Trump Statement: Oh, Oops, I Never Meant To Say That Thing I Said

By Susie Madrak — July 17, 2018

At his closed White House press conference, Trump said he meant to say that he saw no reason why it wouldn’t be Russia that interfered in the 2016 presidential election. And "it could be other people, also."

As Katie Tur just pointed out, he repeated his "error" to Sean Hannity last night.

Oh, oops! Do-over!

The Cheato said he has "the strongest respect" and full confidence in the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment that the Russians did, in fact, meddle in the 2016 election. Even though it was much more than one word that conveyed his subservience to Putin.

So, bygones. No treason, no collusion!

TRUMP: "The full faith and support for America's great intelligence agencies. I have a full faith in our intelligence agencies. Whoops, they just turned off the lights. That must be the intelligence agencies."

— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) July 17, 2018

That's not a joke. He really said that.

Trump on summit: “i entered the negotiations w/Putin from a position of tremendous strength”

— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) July 17, 2018

"In a key sentence in my remarks I said the word 'would' instead of 'wouldn't.' The sentence should have been, 'I don't see any reason why I wouldn't or why it wouldn't be Russia,'" President Trump says https://t.co/ZU0DDFnp0P pic.twitter.com/8FfCRAsCXQ

— CBS News (@CBSNews) July 17, 2018

On disastrous Helsinki performance, Trump clarifies comments, vows to secure elections, blames democrats, suggests critics are colluding with media (hopes GOP calms down)

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) July 17, 2018

"I guess he gets points for being creative there," @DanaBashCNN says of Trump's explanation.

— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) July 17, 2018

Trump told a whole story about how confused he supposedly was about why everyone was upset about the Helsinki presser. Claimed he asked for a transcript and read the transcript so he could understand why folks were upset. Then talked about how he noticed he didn't say "not". 🤔

— Leah McElrath (@leahmcelrath) July 17, 2018

Apparently Trump thinks his meeting with Putin included a top-secret "takesies-backsies" clause.

Nope. This is international diplomacy, not a reality TV show.

And you're done, Donnie.https://t.co/0LiXw9WFsx

— John Schindler (@20committee) July 17, 2018

@POTUS Trump on air doing damage control by trying to completely retell the last week as if we didn’t see what happened with NATO, UK and Putin yesterday

— Clint Watts (@selectedwisdom) July 17, 2018

Trump: When Obama was in office they knew about Russian interference but didn't think it was a big deal, "but then when I won they thought it was a big deal and went into action, but it was a little bit too late."

Is... that an acknowledgement that Russian efforts helped him?

— Susan Simpson (@TheViewFromLL2) July 17, 2018

I mean, just think about how badly you'd have to want to believe this to actually believe it. https://t.co/G6nJDv03rQ

— McKay Coppins (@mckaycoppins) July 17, 2018

BREAKING REPORT: Multiple sources are now saying USIC leaders are withholding information from Trump for fear of “compromising sources and methods.”

— TAP ALERTS (@TAPAlerts) July 17, 2018

Got my hair cut today. Some barber takes:

— “The Russians must have something on him, right?”

— “The country can’t survive another term of this idiot running things”

— “It’s like the civil war except Americans are too lazy to actually kill each other”

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) July 17, 2018