Donald Trump has sown further confusion about his attitude to Russia’s alleged meddling in US elections, questioning intelligence reports that the Kremlin is still seeking to undermine American democracy.
“For the third straight day, President Trump cast doubt on whether he views Russia as a threat,” says The Washington Post - although his press secretary blamed the row on another misunderstanding.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In follow-up questions yesterday, he was asked by a reporter: “Is Russia still targeting the US, Mr President?”
Trump responded: “Thank you very much. No.”
The reporter replied: “No? You don’t believe that to be the case?”
Trump repeated: “No.”
However, the BBC reports, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders “said Mr Trump was saying ‘no’ to answering more questions”, not to the question itself.
Earlier, the president had appeared to lay the blame for past incidents on Vladimir Putin. “As the leader of a country you would have to hold him responsible,” he told CBS Evening News. But Trump “stopped short of saying that if the intelligence services were correct in their assessment, then Putin must be lying”, The Guardian reports.
-
Taiwan eyes Iron Dome-like defence against ChinaUnder the Radar President announces historic increase in defence spending as Chinese aggression towards autonomous island escalates
-
Political cartoons for November 30Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include the Saudi-China relationship, MAGA spelled wrong, and more
-
Rothermere’s Telegraph takeover: ‘a right-leaning media powerhouse’Talking Point Deal gives Daily Mail and General Trust more than 50% of circulation in the UK newspaper market
-
The US-Saudi relationship: too big to fail?Talking Point With the Saudis investing $1 trillion into the US, and Trump granting them ‘major non-Nato ally’ status, for now the two countries need each other
-
Could Trump run for a third term?The Explainer Constitutional amendment limits US presidents to two terms, but Trump diehards claim there is a loophole
-
Trump’s Ukraine peace talks advance amid leaked callSpeed Read Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff is set to visit Russia next week
-
Memo signals Trump review of 233k refugeesSpeed Read The memo also ordered all green card applications for the refugees to be halted
-
Judge tosses Trump DOJ cases against Comey, JamesSpeed Read Both cases could potentially be brought again
-
X’s location update exposes international troll industryIn the Spotlight Social media platform’s new transparency feature reveals ‘scope and geographical breadth’ of accounts spreading misinformation
-
Tariffs: Will Trump’s reversal lower prices?Feature Retailers may not pass on the savings from tariff reductions to consumers
-
Trump: Is he losing control of MAGA?Feature We may be seeing the ‘first meaningful right-wing rebellion against autocracy of this era’
