President sides with U.S. intel over Russia
Trump clarifies belief in intelligence reports on Russian election meddling
HANOI – After spending a week sticking to the script — trade and North Korea — President Trump’s Asia trip veered off course this weekend into another kerfuffle over Vladimir Putin and Russian election meddling.
Seeking to clarify comments he had made hours before, Trump said Sunday he believes that Putin believes the Russians did not interfere in last year’s U.S. presidential race — but Trump himself said he sides with the intelligence community’s conclusions to the contrary.
“I’m with our agencies, especially as currently constituted with their leadership,” Trump said at a joint news conference with President Tran Dai Quang of Vietnam, giving a rare (and grudging) endorsement to the idea that the Russians sought to interfere with last year’s presidential vote.
His revised comments came the morning after he caused a a stir by suggesting to reporters that he believed Putin’s denials more than the conclusions of U.S. intelligence officials that Russia did in fact intervene in the election via hacked emails and fake news postings on social media.
Members of the intelligence community, some of whom Trump described as “hacks,” reacted angrily, as did lawmakers in both parties.
Former CIA director John Brennan, speaking on CNN’s State of the Union, said the president is impugning U.S. intelligence officers, and “I think it’s something Mr. Trump should be ashamed of.”
Russian interference in the election is the subject of an investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller and various congressional committees. They also are looking at possible links between Russians and Trump campaign associates, claims the president denies.
“I think that he is very, very strong in the fact that he didn’t do it,” Trump said before his news conference, going on to trash Brennan, former National Intelligence director James Clapper and ex- FBI director James Comey, all of whom served in the Obama administration.
“They’re political hacks,” Trump said. “I mean, you have Brennan, you have Clapper, and you have Comey. Comey is proven now to be a liar, and he’s proven to be a leaker.”
Trump’s dismissal of Comey back in May is the subject of an obstruction of justice investigation by Mueller’s office; Comey has said he believes he was fired over his role supervising the Russia investigation.
Clapper, also on CNN, said Trump should act against Russian election interference, and said “Putin is committed to undermining our system.”
In defending Putin, Trump said on Air Force One: “Every time he sees me he says ‘I didn’t do that’ and I really believe that when he tells me that, he means it. But he says ‘I didn’t do that.’ I think he is very insulted by it, which is not a good thing for our country.”
Asked to clarify at the Hanoi news conference, Trump said of Putin: “I believe he believes that, and that’s very important for somebody to believe. I believe that he feels that he and Russia did not meddle in the election.”
The incident is yet another example of how the Russia investigation weighs heavily on the Trump administration.
It arose after Trump spoke with Putin Saturday on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Da Nang, Vietnam. Later, aboard Air Force One, reporters later asked Trump if Russian election meddling surfaced during their conversations.
Trump defended his comments during a Sunday morning tweet storm.
In addition to calling his critics “haters and fools,” Trump mocked the leader of North Korea: “Why would Kim Jongun insult me by calling me “old,” when I would NEVER call him ‘short and fat?’ Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend — and maybe someday that will happen!”
In his travels through Asia, Trump has asked China and other countries to put pressure on North Korea to get Kim to end his nuclear weapons program.
Sunday’s news conference followed Trump’s meetings with the Vietnamese president. He also met with other Vietnamese leaders, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Communist Party Secretary General Nguyen Phu Trong.
Trump later headed to the Philippines for another economic summit. Dressed in a tropical shirt, he and other leaders attended a dinner to mark the 50th anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Trump posed for photos with the summit’s host, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. The two are to meet Monday on the sidelines of the summit.
But Trump’s comments about Putin overshadowed Asia news and drew criticism across the political spectrum.
Defending his views, Trump said he wants to get along with Russia so it can help with such challenges as the Middle East and North Korea. “Getting along with other nations is a good thing, not a bad thing,” Trump said.