( CNN) President Donald Trump hoped his hotly anticipate summit talks with Russian equivalent Vladimir Putin would amount to a triumphant television event. Instead, he returns to Washington facing sharp reprimands even from friends as his stunned aides wonder what went wrong.
But Trump paid little heed, insisting the session was necessary to fulfill his stated goal of improving the relationship between the US and Russia. And so planning began for Monday's event in Helsinki, a site selected by aides for its historic ties to Washington-Moscow diplomacy. In the lead-up, administration officials from Trump on down sought to dampen expectations, even as television cameras began crowding into Senate Square.
Those lessened expectations did little to quiet the collective shudder in Washington.
