Just as President Trump sat down with Russian President Vladimir Putin for a meeting Friday, former acting Attorney General Sally Yates tweeted for just the second time ever to criticize Trump's "inexplicable refusal" to acknowledge that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Yates, whom Trump fired after she refused to defend his travel ban, contended that Trump's hesitancy to embrace U.S. intelligence agencies' consensus that Russia interfered was not just insulting, it could have consequences down the road:
In Poland on Thursday, Trump contradicted U.S. intelligence by claiming that "nobody really knows for sure" if Russia meddled in the election. "I agree, I think it was Russia, but I think it was probably other people and/or countries," Trump said.
Trump was asked Friday as he sat beside Putin whether he would press the Russian president on election interference during their meeting. HuffPost's Jennifer Bendery reported the president refused to answer the question, instead saying "'something to Putin, who chuckled.'"
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.
-
41 political cartoons for October 2025Cartoons Editorial cartoonists take on Donald Trump, ICE, Stephen Miller, the government shutdown, a peace plan in the Middle East, Jeffrey Epstein, and more.
-
King Charles strips Andrew of ‘prince’ titleSpeed Read He will now be known only as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor
-
Trump limits refugees mostly to white South AfricansSpeed Read The administration is capping the number of refugees at 7,500
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
-
Trump expands boat strikes to Pacific, killing 5 moreSpeed Read The US military destroyed two more alleged drug smuggling boats in international waters
-
Trump demands millions from his administrationSpeed Read The president has requested $230 million in compensation from the Justice Department for previous federal investigations
