At his closed White House press conference, Trump said he meant to say that he saw no reason why it wouldn’t be Russia that interfered in the 2016 presidential election. And “it could be other people, also.”
As Katie Tur just pointed out, he repeated his “error” to Sean Hannity last night.
Trump also said this at Helsinki the press conference: "I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial."
It wasn't as if he just misspoke once. Trump made similar points multiple times.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 17, 2018
Oh, oops! Do-over!
The Cheato said he has “the strongest respect” and full confidence in the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment that the Russians did, in fact, meddle in the 2016 election. Even though it was much more than one word that conveyed his subservience to Putin.
So, bygones. No treason, no collusion!
TRUMP: "The full faith and support for America's great intelligence agencies. I have a full faith in our intelligence agencies. Whoops, they just turned off the lights. That must be the intelligence agencies."
— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) July 17, 2018
That’s not a joke. He really said that.
Trump on summit: “i entered the negotiations w/Putin from a position of tremendous strength”
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) July 17, 2018
"In a key sentence in my remarks I said the word 'would' instead of 'wouldn't.' The sentence should have been, 'I don't see any reason why I wouldn't or why it wouldn't be Russia,'" President Trump says https://t.co/ZU0DDFnp0P pic.twitter.com/8FfCRAsCXQ
— CBS News (@CBSNews) July 17, 2018
On disastrous Helsinki performance, Trump clarifies comments, vows to secure elections, blames democrats, suggests critics are colluding with media (hopes GOP calms down)
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) July 17, 2018
"I guess he gets points for being creative there," @DanaBashCNN says of Trump's explanation.
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) July 17, 2018
Trump told a whole story about how confused he supposedly was about why everyone was upset about the Helsinki presser. Claimed he asked for a transcript and read the transcript so he could understand why folks were upset. Then talked about how he noticed he didn't say "not". 🤔
— Leah McElrath (@leahmcelrath) July 17, 2018
Apparently Trump thinks his meeting with Putin included a top-secret "takesies-backsies" clause.
Nope. This is international diplomacy, not a reality TV show.
And you're done, Donnie.https://t.co/0LiXw9WFsx
— John Schindler (@20committee) July 17, 2018
@POTUS Trump on air doing damage control by trying to completely retell the last week as if we didn’t see what happened with NATO, UK and Putin yesterday
— Clint Watts (@selectedwisdom) July 17, 2018
Trump: When Obama was in office they knew about Russian interference but didn't think it was a big deal, "but then when I won they thought it was a big deal and went into action, but it was a little bit too late."
Is… that an acknowledgement that Russian efforts helped him?
— Susan Simpson (@TheViewFromLL2) July 17, 2018
https://twitter.com/mckaycoppins/status/1019297987992973312
https://twitter.com/TAPAlerts/status/1019301353724792832
https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/1019285046669336577
Let’s see if the media do their jobs.
It doesn't matter if anyone believes him. Now he has a shield. That's how this stupid reality game show called politics works now. https://t.co/6rGJL2fSeJ
— Respectable Lawyer (@RespectableLaw) July 17, 2018
According to the warmongers and cold-warriors (who have sounded incoherent since Monday) Russia is a “hostile state.”
Trump says that Russia is a “competitor.”
The warmongers, the cold-warriors, and Trump are all dead wrong.
Some Democrats have been calling Trump an “appeaser.” That characterization is counter-productive because it is wildly inaccurate.
Both Putin and Trump are Fascist, empty suits with big buttons.
As Stefan Kornelius wrote in the Munich-based Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Trump and Putin are “two irritated senior citizens, one of whom is possibly somewhat smarter than the other.”