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President Donald Trump attempted on Tuesday to clarify his widely criticized comments in Helsinki, saying that he had misspoken when he said a day earlier that he did not see why Russia would have meddled in the election. Trump said Tuesday he meant to say he did not see any reason why it wouldn’t have been Russia that interfered.
“I thought that I made myself very clear, but having just reviewed the transcript…I realized that there is a need for some clarification,” Trump said Tuesday at the White House. “The sentence should have been…’I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be Russia’.”
At the Monday press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump said about election meddling in 2016: “(Putin) just said it’s not Russia. I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be.”
Trump also said on Tuesday that he had “full faith and support” for the American intelligence community and supported their assessment that Russian meddled in the 2016 election, but continued to claim that others could also be responsible.
“I have felt very strongly that while Russia’s actions had no impact at all on the outcome of the election, let me be totally clear in saying…that I accept our American intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election took place,” the president said.
But, Trump added, “Could be other people also, there’s a lot of people out there.”
Trump was pilloried from all sides on Monday, even from some staunch loyalists in his own party, for appearing to side with Putin over American intelligence agencies that have concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.
“I have great confidence in my intelligence people,” Trump said at the press conference on Monday. “But I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.”
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Trump had “one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory.”
Former CIA director John Brennan, a frequent Trump critic and a national security analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, called Trump’s performance “nothing short of treasonous.” And former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Trump confidant, called the president’s comments “the most serious mistake of his presidency.”
Conservative personalities on Fox News also weighed in, with some calling his performance “disgusting” and “easily one of his worst days as president.”
This is a breaking news story, please check back for updates.