Americans and in general most of the world was left stunned after Donald Trump apparently sided with Vladmir Putin over his own intelligence agencies over the issue of Russian collusion in American elections.
The two rival nations have always had something of a frosty relationship and many saw the extraordinary summit in Finland as a chance for the American President to stand up to Putin and directly accuse him of interfering with American politics.
What they got instead was Trump and Putin standing together to deny any involvement in interference.
This was even after Putin actually stated that he preferred that Trump won the election.
When asked, Putin said; “Yes, I did.”
“Yes, I did. Because he talked about bringing the US-Russia relationship (back) to normal.’’
When the apex citizen of America was asked if he believed that Russia was responsible for hacking the computers of his rivals the Democrats, he said:
“I have President Putin — he just said it’s not Russia,’’ Mr Trump said.
“I will say this — I don’t see any reason why it would be.’’
“I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today,’’ he said.
This brought about a strong reaction from many in the United States who saw this as an act of cowardice by the President and they condemned the press conference.
Hollywood actor Chris Evans took to his Twitter to say: “I don’t even know what to say. Today was a disgrace. @realDonaldTrump embarrassed America and should be ashamed of himself. Shame on anyone who chooses to ignore Russia’s interference in our democracy for the sake of Trump’s political well-being. I’m at a complete loss.”
Former CIA Director, John Brennan said: “Donald Trump’s press conference performance in Helsinki rises to & exceeds the threshold of “high crimes & misdemeanors.” It was nothing short of treasonous. Not only were Trump’s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin. Republican Patriots: Where are you???”
Brian Karem, a political analyst for CNN said that, “Putin made our president wait an hour before meeting him. then Trump groveled before Vlad on the International stage – blaming Dems and U.S. intel for keeping us and Russia apart. Not Crimea, not poisoning Brits. But americans. Putin admits he wanted Trump to win. Why?”
