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]."
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.
"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
-
Political cartoons for November 1Cartoons Saturday's political cartoons include insurance premiums, early voting in NYC, and more
-
Salted caramel and chocolate tart recipeThe Week Recommends Delicious dessert can be made with any biscuits you fancy
-
Meet Ireland’s new socialist presidentIn the Spotlight Landslide victory of former barrister and ‘outsider’ Catherine Connolly could ‘mark a turning point’ in anti-establishment politics
-
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
