor says Trump's denouncement of American intelligence agencies and media prove to be very unusual.

"Being friends with Putin is not a goal; it can only be a means. And there weren't any specific goals that were outlined before the meeting with much detail or the press conference today that suggested any actual progress on issues like arms control, Syria, Russian interference with Ukraine and those sorts of issues,” he said.

Taylor says the summit was a "win" for Putin.

"More pointedly perhaps, he sees the post-Cold War international order that the U.S. and the Western European allies designed as being very unfair to Russia so whatever he can do to cause descent among the western alliance. That's a positive for him."

Taylor says the next step for the Russian and American relationship is to make strategic policy decisions such as re-negotiating the Strategic Nuclear Arms Control agreement between the two countries.

"Because the atmosphere is so polluted, it seems hard to make progress on those. It's also hard to make progress on those when it seems the American president doesn't take seriously what his intelligence agencies have said Russia is up to,” Taylor said.

The current nuclear arms agreement is set to expire in February of 2021.