Trump: Putin denied meddling in election
Russian leader ‘extremely strong and powerful’ in statement, president says. Congressional leaders back U.S. intelligence conclusion that there was meddling.
During a HELSINKI, FINLAND — two-hour historic meeting, President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin of Russia discussed a litany of issues, ranging from nuclear arms control to Syria’s civil war to Moscow’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.
In a news conference after their one-on-one meeting, Trump challenged the assertion that Russia had interfered. In fact, Trump said, Putin privately denied the accusations in an “extremely strong and powerful” way.
When an American journalist asked Trump whether he believes U.S. intelligence or Putin, Trump replied, “They said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin; he just said it’s not Russia.”
Trump added: “I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be ... 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.”
Later, on his flight home from Helsinki, Trump reiterated his support for the U.S. intelligence community. “As I said today and many times before, ‘I have GREAT confidence in MY intelligence people,’ ” the president tweeted. “However, I also recognize that
in order to build a brighter future, we cannot exclusively focus on the past — as the world’s two largest nuclear powers, we must get along!”
On Friday, the Justice Department indicted 12 Russian intelligence officers on charges of hacking Democratic emails as part of a broad subterfuge operation. But Putin maintained that his government played no role in trying to sabotage the U.S. election.
With Trump looking on, Putin told reporters that “the Russian state has never interfered and is not going to interfere into internal American affairs, including election process.”
Trump also insisted that there was no coordination between his campaign and Moscow. “I didn’t know the president. There was nobody to collude with. There was no collusion with the campaign.”
He went on to condemn the expansive federal investigation of Russian interference as “a disaster for our country.”
The president’s comments drew reactions from both Republicans and Democrats.
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee and a critic of Trump, tweeted, “For the president to side with Putin over his own intelligence officials and blame the United States for Russia’s attack on our democracy is a complete disgrace.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., emphasized that he disagreed with Trump but did not criticize the president directly. “There is no question that Russia interfered in our election and continues attempts to undermine democracy here and around the world. The United States must be focused on holding Russia accountable and putting an end to its vile attacks on democracy.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., an ally of the president who has been critical of him at times, tweeted: “Missed opportunity by President Trump to firmly hold Russia accountable for 2016 meddling and deliver a strong warning regarding future elections. This answer by President Trump will be seen by Russia as a sign of weakness and create far more problems than it solves.”
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who praised Trump’s decision to sit down with Putin, didn’t waver in that judgment. “We applaud them meeting and engaging,” a Paul spokesman said.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the minority leader, said that never in the history of the country has a president supported an American adversary the way Trump supported Putin. “For the president of the United States to side with President Putin against American law enforcement, American defense officials, and American intelligence agencies is thoughtless, danger- ous, and weak.”
Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a Republican who is often critical of the president, said: “I never thought I would see the day when our American President would stand on the stage with the Russian President and place blame on the United States for Russian aggression. This is shameful.”
And Dan Coats, Trump’s director of national intelligence, stood by the assessment that Russia had interfered: “We have been clear in our assessments of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and their ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy.”
Earlier in the day, Trump said that he holds “both countries responsible” for the frayed relations between the United States and Russia.
And Putin later confirmed that he did want Trump to win in 2016, “because he talked about normalizing relations” between the two countries.
When asked whether the Russian government had compromising information on Trump or his family members, Putin dismissed it by saying that “it’s hard to imagine greater nonsense” and told reporters, “Please throw this junk out of your head.”
As for the summit itself, Trump and Putin said they had made progress in forging the bond that both were seeking. “We had direct, open, deeply productive dialogue,” Trump said. “Our relationship has never been worse than it is now. However, that changed as of about four hours ago.”
Putin said the talks took place “in a frank and businesslike atmosphere,” adding, “I think we can call it a success.”
He said that although bilateral relations have been “going through a complicated stage,” there was “no solid reason” for that. “The Cold War,” he said, “is a thing of the past.”
The two presidents said they would work together on nuclear arms control, although neither mentioned a concrete set of actions on forging a new treaty to replace the New Start Treaty, which is set to expire in 2021, or addressing what American officials have said are Russian violations of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
The two also discussed the civil war in Syria, where Russia is backing the government of Bashar Assad, who has used chemical weapons against his own people, and where the United States badly wants Putin to curtail Iran’s influence.
When the topic turned to the 2016 presidential elections, Putin again denied any involvement by the Russian state and said any evidence of interference can be analyzed through a joint working group on cybersecurity.
Putin said later in response to a question that U.S. investigators possibly could come to Russia to participate in the questioning of suspects after a dozen Russian intelligence officers were indicted in the United States on charges of election interference.
Elaborating, Putin said representatives of the Mueller probe could be present at interrogations of suspects in Russia — as long as Russians would be able to do the same at the questioning of U.S. intelligence agents that Moscow suspects of carrying out crimes on Russian soil. Any questions about Russian interference in the U.S. elections, he said, should be resolved by the courts and according to existing intergovernmental agreements.