Source:
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/obama-more-flexibility-russia/
CLAIM
A hot microphone
picked up President Obama
telling Russian President
Dmitri Medvedev he would
have more flexibility
to negotiate on issues
after the 2012 election.
ORIGIN
A 2012 incident
in which President Obama
was overheard whispering
to then-Russian President
Dmitri Medvedev
that he (Obama)
would have
more flexibility
to negotiate
after the
U.S. election
that November.
According to Reuters
snippets of
conversation
between the two
were picked up
by live microphones
before the meeting
got underway:
As he was leaning toward Medvedev
in Seoul, South Korea,
Obama was overheard saying:
“This is my last election
… After my election
I have more flexibility.”
“I will transmit
this information
to Vladimir"
said Medvedev,
Putin’s protégé
and number two
in Moscow’s
power structure.
The exchange,
parts of it inaudible,
was monitored by
a White House pool
of television journalists
as well as
Russian reporters
listening live
from their
press center.
