US President Donald Trump refused to acknowledge at last week’s Helsinki news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin that the Kremlin interfered in the 2016 US election. Instead, he gave equal credit to the “extremely strong and powerful” denial of such interference issued by Mr Putin.
Asked whether he believed Russia had interfered Mr Trump said: “My people came to me, Dan Coats came to me and some others, they said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin; he just said it’s not Russia.”
Mr Trump also made no mention of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the poisoning of British citizens on UK soil and shooting down a passenger airliner. He also didn’t back down from comments blaming US “foolishness and stupidity”, and now “the Rigged Witch Hunt”, for the deterioration of relations between Washington and Moscow.
Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating alleged Russian election meddling, charged 12 Russian intelligence officers with interfering in the 2016 US election, just days before the Helsinki Trump-Putin summit, which took place on July 16 and lasted about two hours, with no advisers in the room.
Mr Trump’s decision in 2017 to fire James Comey as head of the FBI triggered the appointment of Mr Mueller as special counsel to investigate links between the Russian government and the Trump campaign. There was no allegation in Mr Mueller’s indictment against 12 Russian intelligence officers that their efforts altered the vote count or changed the election result. Hillary Clinton’s supporters, however, claim that the release of hacked emails contributed to her loss in the 2016 presidential election.
Mr Trump also said in Helsinki that the prospect of Russia questioning US citizens, including former US diplomats, was an “interesting idea”. The Russian prosecutor-general’s office wants to question several Americans, including Michael McFaul, US ambassador to Moscow during the Obama administration who was critical of Mr Putin and the Russian government during his tour in Moscow.
Under a deal floated by Mr Putin, Russia would have allowed Mr Mueller to question the 12 Russian intelligence officers accused of hacking the Democratic National Committee and Mrs Clinton’s campaign in exchange for allowing Kremlin officials to question Mr McFaul and other individuals.
The Republican-led Senate on Thursday voted 98-0 to condemn the prospect of handing over US nationals to be questioned by Mr Putin’s government. Minutes before the vote was scheduled to begin, the White House had issued policy reversal, ruling out co-operating with Moscow’s demands to interrogate Mr McFaul and others.
Dan Coats, director of national intelligence, issued a statement after the Helsinki news conference saying “We have been clear in our assessments of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and their ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy,” a clear rebuke of President Trump.
John McCain, a Republican senator, described a joint press conference as, “one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory.” John Brennan, CIA director under Mr Obama, called Mr Trump’s performance “treasonous”.
Criticism forced Mr Trump to backtrack on Tuesday, saying he held Mr Putin responsible for Russian election interference. Mr Trump claimed he had misspoken in Helsinki, insisting he had meant to say “wouldn’t” instead of “would” and that he accepted the conclusions of his intelligence services. The next day, however, Mr Trump backtracked when he implied Russia was no longer targeting the US and its electoral system.
Mr Coats was caught off guard at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado when news broke that Mr Trump had invited Mr Putin to Washington.
The Helsinki summit came after Mr Trump’s trip to Europe, during which he had described the EU as a “foe” on trade, castigated Nato allies for spending too little on defence, criticised Germany for buying gas from Russia and attacked the British prime minister for her handling of Brexit negotiation with the EU.
Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks
