President Trump not only refused to condemn Russian election interference Monday, but he used his joint press conference with Vladimir Putin to attack the DNC and the FBI, deflect questions about Russian responsibility for anything, and express belief in Putin's denials of interference over the irrefutable proof provided by his own intelligence officials.
For his part, Putin admitted he wanted Donald Trump to win the 2016 election.
"Yes, I did. Yes, I did. Because he talked about bringing the U.S.-Russia relationship back to normal,” Putin said, standing alongside Trump at a joint news conference.
Putin was asked whether he directed any of his officials to help Trump’s presidential campaign, but Putin appeared to sidestep that part of the question.
And when asked, Putin did not deny having compromising information on the U.S. president or his family.
“I did hear these rumors that we allegedly collected compromising material on Mr. Trump when he was visiting Moscow. Let me tell you this, when President Trump visited Moscow back then, I didn’t even know that he was in Moscow. I treat President Trump with utmost respect. But back then, when he was a private individual, a businessman. Nobody told me that he was in Moscow. Let’s take the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, for instance. There were over 500 American businessmen. High-ranking, high-level ones. I don’t even remember the last names of each and every one of them. Do you really think that we tried to collect compromising material on each and every one of them? Well, it’s difficult to imagine and utter nonsense. Please just disregard these issues and don’t think about this anymore.”
Putin did know Trump was in Moscow in 2013. In fact, Putin and Trump were supposed to meet in person – a rendezvous arranged by Aras Agalarov – and when Putin had to cancel at the last minute, he sent Trump a note and a gift.
Toronto Star's Washington correspondent Daniel Dale has President Trump's remarks on Russian election interference:
Watch the key moments:
Full text: President Trump’s news conference with Russia’s Putin (WaPo)
Putin: I wanted Trump to win the election (Politico)
Putin was asked directly if he had kompromat on Trump. He didn’t say no. (VICE News)