WASHINGTON (AP) Taking to Twitter early today, President Donald Trump defended anew his much-criticized performance at the Helsinki summit, promising big results from better relations with Russia and hitting back at haters.
Trump made no mention of his having walked back comments that called into question U.S. intelligence findings of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Those comments, delivered alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit press conference Monday, had prompted blistering, bipartisan criticism at home.
So many people at the higher ends of intelligence loved my press conference performance in Helsinki, Trump tweeted.
He added: We got along well which truly bothered many haters who wanted to see a boxing match.
In a follow-up tweet, Trump wrote that Russia has agreed to help in delicate negotiations with North Korea. But he gave no details on how and when that would happen.
Big benefits and exciting future for North Korea at end of process! he wrote.
Amid bipartisan condemnation of his embrace of a longtime U.S. enemy, Trump sought to end 27 hours of recrimination by delivering a rare admission of error Tuesday. He backed away from his public undermining of American intelligence agencies, saying he misspoke when he said he saw no reason to believe Russia had interfered in the 2016 U.S. election.
The sentence should have been, I dont see any reason why I wouldnt, or why it wouldnt be Russia instead of why it would, Trump said Tuesday of the comments he had made standing alongside Putin on the summit stage in Helsinki.
That didnt explain why Trump, who had tweeted a half-dozen times and sat for two television interviews since the Putin news conference, waited so long to correct his remarks. And the scripted cleanup pertained only to the least defensible of his comments.
He didnt reverse other statements in which he gave clear credence to Putins extremely strong and powerful denial of Russian involvement, raised doubts about his own intelligence agencies conclusions and advanced discredited conspiracy theories about election meddling.
Trump also accused past American leaders, rather than Russias destabilizing actions in the U.S. and around the world, for the souring of relations between two countries. And he did not address his other problematic statements during a week-long Europe tour, in which he sent the NATO alliance into emergency session and assailed British Prime Minister Theresa May as she was hosting him for an official visit.
I accept our intelligence communitys conclusion that Russias meddling in the 2016 election took place, Trump conceded Tuesday. But even then he made a point of adding, It could be other people also. A lot of people out there. There was no collusion at all.
Moments earlier, the usually reserved Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, publicly reassured Americas allies in Europe with whom Trump clashed during his frenzied trip last week.
The European countries are our friends, and the Russians are not, McConnell declared.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Trump was trying to squirm away from his comments alongside Putin. Its 24 hours too late and in the wrong place, he said.
By dusk, hundreds of activists, led by attorney Michael Avenatti and actress Alyssa Milano, staged a protest near the White House, with chants of traitor! echoing along Pennsylvania Avenue.
