Trump Takes Putin’s Word for it on Russian Meddling in Elections

Standing alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump said Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling into U.S. elections has hurt relations between the U.S. and Russia and has been a “disaster for our country.” Taking questions from reporters, Putin denied his country had engaged in “so-called interference” and said it had no plans to do so in the future. Trump said “All I can do is ask the question” about meddling. Putin affirmed that Trump had raised the issue. [ Trump Sets Notably Low Bar for Putin Summit ] Trump said he has confidence in the U.S. intelligence community, which has concluded that Russian operatives did try to influence the 2016 election, but instead of backing the intelligence community’s conclusions that Russia was involved, the U.S. president said.in the Monday news conference, “I don’t see any reason why it would be.” Trump then went on a rant about how questions about Hillary Clinton’s email server have not been answered nor the “30,000 emails” that were scrubbed from it have never been found. Putin said the two countries should work together through a joint cybersecurity group to examine any materials on election interference, a proposal that Trump called “incredible.” Putin asserted that the accusations of meddling wouldn’t have a “fighting chance in the American court. Of indictments brought by Mueller against 12 Russians on Friday, Putin said, “There’s no evidence when it comes to the facts.”   Get breaking news alerts and more from Roll Call on your iPhone or your Android.