Trump says he holds Putin ‘ personally responsible’ for election meddling

Washington, July 19: US President Donald Trump on Thursday said he holds his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin personally responsible for the alleged meddling into the 2016 general elections, as he went into damage- control mode to douse a flurry of criticism over his recent comments about Russia.

Trump has been on the defensive for the past two days after failing to defend the American intelligence community during a much- talked about press conference with Putin in Helsinki on Monday after their first summit.

The US President seemed to lend credence to his Russian counterpart’s insistence that his government was not involved in the effort to influence the 2016 election campaign.

Trump, a Republican, defeated his Democratic party rival Hillary Clinton in the election.

Trump’s comments sparked a barrage of criticism from the media and lawmakers across the political spectrum, with many calling on him to correct himself.

Speaking to CBS News, Trump said he would consider Putin culpable because he was Russia’s leader.

“I would because he’s in charge of the country just like I consider myself to be responsible for things that happen in this country,” Trump said.

“So certainly as the leader of the country you would have to hold him responsible,” he said.

Facing huge criticism, Trump quickly took a Uturn and attributed his comments at the joint press conference with Putin to a simple mistake.