TRUMP SIDES WITH PUTIN ON MEDDLING
At Russian leader’s side, president questions U.S. intelligence conclusion
HELSINKI » President Donald Trump cast doubt on the conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, saying after his summit here Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin that the autocrat gave him a “very powerful” denial.
After Putin said his government played no role in trying to sabotage the U.S. election, Trump offered no pushback and went on to condemn
“Today’s press conference in Helsinki was one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory . ... President Trump proved not only unable, but unwilling to stand up to Putin.” — Arizona senator and Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain
the Justice Department’s investigation of Russian interference as “a disaster for our country.”
Concluding their first formal one-one-one summit here Monday, Trump said his message regarding the Russian interference “was a message best delivered in person” during the meeting, during which the two leaders “spent a great deal of time” discussing the Kremlin’s interference. Putin insisted publicly that the “Russian state has
never interfered and is not going to interfere in internal American affairs,” and Trump declined to dispute his assertions, instead saying that Putin “has an interesting idea” about the issue of interference.
Before the end of Monday’s news conference, Putin offered to do a favor for special counsel Robert Mueller.
Russian authorities, Putin said, would be happy to interview the dozen intelligence officers indicted on Friday for hacking emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic Party.
After all, Moscow is “perfectly able to do this questioning and send the appropriate materials to the United States,” he said.
That appeared to be the “interesting idea” of Putin’s that Trump referred to during the session. The proposal, however, almost certainly landed with a thud in the special counsel’s office. Although some law enforcement cooperation can occur even between adversarial countries such as the United States and Russia, it’s unlikely that this is one of those situations.
“I don’t see any reason why” Russia would interfere in the election, Trump said Monday as he stood next to Putin at a joint news conference after their talks in the Finnish capital ended. Of their private conversation in Helsinki about the interference, Trump said, “President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.”
Trump also insisted that “there was no collusion” between his campaign and Moscow. “I didn’t know the president. There was nobody to collude with. There was no collusion with the campaign.”
Trump said that he holds “both countries responsible” for the frayed relations between the two nations and attacked special counsel Mueller’s investigation.
Putin later confirmed that he did want Trump to win in 2016, “because he talked about normalizing relations” between Russia and the United States. Yet he did not answer directly when pressed on whether the Russian government had compromising information on Trump or his family members, dismissing it by saying that “it’s hard to imagine greater nonsense.” He told reporters, “Please throw this junk out of your head.”
During their two-hour, one-on-one talks earlier Monday, in which the leaders were accompanied only
by interpreters, Trump and Putin discussed their disagreements “at length,” Trump said. He added: “Our relationship has never been worse than it is now. However, that changed, as of about four hours ago.”
The summit began hours after Trump, in a series of tweets, blamed his own country, rather than Russia, for the hostilities between their two nations.
Speaking first at the news conference, 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 is a thing of the past,” he said.
He added later that Trump “mentioned the socalled interference of Russia in the American election” in 2016. 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.
Trump critics reacted harshly. Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain stated: “Today’s press conference in Helsinki was one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory ... President Trump proved not only unable, but unwilling to stand up to Putin. He and Putin seemed to be speaking from the same script as the president made a conscious choice to defend a tyrant against the fair questions of a free press, and to grant Putin an uncontested platform to spew propaganda and lies to the world.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan weighed in to say there’s “no question” that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election.
“The president must appreciate that Russia is not our ally,” Ryan, R-Wis., said in his statement. Russia, he said, “remains hostile to our most basic values and ideals.”
Former CIA director John O. Brennan wrote in a tweet: “Donald Trump’s press conference performance in Helsinki rises to & exceeds the threshold of ‘high crimes & misdemeanors.’ It was nothing short of treasonous. Not only were Trump’s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin. Republican Patriots: Where are you???”
Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a frequent Trump critic on the Republican side, 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.”
Even several Republicans who don’t typically buck the president raised concerns, shocked by Monday’s performance.
Trump ally Newt Gingrich called it “the most serious mistake” of Trump’s presidency — and one that “must be corrected — immediately.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., repeated his earlier assessment that the Russians are “not our friends” and that he has “complete confidence in our intelligence community and the findings.”
Sen. Lindsey O. Graham, R-S.C., 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.”
The meeting began later than originally planned, after the perennially tardy Putin arrived in Helsinki well behind schedule, keeping Trump waiting.
The one-on-one meeting lasted about two hours, longer than anticipated. It was initially scheduled to take 90 minutes.