Friend or Foe: Shortly before meeting Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Helsinki today, President Trump said the two would be talking about “everything from trade to military to nuclear.” He didn’t mention last week’s indictment of 12 Russian agents for hacking the US election.

The two were meeting with only translators present — no staff members — which is highly unusual.

  On the eve of meeting with Putin, Trump told CBS News anchor Jeff Glor that while China and Russia are merely “competitive,” the European Union is actually a “foe” of the United States.

Asked to identify his “biggest foe globally right now,” Trump said, “Well, I think we have a lot of foes. I think the European Union is a foe. Now you wouldn’t think of the European Union, but they’re a foe.”

The EU is comprised of many of the NATO countries that are America’s biggest allies in the world. Trump said, “But in a trade sense, they’ve really taken advantage of us and many of those countries are in NATO and they weren’t paying their bills.”

Despite the indictment 12 Russian intelligence agents, Trump also told Glor, “I think we’re greatly hampered by this whole witch hunt that’s going on in the United States. The Russian witch hunt. The rigged situation.”

Asked if he would request the extradition of the indicted Russians, Trump said he never thought of that.

An analysis in The NY Times says that all Vladimir Putin has to do is be seen meeting with Trump to get a stamp of legitimacy, “providing a symbolic end to Western efforts to isolate Russia over its actions against Ukraine in 2014, it’s meddling in the United State selection in 2016 and other examples of what the United States Treasury department has described as Russia’s ‘malign activity’ around the world.”

The Running Man: Trump is not even two years into his presidency and has already amassed $88 million to stoke his campaign for election to a second term. As always, the Trump empire benefits from Trump the politician. His campaign pays rent to the Trump Tower in New York, and has paid for meals and rooms at the Trump International Hotel in DC, and at the Trump Doral Gold Resort in Miami.

Poisoned Relations: British authorities say that the same Russian intelligence agency that hacked the American election may be responsibility for the March 4 nerve agent attack on former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter. They are reported to be close to identifying the people who carried out the operation.

The NY Times reports that, “The agency has been linked to Russia’s hybrid war in Ukraine, as well as the annexation of Crimea in 2014. It has been involved in the seizing of Syrian cities on behalf of President Bashar al-Assad.”

So far there’s no explanation for how a British man and woman were recently poisoned with the same stuff. The woman died.

Police Beat: Chicago police released the body-camera video of the fatal shooting of a 37-year-old man to show that he was armed and presenting a threat when officers fired. The video shows that Harith Augustus was wearing a gun in a holster and repeatedly reached toward it. Street protests had broken out immediately after the shooting with people claiming Augustus had been “murdered” by the cops.

The Sports Page: France’s 19-year-old Kylian Mbappé electrified the crowd yesterday as his country beat Croatia 4-2 to win the World Cup. Mbappé scored the fourth goal. — At Wimbledon, Novak Djokovic beat Kevin Anderson to win his fourth championship. The 12^th seeded Djokovic won 6-2 6-2 7-6 (7-3).

DisDress Sale: The Canadian Hudson’s Bay Company, which owns Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor, says it’s pulling Ivanka Trump’s fashion line from their stores. They said it has nothing to do with politics. “Hudson’s Bay is phasing out this brand through the fall based on its performance,” the company said in a statement. “As part of our regular course of business, we review our merchandise offerings and make appropriate changes.”

-30-