US President Donald Trump has defended Russia over claims of interference in the 2016 presidential election. After face-to-face talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mr Trump contradicted US intelligence agencies and said there had been no reason for Russia to meddle in the vote, as per international media reports.
Mr Putin reiterated that Russia had never interfered in US affairs. The two men held nearly two hours of closed-door talks in the Finnish capital Helsinki on Monday. At a news conference after the summit, President Trump was asked if he believed his own intelligence agencies or the Russian president when it came to the allegations of meddling in the elections.
“President Putin says it’s not Russia. I don’t see any reason why it would be,” he replied. It is perhaps the first time in recorded history that a sitting US President has given more weight to the words of his nation’s historic rival than his own intelligence agencies.
A journalist asked Mr Putin as to whether Russia had any incriminating evidence on Mr Trump — a charge which Mr Putin blithely denied. US intelligence agencies concluded in 2016 that Russia was behind an effort to tip the scale of the US election against Hillary Clinton, with a state-authorised campaign of cyber attacks and fake news stories planted on social media. Mr Putin described the Helsinki meeting as “candid and useful” while Mr Trump said there had been “deeply productive dialogue”.
President Trump’s conduct in meeting with President Putin is being scathingly condemned in the political circles of the USA. Trump has described as poodle of Putin. Another Senator regarded his conduct as disgraceful. There are many who doubt that President Putin knows some fatal secrets of President Trump. Russia is blackmailing Trump to submit to Russian political agenda of isolating the United States from its trusted and tested allies.
