President Donald Trump has rejected a proposal by Vladimir Putin to allow Russian officials to interrogate a former US ambassador and other American citizens, the White House said Thursday.
"It is a proposal that was made in sincerity by President Putin, but President Trump disagrees with it," said Press Secretary Sarah Sanders.
Putin had offered a quid-pro-quo of permitting US justice officials to go to Russia to question 12 intelligence officers indicted for hacking Democratic Party computers, in exchange for Russia being allowed to question former US envoy to Russia Michael McFaul and others.
"Hopefully President Putin will have the 12 identified Russians come to the United States to prove their innocence or guilt," said Sanders.
McFaul expressed outrage on Wednesday when Sanders said Trump was "going to meet with his team" to consider Putin's proposal - which the US leader had initially described as an "incredible offer."
Addressing a joint press conference after his summit with Trump on Monday, Putin proposed the deal in response to a question on whether he would extradite the 12 Russian agents to face trial in the United States.
"We can meet you halfway; we can make another step," Putin said.
"We can actually permit official representatives of the United States ... into the country and they will be present at this questioning" of the 12 inside Russia.
"Then we would expect that the Americans would reciprocate and they would question officials, including the officers of law enforcement and intelligence services of the United States ... who have something to do with illegal actions on the territory of Russia, and we have to request the presence of our law enforcement."
Moscow then said it would like to interview McFaul and 11 other US officials and businessmen for its case against US-born billionaire investor William Browder, who Moscow has accused of financial crimes.
Browder, now a British citizen, was instrumental in the US Congress instituting the so-called Magnitsky sanctions against Russian human rights violators.
The White House's equivocal stance on the issue over two days spurred outrage across the US government, with politicians from both parties strongly condemning the idea that Trump would allow Russian prosecutors to come to the United States and interview US officials.
