Trump Press Conference With Putin Sparks Bipartisan Ire - NPR

President Trump's effort to reset relations with Russia backfired at home, when he failed to side with U.S. intelligence over Moscow's interference in the 2016 election. The president's equivocation drew bipartisan condemnation, capping a week in which Trump alienated allies and cozied up to adversaries.

Trump himself declared his summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki a success, in what he called the "proud tradition of bold American diplomacy."

The president said he pressed Putin about Moscow's interference in the election, but he appeared to take Putin's denial at face value, just days after a grand jury indicted 12 Russian intelligence agents on election-related charges.

U.S. intelligence officials are in agreement that Russia interfered in the 2016 election using a wide array of methods, including but not limited to hacking the Democratic National Committee's emails, breaking into American voting infrastructure and launching a sprawling misinformation campaign.

But asked directly if he believed that assessment, Trump was non-committal.

"I have great confidence in my intelligence people. But I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today," Trump said. "Dan Coats [the Director of National Intelligence] came to me and some others, they said they think it's Russia. I have President Putin. He just said it's not Russia. I will say this: I don't see any reason why it would be." - Read More

Trump Press Conference With Putin Sparks Bipartisan Ire

Transcript: Trump And Putin's Joint Press Conference

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