National Post (National Edition)
HAVING A BALL IN HELSINKI
TRUMP DEFENDS PUTIN ON U.S. ELECTION INTERFERENCE
I have President Putin — he just said it’s not Russia. I don’t see any reason why it would be.
The Russian state never interfered, and does not plan to interfere, in internal American electoral process.
TRUMP’S REMARKS ‘NOTHING SHORT OF TREASONOUS’: EX-CIA DIRECTOR
U.S. President Donald Trump sided with Vladimir Putin over his own intelligence officials Monday as he praised the Russian leader’s “extremely strong and powerful” denial over election meddling.
Speaking at a joint press conference in Helsinki, Trump said, “I don’t see any reason why” the Kremlin would have interfered in the 2016 presidential race.
The comments chimed with Putin, who said claims the Kremlin worked with the Trump campaign were “sheer nonsense” and without a “single fact” of evidence.
But it provoked fury in Washington, where a former CIA director called them “treasonous.”
Trump and Putin pledged a new era of cooperation during their first summit together, but questions about election meddling were repeatedly asked. Last week 12 Russian intelligence officials were charged with
hacking into Democrat computers in a bid to sabotage the 2016 election.
Trump said, “All I can do is ask the question. My people came to me ... they said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin — he just said it’s not Russia. I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be.”
He later added: “I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.”
Putin said he did indeed want Trump to win in 2016 — because of his policies — but took no action to make it happen.
John Brennan, who was CIA director between 2013 and 2017, said Trump’s press conference “was nothing short of treasonous.”
Trump’s comments also drew heavy criticism back in the U.S., including from prominent Republicans.
Sen. John Mccain was most outspoken, declaring that Trump made a “conscious choice to defend a tyrant” and achieved “one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory.” Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee said Trump made the U.S. “look like a pushover.”
It was an extraordinary press conference closing out the Trump-putin summit, in which the American president delivered what amounted to a warm embrace to the man who for years has been isolated by the U.S. and Western allies for Russia’s activities in Ukraine, Syria and beyond.
Trump said he and Putin “spent a great deal of time” discussing allegations of Russian election meddling as they met for several hours Monday. But Trump declined the opportunity to denounce Putin for the interference efforts.
Trump said, as he has countless times, that there was “no collusion” between his campaign and the Russians. “We ran a brilliant campaign and that’s why I’m president,” he said.
Putin also suggested Monday that Moscow and Washington could jointly conduct criminal investigations into a dozen Russian intelligence officials accused of hacking during the 2016 U.S. election campaign — an idea Trump hailed as an “incredible offer.”
The summit began just hours after Trump blamed the United States — and not Russian election meddling or its annexation of Crimea — for a low-point in U.s.-russia relations.
“Our relationship with Russia has NEVER been worse,” Trump tweeted Monday morning, blaming “many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt!”
The Russian foreign ministry responded by liking Trump’s tweet and then replying: “We agree.”
Asked about the tweet and whether he held Russia responsible for anything, Trump said he held “both countries responsible” thinks the United States has been “fooling” and that “we’re all to blame.”
“The probe is a disaster for our country. There was no collusion at all.”
Putin, speaking through an interpreter, once again denied what he described as “so-called interference of Russia.” He called it “nonsense” and insisted the Russian state had never interfered and would never interfere in the American electoral process.
The pair had opened their long-awaited summit Monday with a wink and slouch, respectively, then talked one on one behind closed doors for two-plus hours before the American leader declared their meeting was off to a “very, very good start for everybody.”
“We have not been getting along well for the last number of years,” Trump said after arriving at the Presidential Palace in Finland’s capital. “But I think we will end up having an extraordinary relationship . ... I really think the world wants to see us get along.”
Putin, for his part, declared the Cold War a “thing of the past” as he offered to work with Trump on ending the Syrian civil war and reducing nuclear tensions.
On rumours that Moscow had a dossier of salacious material on Trump, Putin said, “I did hear these rumours that we allegedly collected compromising material on Mr Trump when he was visiting Moscow... It’s difficult to imagine an utter nonsense of a bigger scale than this.”
Trump also complimented his Russian counterpart on holding “one of the best ever” World Cups. Putin later presented Trump with a World Cup football.