NSA Scandal Looms Over Obama-Xi Talks
President Obama always intended to talk about spying this weekend. But not like this.
He's at a sprawling estate in the Southern California desert this weekend, getting to know China's new leader, but domestic controversies have followed him there.
The president veered off his talking points Friday to spend more than ten minutes defending a pair of massive surveillance operations that the media recently disclosed.
One program gives the National Security Agency months of phone logs from Verizon. The other gives the government access to even more detailed information like photos and chat logs from internet giants including Google, Yahoo and Microsoft.
About that second program, Obama told members of the press, "This does not apply to U.S. citizens, and it does not apply to people living in the United States."
Some members of Obama's own party are now attacking him for overreaching, and civil liberties groups are comparing him unfavorably to President George W. Bush. So Obama was feeling the heat before he took off for to Palm Springs.
Then he arrived in the desert, where the temperature hovered around 110 degrees.
"This is a wonderful place, a place of sunshine," said China's new president, Xi Jinping, through a translator.
He and Obama sat at a long table in open-collared shirts and dark suits, discussing what they both called a "new model" of cooperation between their countries.
Here's how Obama described his goals for the casual weekend summit:
"Our thought was that we would have the opportunity for a more extended, and more informal, conversation in which we were able to share both our visions for our respective countries and how we can forge a new model of cooperation between countries based on mutual interest and mutual respect."
As they work to find common ground, the U.S. and China are also wrestling with some major differences, from military disputes to global trade to cyber-espionage.
And that brings us back to the way Obama intended to discuss spying this weekend. Sitting across from Xi, he delicately alluded to American concerns that China is manipulating trade and sending hackers to infiltrate U.S. networks.
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