Trump says he will bring up election interference with Putin

by Max Greenwood - 06/29/18 5:55 PM ET

President Trump said Friday that he plans to bring up Russia’s efforts to meddle in U.S. elections when he meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin next month.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said that Russia’s interference in Ukraine and its role in Syria will also be on the agenda when he meets with Putin on July 16.

But Trump asserted that Moscow’s interference in U.S. elections will be a key topic.

{mosads}

“We don’t want anyone tampering with elections,” he told reporters en route to Bedminster, N.J., for the weekend.

The president’s remarks came a day after he once again cast doubt on the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that Moscow sought to meddle in the 2016 presidential election, noting in a tweet that Russia still insists that it did no such thing.

“Russia continues to say they had nothing to do with Meddling in our Election!” Trump tweeted. “Where is the DNC Server, and why didn’t Shady James Comey and the now disgraced FBI agents take and closely examine it? Why isn’t Hillary/Russia being looked at? So many questions, so much corruption!”

The tweet reopened the question of whether Trump would broach the issue with Putin during their highly anticipated summit next month in Helsinki.

White House national security adviser John Bolton, who met with Putin in Moscow this week, said on Wednesday that he discussed the election meddling issue with the Russian president and that he expected it to come up during Trump’s meeting Putin.

“We did indeed talk about Russian interference in the elections and I expect it will be a subject of conversation between the two presidents as well,” Bolton said at a news conference.

Russia’s efforts to influence the 2016 election in Trump’s favor has often elicited scorn from the president, who has insisted that there was no collusion between his campaign and Moscow and has called the determination a “hoax.”

Whether Trump’s campaign and associates sought to conspire with the Russians during the election is the subject of an investigation being carried out by special counsel Robert Mueller. Trump has called that probe a “witch hunt.”

Tags Donald Trump Donald Trump election meddling James Comey John Bolton Robert Mueller Russia Vladimir Putin