President Donald Trump is walking back his comments on Russian meddling.
"My people came to me — Dan Coats came to me and some others. They said they think it's Russia. I have President Putin; he just said it's not Russia. I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be ... So 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," Trump said Monday in Helsinki.
"I have full faith and support for America's great intelligence agencies, always have. ... I accept our intelligence community's conclusion that Russia's meddling in the 2016 election took place," Trump said Tuesday at the White House.
Trump was heavily criticized for being overly complimentary of Russia and President Vladimir Putin during their summit in Helsinki. Several lawmakers, including multiple from Trump's own party, spoke out after the summit and emphasized that Russia is not America's ally.
Trump's clarification statement Tuesday said he misspoke in his press conference with Putin.
"It should've been obvious. I thought it would be obvious. But I would like to clarify just in case it wasn't. 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 [it] wouldn't,' or why it wouldn't be Russia," Trump said.
Additional reporting from Newsy affiliate CNN.
