“I said, ‘Did you do it?’ And he said, ‘No, I did not. Absolutely not.’ I then asked him a second time in a totally different way. He said absolutely not,” Trump said.
Asked if he believed Putin’s denial, Trump paused.
“Look. Something happened and we have to find out what it is, because we can’t allow a thing like that to happen to our election process. So something happened and we have to find out what it is,” he said.
About Putin, he added: “Somebody did say if he did do it, you wouldn’t have found out about it. Which is a very interesting point.”
…
Trump equivocated on whether he felt he could trust Putin. He said Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping both look out for their countries’ interests, as he looks out for U.S. interests.
“I am not a person who goes around trusting lots of people. But he’s the leader of Russia. It is the second most powerful nuclear power on earth. I am the leader of the United States. I love my country. He loves his country,” Trump said.
As in the past, Trump said there was no collusion between his campaign and Russia.
“There was zero coordination. It’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” he said.
Meanwhile…
Grassley: Senate panel wants Paul Manafort to testify next week
‘Category 5 hurricane’: White House under siege by Trump Jr.’s Russia revelations
Trump’s Lawyers Want to Put Distance Between The President and Kushner on Russia
Donald Trump Jr. faces calls to testify after releasing email exchange over Russia meeting
And evangelical leaders show Trump what normal sized hands look like:
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Trump calls it a witch hunt. Is it possible we'll see him burned at the Trump steak?
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Trump later said "that laying-on of hands thing sure would have been useful when I owned the pageant..."