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.
-
5 cinematic cartoons about Bezos betting big on 'Melania'Cartoons Artists take on a girlboss, a fetching newspaper, and more
-
The fall of the generals: China’s military purgeIn the Spotlight Xi Jinping’s extraordinary removal of senior general proves that no-one is safe from anti-corruption drive that has investigated millions
-
Why the Gorton and Denton by-election is a ‘Frankenstein’s monster’Talking Point Reform and the Greens have the Labour seat in their sights, but the constituency’s complex demographics make messaging tricky
-
Trump links funding to name on Penn StationSpeed Read Trump “can restart the funding with a snap of his fingers,” a Schumer insider said
-
Trump reclassifies 50,000 federal jobs to ease firingsSpeed Read The rule strips longstanding job protections from federal workers
-
Is the Gaza peace plan destined to fail?Today’s Big Question Since the ceasefire agreement in October, the situation in Gaza is still ‘precarious’, with the path to peace facing ‘many obstacles’
-
Vietnam’s ‘balancing act’ with the US, China and EuropeIn the Spotlight Despite decades of ‘steadily improving relations’, Hanoi is still ‘deeply suspicious’ of the US as it tries to ‘diversify’ its options
-
Trump demands $1B from Harvard, deepening feudSpeed Read Trump has continually gone after the university during his second term
-
Trump’s Kennedy Center closure plan draws ireSpeed Read Trump said he will close the center for two years for ‘renovations’
-
Trump's ‘weaponization czar’ demoted at DOJSpeed Read Ed Martin lost his title as assistant attorney general
-
Gabbard faces questions on vote raid, secret complaintSpeed Read This comes as Trump has pushed Republicans to ‘take over’ voting
