President dogged by questions of Russian meddling

MANILA — President Trump’s lengthy Asia trip wound down as it began, with a visit meant to be centered on trade and North Korea shadowed by questions about Russia.

Trump was in the Philippines, the final stop of his trip, on Monday, poised to hold formal talks with President Rodrigo Duterte, who has overseen a bloody drug war that has featured extrajudicial killings and fears of vigilante justice. But Trump remains dogged by things he has said, and has not said, about Russia.

Days before he left for the five-nation Asia trip, Trump’s campaign chairman was indicted on charges he laundered millions of dollars through overseas shell companies and a campaign adviser pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. And while White House aides have been pleased with the president’s messaging through stops in Japan, South Korea and China, Trump has brought Russia to the forefront again as he makes his final stops.

He tried to have it both ways Sunday on the issue of Russian interference in last year’s campaign, saying he believes both the U.S. intelligence agencies when they say Russia meddled and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s sincerity in saying that his country did not.

“I believe that he feels that he and Russia did not meddle in the election,” Trump said of Putin at a news conference in Hanoi.

“As to whether I believe it, I’m with our agencies,” Trump said. “As currently led by fine people, I believe very much in our intelligence agencies.”

U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia meddled in the 2016 election to help the Republican Trump defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton.

On Saturday, Trump lashed out at former heads of the U.S. intelligence agencies, dismissing them as “political hacks.”

John Brennan, the former CIA director, responded Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Trump was dismissing the former officials — himself included — in an attempt to “delegitimize” the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia interfered in the election.

“I think Mr. Putin is very clever in terms of playing to Mr. Trump’s interest in being flattered. And also I think Mr. Trump is, for whatever reason, either intimidated by Mr. Putin, afraid of what he could do or what might come out as a result of these investigations,” Brennan said.

James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence, called the threat from Russia “manifest and obvious.”

“To try to paint it in any other way is, I think, astounding and, in fact, poses a peril to this country,” Clapper said on “State of the Union.”