Washington (CNN) As the White House sought to downplay a meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a G20 dinner, experts fretted that Trump's cavalier approach to engaging with Putin could come back to bite him. "Once again, the Russia fever has caught up with the media and everyone ran out and tried to create a story that simply didn't exist," White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a press briefing Wednesday. "It would be incredibly awkward for them to all sit at a dinner and not talk." Foreign policy and national security experts see a different scenario -- one in which Putin got a private meeting with the President and no US record of what was discussed or what promises may have been made."Once again the Russia fever has caught up with the media," Sanders saidThe G20 dinner was in the Elbphilharmonie concert hall in Hamburg, Germany
It was remarkable enough for other world leaders to take note, particularly close _ allies.