Facing widespread criticism for his performance during a press conference with Russian Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump claims he misspoke when he appeared to question why Russia would be interested in interfering in the 2016 president election.
Trump said during the press conference that he didn’t “see any reason why it would be” Russia that interfered in the election
Ahead of a meeting with Republican lawmakers on Tuesday, Trump suggested he was surprised by the reaction to his comments during the press conference and decided to look at the transcript.
“In a key sentence in my remarks, I said the word ‘would’ instead of ‘wouldn’t,'” Trump said. “The sentence should have been, ‘I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be Russia.'”
Trump also expressed his full faith and support for U.S. intelligence agencies after appearing to side with Putin over the U.S. intelligence community during the press conference.
The president said during the press conference that he has great confidence in the intelligence community but pointed out that Putin was “extremely strong and powerful” in his denial of Russian meddling in the election.
Trump stated Tuesday he accepts the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia meddled in the election but claimed the interference had no impact on the outcome and suggested others could also have been involved.
The comments are not likely to do much to tamp down criticism of the president, however, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., accusing Trump of trying to “squirm away from what he said” but calling it “twenty-four hours too late, and in the wrong place.”
“It tells President Putin ‘continue to take advantage of Donald Trump’ because he doesn’t have the courage, the strength, maybe not even the conviction to say to Putin’s face what he tried to say a few minutes ago,” Schumer said in a post on Twitter.
(Photo: Gage Skidmore)
by RTTNews Staff Writer
Source: Read Full Article