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Donald Trump on Wednesday hailed his "steadfastness" against Vladimir Putin in an attempt to quell the heated controversy stemming from his highly conciliatory statements to the Russian president on Monday in Helsinki and his convoluted denials since. [19659002"NopresidenthasbeenastoughasmeonRussiaIthinkPresidentPutinknowsitbetterthananyoneelsesurelybetterthanthemedia"hesaidfromtheWhiteHouse"Lookatthenumberslookwhatwedidlookatthesanctions"
Asked shortly after whether Russia, accused of interference in the US elections, was still targeting the United States, he answered with a simple "no".
Faced with this umpteenth controversy around the words of the president, Sarah Sanders, his spokesman, badured that it had been misinterpreted and that this "no" only wanted to indicate that he would not answer the questions. "We believe that the threat still exists," she said.
And Mr. Trump said, in an interview broadcast Wednesday on CBS, have told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that the interference of Russia in the US elections was intolerable: "I let him know that we could not tolerate that."
On Monday, US intelligence director Dan Coats had put forward "clear" badessments of his services on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and spoke of Moscow's "ongoing efforts" to "undermine" American democracy
The US president's surprising press conference with his Russian counterpart in the Finnish capital sparked an uproar in his own camp political, number of elected representatives expressing without restraint their consternation.
In the face of the scandal, Mr. Trump had attempted on Tuesday to limit the damage, baduring – without really convincing– that his language had forked when he seemed to be siding with the strong man of the Kremlin
Paradox for an American president: he was forced to say explicitly that he accepted the conclusions … of the American intelligence services that Russia Interfered in the 2016 election.
FBI director Christopher Wray reiterated his claims Wednesday from a forum in Aspen, Colorado.
– A recording? –
The two-hour tête-à-tête between the two leaders, in the absence of their advisers, is now the subject of intense speculation. Some elected officials even suggested that Mr. Trump's interpreter be questioned by Congress.
Is there a recording of their conversation? "Not to my knowledge," said Sarah Sanders.
"So many top intelligence people have loved my performance at a press conference in Helsinki," Trump tweeted Wednesday morning, reinforcing the feeling that his move – partial face of the previous day had been imposed by his advisers.
"We got along very well, which really disturbed many people filled with hatred who wanted to see a boxing match," he said. added, promising "great results to come."
"Some DETEST the fact that I got along well with Russian President Putin," he still tweeted on Wednesday. "They would rather go to war than see that."
With the exception of Senator Rand Paul, few Republicans have openly defended the President's performance at the Helsinki Summit, the first bilateral meeting between the 45th US President and his Russian counterpart.
In the days leading up to his Finnish leg in Brussels or London, Mr. Trump was generally of the opinion that the transatlantic ties had been stretched, with his charges against Germany, the European Union or the United Kingdom
His tour sparked an avalanche of negative comments from multiple politicians and geopolitical experts, ranging from "surreal" to "traitor" to "embarrbading", "indefensible", "unthinking". 19659002] In an interview with Fox News, Trump also cracked down on relations with NATO allies, already tested at an extremely tense summit in Brussels.
The presid The United States seemed to question the principle of mutual defense, a cornerstone of the Alliance.
"If, for example, Montenegro is attacked, why should my son go to Montenegro to defend them?" asked him the journalist
"I understand what you're saying, I asked the same question," said Mr. Trump. "Montenegro is a very small country with very strong people (…) very aggressive," he continued.
Article 5 of the NATO treaty states that any attack against one of the countries is considered as an attack against all.
"By attacking Montenegro and questioning our obligations in NATO, the president is doing exactly the game of Putin," lamented Republican Senator John McCain
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