{"slug":"trump-helsinki-summit-putin-siding-against-cia","title":"Helsinki Summit: Trump Sided With Putin Over His Own CIA on Election Interference","date":"2018-07-16","lastUpdated":"2018-07-17","description":"At a July 16, 2018 press conference following a private meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Trump stated that he saw no reason why Russia would have interfered in the 2016 election, saying Putin had been 'extremely strong and powerful' in his denials and that he trusted Putin's word over the conclusion of the U.S. intelligence community. The CIA, FBI, NSA, and all seventeen U.S. intelligence agencies had concluded with high confidence that Russia had conducted the interference campaign. The statement provoked bipartisan condemnation including from Republican leaders.","summary":"Trump and Putin met privately for approximately two hours with only translators present; there was no U.S. notetaker and Trump reportedly had his interpreter's notes confiscated. At the public press conference, Trump said he didn't 'see any reason why it would be Russia' that interfered in the election — contradicting the unanimous assessment of the U.S. intelligence community. When asked the next day, Trump claimed he had misspoken and meant to say 'wouldn't' instead of 'would.' The statement provoked condemnation from Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican Speaker Paul Ryan, and dozens of Republican members of Congress.","category":"foreign-policy","severity":"critical","ongoing":false,"sources":[{"url":"https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/16/world/europe/trump-putin-summit-helsinki.html","title":"Trump, at Putin's Side, Questions U.S. Intelligence on 2016 Election","publisher":"The New York Times"},{"url":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/in-helsinki-trump-said-he-trusted-putins-election-denial-over-us-intelligence/2018/07/16/2eef5456-89a0-11e8-a345-a1bf7847b375_story.html","title":"Trump sided with Putin over U.S. intelligence","publisher":"The Washington Post"},{"url":"https://apnews.com/article/trump-putin-helsinki-summit-election-interference","title":"Trump sides with Putin on election interference at Helsinki summit","publisher":"The Associated Press"},{"url":"https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/2017-01-06-assessments-rus-activities-intentions-in-recent-us-elections.pdf","title":"Intelligence Community Assessment: Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent U.S. Elections","publisher":"Office of the Director of National Intelligence"}],"draft":false,"status":"published","tags":["Helsinki","Putin","Russia","intelligence","first-term","foreign-policy","election-interference"],"relatedEntries":[],"timeline":[{"date":"2018-07-16","title":"Helsinki summit and press conference","summary":"Trump and Putin meet privately for approximately two hours. At the public press conference, Trump declines to endorse the U.S. intelligence community's conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election, stating he trusts Putin's denial. Bipartisan condemnation follows immediately."},{"date":"2018-07-17","title":"Trump claims he misspoke","summary":"Trump returns to the White House and reads a prepared statement claiming he misspoke — that he meant to say 'wouldn't' instead of 'would' when discussing Russian interference. He immediately adds 'could be other people also' — suggesting the reclarification was not the full picture of his position."},{"date":"2018-07-18","title":"Trump backtracks on the backtrack","summary":"In an interview, Trump introduces a new qualifier, raising doubts about whether his 'wouldn't' correction represented his actual view. Congress introduces legislation to prevent the administration from implementing any agreements made in the private Helsinki meeting."}],"location":{"name":"Helsinki, Finland","lat":60.1699,"lng":24.9384},"custom":{"era":"first-term","posture":"reported","warCrimeClassification":"enabling","internationalLaw":[],"iccRelevance":false,"victims":"U.S. intelligence community credibility; allies who rely on U.S. intelligence; democratic institutions undermined by presidential acceptance of foreign interference","structuredPerpetrators":[{"name":"Donald Trump","role":"President; publicly sided with Putin's denial over unanimous U.S. intelligence community conclusion","institution":"White House"}],"updateLog":[{"date":"2018-07-17","summary":"Updated with misstatement claim."}]}}