"Don't meddle in the elections", Trump tells Putin jokingly in G20 meet

With a smirk and a finger point, President Donald Trump dryly told Russia's Vladimir Putin "Don't meddle in the election" in their first meeting since the special counsel concluded that Moscow extensively interfered with the 2016 campaign.

The tone of the president's comment did little to silence questions about Trump's relationship with Russia in the aftermath of special counsel Robert Mueller's conclusion that he could not establish a criminal conspiracy between Trump's campaign and Russia.

The moment at the Group of 20 summit in Osaka echoed one of the most defining moments of Trump's presidency in Helsinki, Finland.

There, he pointedly did not admonish Putin about election interference and did not side with US intelligence agencies over his Russian counterpart.