Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Trump sides with Putin on meddling
President blames Mueller for discord
HELSINKI — President Donald Trump slammed the special counsel’s investigation into his campaign’s possible election collusion with Russia and, with Russian President Vladimir Putin alongside him at a news conference Monday, seemed to accept Putin’s denials of wrongdoing over the unanimous conclusions of U.S. intelligence officials.
The president also blamed the United States for relations with Moscow that he said have “never been worse.” He added, “However, that changed as of about four hours ago” — referring to his meeting with Putin at Finland’s presidential palace.
When Trump was asked by a U.S. reporter whether he believes Putin or his own intelligence officials, who unanimously say Russia did intervene for Trump, he replied by criticizing the FBI for not doing enough to probe Democrats. “My people came to me,” Trump said, speaking of intelligence officials including director of national intelligence Dan Coats, and “They said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin. He just said it’s not Russia. I will say this, I don’t see any reason why it would be.”
Coats, a former Republican senator who on Friday warned that the United States “is literally under attack” by Russian cyberthreats, felt compelled to is-
sue a statement standing by U.S. intelligence agencies in the face of the president’s skepticism:
“We have been clear in our assessments of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and their ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy, and we will continue to provide unvarnished and objective intelligence in support of our national security.”
The president repeatedly condemned the FBI and the probe of special counsel Robert Mueller, which on Friday brought indictments of 12 Russian intelligence officials. He called it “a disaster for our country.”
Putin claimed to be unfamiliar with what he called the “alleged intelligence officers” but offered, as his counter to calls in Washington to extradite them to the United States, to allow Russian authorities to interrogate them for Mueller, along with U.S. investigators. In turn, Putin said, Russia would get American assistance with cases of interest to Moscow.
Trump called Putin’s idea “an incredible offer.”
Trump, in his remarks, spoke about his clear Electoral College win over Hillary Clinton and lamented the “cloud” the investigation has cast over his victory. When Putin was asked why Americans should believe his denials, Trump first answered for him, falsely saying that the Russia probe came about only because Democrats were looking for an excuse for their loss.
Putin, in turn, offered his own, somewhat surreal response to the question that had been intended for him.
“As for who to believe, who you can’t believe, can you believe at all — you can’t believe anyone,” Putin said, dismissing the U.S. intelligence findings and the Mueller probe as based on “rumors.” He added, “There’s no evidence when it comes to the actual facts.”
Putin did not shy away from the question of whether he wanted Trump to win the 2016 election.
“Yes, I did,” he said, as Trump smiled beside him. “Yes, I did. Because he talked about bringing the U.S.-Russia relationship back to normal.”
Putin, again in answer to a U.S. reporter’s question, didn’t directly deny that Russia had compromising material on Trump, but instead deflected. He said he’d heard “these rumors” that Moscow had gathered embarrassing material while Trump was there in 2013, and added that people should “disregard” them.
Trump interjected, “If they had it, it would have been out long ago.”
Even as Trump expressed no concern about Russia, the Justice Department announced new charges against a Russian woman, Mariia Butina, for conspiracy to act as an unregistered foreign agent. The indictment was not brought by Mueller.
An affidavit described Russia as “one of the leading state intelligence threats to U.S. interests,” and said Butina cultivated ties with an unnamed gun rights organization and a political party, which appeared to be the National Rifle Association and the Republican Party. At one point she mentioned opening “a back channel of communication” between the two countries, the affidavit said.
A lawyer for Butina, Robert Driscoll, said the charge is “overblown” and she “has been cooperating with various government entities for months.”
Earlier, Trump declared a “very good start” to his meetings with Putin after they were alone for about two hours, longer than the 90 minutes allotted.