Trump says Putin attending G20 in Miami would be ‘very helpful’

President Donald Trump expressed hope Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin would attend December’s Group of 20 summit in Miami.

When asked by a reporter if Putin was going to attend the summit, Trump said that there were no plans for him to come but that he believes it would be for the best if he did.

“No, but if [Putin] came, it would be probably very helpful,” he said.

“You know, I’ve said a long time ago, when they made the G8 the G7, they threw Russia out before my time … and I said, ‘That’s a stupid thing to do.’ And I was right,” Trump continued. “I go to these meetings of the G7, and about 90% of the meeting was talking about Russia and what’s going on with Russia. And I said, ‘Why’d you throw them out?’ You know, if they didn’t throw them out, they would have been