'These are the ones who insulted you?': Putin jokes with Trump about reporters in front of them
The two leaders were chatting with each other ahead of their two-hour meeting when the press was asked to leave the room.
As the reporters made their exit, Putin gestured to them and reportedly asked Trump, "These are the ones who insulted you?" according to a translation from CNN's Jim Sciutto.
Trump then broke into a chuckle as the two continued talking.
Both leaders have reputations as opponents of the press. Under Putin's leadership, press freedom in Russia has been severely restricted, and he has been accused of being involved in the deaths of more than two-dozen Russian journalists. Intelligence officials concluded in January that Russia's interference in the US election included the dissemination of fake news online.
Meanwhile, Trump regularly derides negative coverage of him as fake news, and has caught heat for comments that some critics have interpreted as a call to violence against journalists.