Meetings between Presidents, as you know, are supposed to be privileged. They're supposed to be confidential. They're supposed to allow the president and other leaders to have frank exchanges.
H. R. McMasterThe war in Vietnam was not lost in the field, nor was it lost on the front pages of The New York Times or the college campuses. It was lost in Washington, D.C.
H. R. McMasterWe're trying to find areas of cooperation with Russia in the area of counterterrorism and the campaign against ISIS.
H. R. McMasterAnd one of the things that I'm most concerned about is the confidence, the confidentiality of those kind of meetings between President and Russian Foreign Minister, as you know, are extremely important. And so, I am really concerned about kind of leaks, because it undermines everybody's trust in that kind of an environment where you can have frank, candid, and often times unconventional conversations to try to protect American interests and secure the American people.
H. R. McMaster