Trump sides with Putin over US intelligence
Helsinki, Finland (CNN)US President Donald Trump, in a stunning rebuke of the US intelligence community, declined on Monday to endorse the US government's assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, saying he doesn't "see any reason why" Russia would be responsible.
Instead, Trump -- standing alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin -- touted Putin's vigorous denial and pivoted to complaining about the Democratic National Committee's server and missing emails from Hillary Clinton's personal account.
"I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today," Trump said during a joint news conference after he spent about two hours in a room alone with Putin, save for a pair of interpreters.
Trump's statements amounted to an unprecedented refusal by a US president to believe his own intelligence agencies over the word of a foreign adversary and drew swift condemnation from across the partisan divide.
His words signaled that he continues to equate the assessment of Russian election meddling with efforts to deligitimize his election, even though the US intelligence community made no such assessment.
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The US President also hailed Putin's offer for Russian law enforcement officials to interrogate the Russian agents indicted by the special counsel Robert Mueller as "incredible," an offer that would effectively give Russia oversight and influence of part of a US investigation into Russian state activities. Putin had also said the offer would be reciprocal.
Trump repeatedly equated US and Russian actions, saying he holds both the US and Russia responsible for the breakdown in the bilateral relationship and homed in on the effect of the special counsel's probe, saying it -- not Russian meddling -- has "kept us (the US and Russia) apart."
The US intelligence community -- in a report compiled by the CIA, NSA, FBI and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence -- concluded with "high confidence" that Russia interfered during the 2016 presidential campaign, aiming to help elect Trump and hurt Clinton.
Every current US intelligence chief who has testified on the matter has also backed the intelligence community's assessment and the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee also affirmed the assessment in a report earlier this month.
Trump had previously said he sided with his intelligence community's assessment over Putin's denials, but he has more frequently cast doubt on the assessments and repeatedly assailed Mueller's investigation as a "witch hunt."
Putin, for his part, reiterated his denial for the public, though he did admit for the first time that he wanted Trump to win the election.
"Russia has never interfered in and is not going to interfere in US internal affairs, including the elections," Putin said during the news conference. "If there are any specific materials, if they are presented, we are ready to review them together."
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Trump, aboard Air Force One returning back to Washington, belatedly attempted to quell outrage over his earlier remarks saying he has confidence in his own intelligence officials.
"As I said today and many times before, "I have GREAT confidence in MY intelligence people." However, I also recognize that in order to build a brighter future, we cannot exclusively focus on the past -- as the world's two largest nuclear powers, we must get along!" Trump tweeted.
News Courtesy: www.cnn.com
