Tag: meddling

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Donald Trump Believes Putin’s Denials Regarding Election Meddling, To Inquire Further Would Be “Insulting”

Donald Trump (L) Vladimir Putin (R)

After meeting privately with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting in Danang, Vietnam, Donald Trump said that he had asked whether Russia had meddled in last year’s presidential election.

According to Trump, Putin not only denied the allegation but appeared “insulted” by the issue.

From the New York Times:

“He said he didn’t meddle — I asked him again,” Mr. Trump told reporters traveling with him aboard Air Force One as he flew to Hanoi for more meetings. “You can only ask so many times. I just asked him again. He said he absolutely did not meddle in our election. He did not do what they are saying he did.”

Mr. Trump did not answer a direct question about whether he believed Mr. Putin’s denials, but his account of the conversation indicated he was far more inclined to accept the Russian president’s assertions than those of his own intelligence agencies, which have concluded that Mr. Putin directed an elaborate effort to interfere in the vote.

“Every time he sees me he says, ‘I didn’t do that,’ and I really believe that when he tells me that, he means it,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Putin. “I think he is very insulted by it, which is not a good thing for our country.”

Mr. Trump heaped disdain on the former leaders of three American intelligence agencies — John O. Brennan, the former C.I.A. director; James R. Clapper Jr., the former director of national intelligence; and James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director he fired this year — appearing to suggest that they were less trustworthy than Mr. Putin.

“I mean, give me a break — they’re political hacks,” Mr. Trump said. “You have Brennan, you have Clapper, and you have Comey. Comey’s proven now to be a liar, and he’s proven to be a leaker, so you look at that. And you have President Putin very strongly, vehemently says he had nothing to do with that.”

So, to recap: Donald Trump believes a man who was trained as a KGB agent to lie successfully, and throws dedicated U.S. intelligence leaders under the bus.

Got it?

#Embarrassing