Trump, facing fury, says he misspoke with Putin

In one of the only times of his presidency he's admitted to a mistake, Trump said that when he returned on Monday from the summit with Putin in Helsinki, Finland, he "realised there is some need for clarification" about his remarks on Russian interference in the 2016 US election.

"In a key sentence in my remarks I said the word 'would' instead of 'wouldn't,' " the President said Tuesday. He explained he had reviewed a transcript and video of his remarks.

"The sentence should have been: 'I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be Russia,' " he said. "Sort of a double negative."
During Monday's news conference, Trump said, "I don't see any reason why it would be" Russia that interfered in the election.

The admission came in the White House Cabinet Room, where Trump was sitting with lawmakers for an otherwise unrelated meeting. Reading prepared remarks to reporters, the President repeated that there had been no collusion between his campaign and Russia and that the country's efforts had no impact on the final election results.

And he voiced support for US intelligence agencies – a day after he had refused to accept their findings on Russia's election interference over Putin's denials – and vowed to take action to prevent further attacks.

"I accept our intelligence community's conclusion that Russia's meddling in the 2016 election took place," Trump said. But diverting from his typewritten notes, the President added: "It could be other people also. A lot of people out there."

It was an attempt at clarification that came after uproarious anger at Trump's performance in Helsinki. Even many members of the President's own party rebuked his statements from nearly the moment he departed the Finnish capital. Yet it took more than a day for him or the White House to offer any official walk-back.

It was the President himself who determined in a meeting that he wanted to say he had misspoken, according to officials familiar with the matter, who said Trump led the crafting of the clarification that unfolded Tuesday afternoon.

Trump still believes the criticism is being blown out of proportion, one official said, and he plans to try to turn the attacks onto the press once again.

"He is consumed with talk of no collusion," another official said, saying Trump had repeated it all day and "thinks it's the answer to everything."

The conservative editorial page of The Wall Street Journal declared the news conference "a personal and national embarrassment" for the President, asserting he'd "projected weakness."

Members of Congress, including several powerful Republicans, distanced themselves from Trump's remarks and aligned themselves with US intelligence estimates that Russia had interfered in the election.