"Fiona Hill, the senior Russia expert on the National Security Council, who was sitting one row in front of me, later told me that she considered doing something, anything — including faking a heart attack — to disrupt the proceedings and get Trump to stop talking," Jonathan Lemire, Politico's White House bureau chief, wrote in his book "The Big Lie" that focuses on former President Trump's effort to challenge the 2020 election results.
Last year, Hill told BBC News that she considered "faking" a medical emergency to derail the 2018 Helsinki summit.
"My initial thought was just 'How can I end this?' I literally did have in my mind the idea of faking some kind of medical emergency and throwing myself backwards with a loud blood-curdling scream into the media," she told BBC.
Fiona Hill acted as Trump's top Russia adviser after serving in different national security roles under Presidents George Bush and Barack Obama.
The Helsinki summit was held against the backdrop of rising tensions between Russia and the US in the wake of the 2014 Ukraine crisis, subsequent US sanctions against Moscow and claims of Russia's alleged meddling in the 2016 US presidential election that were peddled by the rival Democratic camp.
During the joint press conference, Trump cast doubt on the US intelligence assessment of Russia's "meddling," thus causing an immediate wave of criticism from numerous American politicians and media. Following the backlash, Trump was forced to walk back on his statements, claiming that he had "misspoken" and instead meant to say he didn't see any reason why it wouldn't be Russia.
Despite the criticism, the two leaders hailed the summit as productive and successful. They discussed a variety of aspects of bilateral cooperation along with international issues, such as Syria, the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and North Korea.