Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul said on Wednesday he delivered a letter from President Donald Trump to Russian President Vladimir Putin's government, but the senator and the White House offered different characterizations of the message.
Three weeks after Trump was widely condemned for not standing up to Putin at their Helsinki summit, Paul said the letter from Trump had offered U.S. cooperation in various areas. The White House called it a letter of introduction for Paul, who was visiting Moscow.
Trump has sought to ease tensions between the former Cold War foes despite friction in the relationship that was exacerbated by U.S. intelligence findings that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election, trying to tilt the outcome to Trump.