CNN's Chris Cuomo says Trump's 'insistence on covering for himself' has cost the U.S. 'a lot of legitimacy'

published 18 July 2018

President Trump came out on Tuesday with what he called a "clarification" of remarks he made in Helsinki on Monday, but CNN's Chris Cuomo and his giant computer screen weren't buying it.

While standing next to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump had an "epic fail in front of the world," Cuomo said, choosing Putin's "lies over his own country's truth." Trump on Tuesday said he misspoke, and meant to say "I don't know why it wouldn't be" Russia that meddled in the election, rather than "would." Cuomo had the portion of his remarks up on the screen, and ripped apart this explanation, going sentence by sentence.

Trump believes when the 2016 election is attacked, it "delegitimizes his win," Cuomo said, and "if it comes down to what is best for Trump or what is best for you, you're going to lose, and the world saw this yesterday and it was shameful." The most authentic proof of this is found in Trump's prepared remarks from Tuesday. They were typed, but Trump wrote in huge letters on top, "There was no colusion [sic]."

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"Why?" Cuomo said. "Even though it has nothing to do with saying it is true that Russia attacked us, it is what he cares about, and you know it's authentic because he misspelled collusion and that is something he does, he misspells words." Trump also crossed out a line about bringing those involved "in that meddling to justice," and that's because "he hates the notion that there could be any sense of justice, fairness under law, that involves punishing him or anyone around him," Cuomo said. "The insistence on covering for himself cost our country a lot of legitimacy in Helsinki." Watch the video below. Catherine Garcia

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.