In the second meeting, the only translator was Putin’s. Curious. No other US staff was present. Admiral John Kirby, who had served as chief spokesman for both the Pentagon and the State Department, told CNN that the lack of US staff and translator was problematic, since the American side would not have a careful translation of the conversation, nor even a record of what was discussed. “In this case,” Kirby said, “we have none of these things. And the Russians will have a transcript.
I work in a multilingual international organization abroad. Translation is key to much of the work I do in this environment. One translator can easily misinterpret (unintentionally or not). Word choice. Misinterpretation of intent. Inattentiveness. Emotion confusing the issue. It happens often. At the very highest levels of government, where literally life and death decisions are at stake, it’s impossible to imagine the US and the Russians wouldn’t want their own interpreters present. While some could call this a rookie mistake on the President’s part, for someone who has business dealings with 144 companies in 25 countries, it is absolutely certain that Trump has vast experience working with interpreters. He absolutely knew what he was doing when he chose to not have a US interpreter present.
