While President Donald Trump says he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin is sincere when he denies that Russia sought to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election, the president said he personally believes the conclusion of the U.S. intelligence community -– and not Putin -– that Russia did in fact meddle in the election.
“I believe he believes that,” Trump said of Putin’s denials during a joint press conference with Vietnam’s President Tran Dai Quang at the presidential palace in Hanoi and expressed surprise that there was any confusion about what he meant after previously telling reporters that Putin “means it” when he says he didn’t meddle.
Trump went on to say he personally accepts the opinion of the U.S. intelligence agencies “as currently led” by his appointees, in spite of Putin’s denials.
“I’m with our agencies, especially as currently constituted with their current leadership,” Trump said. “I believe in our intel agencies, our intelligence agencies … as currently led by fine people, I believe very much in our intelligence agencies.”
The president’s statement, with the caveat that he trusts the intelligence as currently led, is one of his clearest comments to date on accepting the consensus conclusions reached by the U.S. intelligence agencies in a report published earlier this year on Russia’s attempts to influence the U.S. election.
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Oh, OK — glad we cleared that up. https://t.co/UPrBLc2Cxz
— John Schindler (@20committee) November 12, 2017
I can’t keep up.
The reality TV preaidency. Nothing is ever as it seems.
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