Trump says he trusts Putin's denials of election meddling

[rooster59]

Trump says he trusts Putin's denials of election meddling

By Steve Holland and Denis Pinchuk

 

U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin talk during the family photo session at the APEC Summit in Danang, Vietnam November 11, 2017. REUTERS/Jorge Silva

 

DANANG, Vietnam (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said he believed President Vladimir Putin when he denied accusations Russia meddled in last year's U.S. election despite U.S. intelligence agencies' conclusion of Russian interference.

 

Trump made the comment after he and Putin met briefly at a summit in Vietnam on Saturday and agreed on a statement supporting a political solution for Syria.

 

It was their first encounter since July and came during a low in U.S.-Russia relations and at a time Trump is haunted by an investigation into accusations that Putin influenced the election that brought him to the White House.

 

Putin reiterated the denials of interference, Trump said.

 

"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," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One after leaving the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in the resort of Danang.

 

"I think he is very insulted by it, which is not a good thing for our country," Trump said.

 

Trump, who has called allegations of campaign collusion with Moscow a hoax, has faced questions from Democrats about the matter since he took office. A special counsel, Robert Mueller, is conducting a probe that has led to charges against Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort and his associate Rick Gates.

 

U.S. intelligence agencies have also concluded Russians interfered to tip the election in Trump's favour through hacking and releasing emails to embarrass Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and spreading social media propaganda.

 

Russia has repeatedly denied meddling.

 

The top Democrat on the U.S. House of Representatives intelligence committee, which is investigating the issue, harshly criticized Trump's comments and accused him of siding with Putin over U.S. intelligence agencies.

 

"The President fools no one. He understands that the Russians intervened through the hacking and dumping of his opponent’s emails, the fruits of which he exploited time and again on the campaign trail," Adam Schiff said in a statement.

 

"He understands all this and more. He just doesn’t understand how to put country over self. Or to put it in terms he is more familiar with - Mr. Trump simply can’t bring himself to put America first," the Democrat said.

 

In Danang, Putin told reporters an alleged link between Manafort and Russia was fabricated by Trump's opponents.

 

Putin dismissed suggestions Russia influenced the elections through political advertising. Tech companies, including Facebook <FB.O>, have said some Russian-bought political content spread on their platforms around the time. [nL2N1N526X]

 

"There is no confirmation of our mass media meddling in election campaigns – and there can't be any," Putin said.

 

LIMITED CONTACT

 

After emphasizing on the 2016 campaign trail that it would be nice if the United States and Russia could work together, Trump has had limited contact with Putin since taking office.

 

Trump again made this case on Saturday, saying it would benefit Washington to have a good ties with Moscow so they could work together on issues including Syria's civil war, the conflict in Ukraine and the North Korean nuclear crisis.

 

"Look, I can’t stand there and argue with him, I would rather have him get out of Syria," Trump said. "I would rather ... get to work with him on the Ukraine rather than standing and arguing."

 

In Vietnam, Trump and Putin agreed a joint statement saying there was no military solution to the conflict in Syria, where Russia has militarily backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a civil war now in its seventh year. [nL3N1NG2OP]

 

"We did it very quickly," Trump told reporters. "We seem to have a very good feeling for each other, a good relationship considering we don't know each other well."

 

Talking after their meeting, Putin described Trump as "a well-mannered person and comfortable to deal with".

 

"We know each other little, but the U.S. president is highly civil in his behaviour, friendly. We have a normal dialogue but unfortunately little time," he said.

 

Trump said they had two or three very short conversations.

 

They were seen chatting amicably as they walked to the position where the traditional APEC summit photo was being taken at a viewpoint looking over the South China Sea.

 

Pictures from the APEC meeting also showed Trump approaching Putin at the summit table and patting him on the back. They also shook hands at the summit dinner on Friday.

 

The Kremlin said their statement on Syria was coordinated especially for the Danang meeting.

 

With Islamic State having suffered losses in Syria and beyond, greater attention is turning to the broader conflict between Assad's forces and rebel factions.

 

They confirmed their commitment to Syria's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity and called on all parties to take an active part in the Geneva political process, it said.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-11-12

 

 

[darksidedog]

34 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

 

"The President fools no one.

Apart from the red necked dumb Republicans who have proved they will suck up anything he says as gospel truth, despite glaring evidence proving otherwise. With overwhelming evidence the Russians interfered, to even suggest otherwise is insulting to anyone with intelligence.

[Samui Bodoh]

46 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

"I think he is very insulted by it, which is not a good thing for our country," Trump said.

 

Who cares if he is insulted? I sure as hell don't.

 

Why is it not a good thing for the USA? The US is far superior to Russia economically, militarily, culturally, and by just about any measure that you can come up with. Who gives a rat's ass about Russia?

 

Russia interfered in the US elections and elections in other countries; they are a global menace. Punish the hell out of them, take down their economy and return them to the dark ages until they can act like a civilized nation. 

 

[Andaman Al]

The other FVEY nations, let alone the rest of the World are currently in a what the frakk moment.

 

So do all the Trump supporters follow him on this one?  Does anyone with more than half a brain cell out there really believe Putin over all the major intelligence agencies, not only in the US but amongst it's major allies? The lunatics truly are running the asylum. 

 

Still the good thing is this will motivate Mueller and the intelligence agencies to bury Trump quicker and deeper.

[SheungWan]

Believer Number 1.

[craigt3365]

Nice picture of 2 of the biggest liars who, sadly, are leaders of great nations.

[zaphod reborn]

2 hours ago, rooster59 said:

"I would rather ... get to work with him on the Ukraine rather than standing and arguing."

Still looking for a way to divert oil revenues from Ukraine sales into their offshore bank accounts.  Dam# those sanctions!

[Ramen087]

It's been more than a year since the 2016 presidential election. Impeachment Supporters... it's time to accept reality. Vladimir Putin isn't going anywhere for the rest of his life and Mr. Trump has at least three years and two months in the Oval Office as the President of the United States. 

[brucec64]

 
Who cares if he is insulted? I sure as hell don't.
 
Why is it not a good thing for the USA? The US is far superior to Russia economically, militarily, culturally, and by just about any measure that you can come up with. Who gives a rat's ass about Russia?
 
Russia interfered in the US elections and elections in other countries; they are a global menace. Punish the hell out of them, take down their economy and return them to the dark ages until they can act like a civilized nation. 
 

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ken-paxton-texas-guns-church_us_5a002bc3e4b0baea2632f48a

A lot of the world is questioning whether this is the response of a civilized nation. Seems more like the wild west.

Sent from my SM-N950U1 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[KarenBravo]

2 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

 

The US is far superior to Russia economically, militarily, culturally, and by just about any measure that you can come up with.

 

Culturally?

What about Stravinsky, Rachmaninov, Rimsky-Korakov, Borodin, Pushkin, Checkov, Solzhanitzin, Dostoyevski, Turgenov?

 

Ahhhhhh forget it. You've probably never heard of them.......

[Thakkar]

2 hours ago, rooster59 said:

“Look, I can’t stand there and argue with him...”

“I said to him, ‘Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall’ and he said, ‘no’ so what am I gonna do? I can’t stand there and argue with him.” - Ronald Reagan.

[craigt3365]

17 minutes ago, Ramen087 said:

It's been more than a year since the 2016 presidential election. Impeachment Supporters... it's time to accept reality. Vladimir Putin isn't going anywhere for the rest of his life and Mr. Trump has at least three years and two months in the Oval Office as the President of the United States. 

Impeachment is more than just Putin's meddling in the elections, and Trump's denial of it.  Too bad for both countries these leaders will be sticking around.

[Thakkar]

Stephen Patiño (@YaBoyStevieP)

11/11/2017, 10:35 PM

Obama: I was born in the US, & here’s my birth certificate for proof.
Trump: Liar.
Putin: I didn’t meddle in the election.
Trump: Ok, if you say so. twitter.com/afp/status/929…

[craigt3365]

10 minutes ago, Thakkar said:

Stephen Patiño (@YaBoyStevieP)

11/11/2017, 10:35 PM

Obama: I was born in the US, & here’s my birth certificate for proof.
Trump: Liar.
Putin: I didn’t meddle in the election.
Trump: Ok, if you say so. twitter.com/afp/status/929…

[Samui Bodoh]

33 minutes ago, KarenBravo said:

Culturally?

What about Stravinsky, Rachmaninov, Rimsky-Korakov, Borodin, Pushkin, Checkov, Solzhanitzin, Dostoyevski, Turgenov?

 

Ahhhhhh forget it. You've probably never heard of them.......

Actually, I have.

 

Have you ever heard of Dylan, Holliday, Twain, Frost, Angelou, Miller, etc?

 

What's your point?

 

[boomerangutang]

44 minutes ago, Ramen087 said:

It's been more than a year since the 2016 presidential election. Impeachment Supporters... it's time to accept reality. Vladimir Putin isn't going anywhere for the rest of his life and Mr. Trump has at least three years and two months in the Oval Office as the President of the United States. 

If you get HIV, perhaps you'd like your doctor to tell you, "You got it.  It ain't going away.  Deal with it."

 

Re; the OP :  Trump is such a sick and dangerous liar.  How can anyone believe anything he says?   

 

 

[puck2]

I can trust our dog, but never this LOTUS (Liar Of The United States), averaging 5 lies per day - as improved by a German magazine.

[Thakkar]

Andrew Cohen (@JustADCohen)

11/11/2017, 10:16 PM

An incomplete list....

Mueller: lying
Comey: lying
Obama: lying
Clinton: lying
Federal judges: lying
His sex assault accusers: lying
Scientist about climate change: lying
Doctors about Affordable Care Act: lying
Mother of slain U.S. soldier: lying
Putin: He means it. 

[boomerangutang]

As much as any of the other 1,000 reasons why Trump should never have become prez, is this:

 

American kids are influenced by the prez who's in power when the kids are young.

 

Who, but an awful parent, would want their kids influenced by a person with such a raft of deleterious characteristics as:

>>>  pussy grabbing women against their will, and bragging about it

>>>  lying every time he makes a sound from his mouth

>>>  name calling like a bratty 5 yr old

>>>  advocating losses of American jobs ("I hope the Washington Post and NY Times go out of business.")

>>>  wanting to shut down the press corps and silence journalists.

>>>  Dissing an American judge because the judge's parents were born in Mexico.

>>>  Publicly ridiculing a man with cerebral palsy

>>>  Not paying contractors for work successfully completed.

>>>  Breaking his oath of office by not upholding the laws of the land. (trying to destroy ACA, which is a law)

>>>  Unabashedly cheating on all 3 of his wives.

>>>  Falsely accusing others of things they didn't do.

 

.....and that's just the tip of the iceberg. 

[KarenBravo]

18 minutes ago, Samui Bodoh said:

Actually, I have.

 

Have you ever heard of Dylan, Holliday, Twain, Frost, Angelou, Miller, etc?

 

What's your point?

 

You said that US culture is "far superior"  to Russian culture.

My point is........it isn't.

[DM07]

Did he give him a pinky-promise?

[Rancid]

3 hours ago, darksidedog said:

Apart from the red necked dumb Republicans who have proved they will suck up anything he says as gospel truth, despite glaring evidence proving otherwise. With overwhelming evidence the Russians interfered, to even suggest otherwise is insulting to anyone with intelligence.

Insulting to anyone with intelligence, hmm. There are two types of ignorance, plain ignorance which is simply not knowing about a topic, something that can be easily remedied. The more problematic type is ignorance of ignorance, which often eludes a cure. Tuning in to a particular TV does not provide knowledge, it provides awareness of an opinion, intelligence comes into play as one objectively discerns whether that opinion was true or manufactured after balancing other views.

 

I don't know what the Russians did or did not do, and neither does anyone else, as no hard evidence has been released, all we have seen is the typical corrupt politicians and offsiders from all sides involved in some shady Russian deals for profit. Then we have unsubstantiated innuendo from hack media, hard as it is to believe some "intelligent" people actually swallow that obvious nonsense.

 

Perhaps some should consider how useful witch hunts in the past have been, McCarthyism being a shameful episode where many innocent were persecuted, then consider if the same thing is going on again, and purely so that a environment of fear can be created for the arms industry to even further screw the poor US tax payer.

[FritsSikkink]

1 hour ago, Ramen087 said:

It's been more than a year since the 2016 presidential election. Impeachment Supporters... it's time to accept reality. Vladimir Putin isn't going anywhere for the rest of his life and Mr. Trump has at least three years and two months in the Oval Office as the President of the United States. 

do you ever read anything?

[Ramen087]

5 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

do you ever read anything?

WSJ, NYT, ... and lots of other publications and books.  

BYE.

[ilostmypassword]

Just now, Ramen087 said:

WSJ, NYT, ... and lots of other publications and books.  

BYE.

You're not providing any evidence of that in your posts.

[DoctorG]

I love coming onto these threads to watch the usual Trump-bashers frothing at the mouth and quoting stuff they see on CNN. Very amusing. Thank you.

[KarenBravo]

Just now, DoctorG said:

I love coming onto these threads to watch the usual Trump-bashers frothing at the mouth and quoting stuff they see on CNN. Very amusing. Thank you.

Guess we won't be seeing you after November next year, then, eh?

[jerojero]

Trump, well mannered. Bhahaahahaha! Stroke that Trump ego Vlad, stroke it good! 555

Sent from my SM-G950W using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[ilostmypassword]

37 minutes ago, DoctorG said:

I love coming onto these threads to watch the usual Trump-bashers frothing at the mouth and quoting stuff they see on CNN. Very amusing. Thank you.

We love even more watching Trump frothing at the mouth and citting stuff he gets from Vladimir Putin. 

[Thakkar]

1 hour ago, Rancid said:

don't know what the Russians did or did not do, and neither does anyone else, as no hard evidence has been released, all we have seen is the typical corrupt politicians and offsiders from all sides involved in some shady Russian deals for profit. Then we have unsubstantiated innuendo from hack media, hard as it is to believe some "intelligent" people actually swallow that obvious nonsense.

 

It’s actually perfectly reasonable to assume that adversarial powers interfere in each others’ internal affairs, including elections.

But without making any assumptions, there is enough publicly available evidence that Russian operatives made multi-pronged at influencing US election outcomes in favor of Trump.

 

By their own grudging but ultimate admissions, there were secret contacts between members of the Trump campaign and Russian operatives. Specifically, George Papadopoulos, Donald Trump Jr., Jarad Kushner, Paul Manafort, Carter Page, Mike Flynn and Jeff Sessions. That’s seven top level campaign operatives who: first failed to disclose as required, then lied about then finally admitted to some meetings, then admitted to more meetings, then downplayed the significance of those meetings, then finally admitted significant issues were discussed at the meetings—with Russian operatives.

 

Since these people have been consistently cagey about those meetings and Since the guy at the head of that campaign is now president, it’s perfectly reasonable for other branches of the government to want investigate the full extent and significance of those Russian involvements.

 

Furthermore, it’s been confirmed and evidence is publicly available that Russians used advertising and social engineering on Twitter, Google, Facebook and Instagram to possibly reach as many as 100 million Americans in an election that was swung by 70,000 votes spread over 3 states.

 

If for nothing else, then for the sake of confidence in and integrity of future elections, it is reasonable for Americans to investigate the full extent of the interference, how it was done and whether American citizens knowingly collaborated with the interference.