--- title: President Trump Acknowledges Russian Meddling After Helsinki description: President Trump said Wednesday that he holds Russian President Vladimir Putin responsible for meddling in the 2016 presidential election canonical: https://time.com/5342559/donald-trump-putin-russia-interview/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-07-19T01:02:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:53:17.485Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Says He Holds Putin 'Responsible' for Election Meddling og:description: "I let him know we can't have this," Trump said of his meeting with Putin og:url: https://time.com/5342559/donald-trump-putin-russia-interview/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc9f00accf53dd96f/698935adbc6cfcf4fc3e67c1/donald-trump-putin-russia-cbs-interview.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4500 og:image:height: 2531 og:image:alt: President Trump Holds A Cabinet Meeting og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Says He Holds Putin 'Responsible' for Election Meddling twitter:description: "I let him know we can't have this," Trump said of his meeting with Putin twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc9f00accf53dd96f/698935adbc6cfcf4fc3e67c1/donald-trump-putin-russia-cbs-interview.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Says He Holds Putin 'Responsible' for Election Meddling > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: President Trump Said Russia Is Not Targeting the U.S. Anymore, Again Contradicting His Own Advisers [Watch (HLS stream): President Trump Said Russia Is Not Targeting the U.S. Anymore, Again Contradicting His Own Advisers](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/8DqRSkxW.m3u8) (1:03)  _Published 2018-07-18. President Donald Trump is claiming that no American president has been as "tough" on Russia as he has been, amid ongoing criticism of his Helsinki summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin._  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jul 19, 2018 1:02 AM UTC  President Donald Trump looks on during a cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House on July 18, 2018 in Washington, D.C. President Donald Trump looks on during a cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House on July 18, 2018 in Washington, D.C. Olivier Douliery—Pool/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jul 19, 2018 1:02 AM UTC President Trump on Wednesday said he holds Russian President Vladimir Putin responsible for [meddling in the 2016 presidential election](http://time.com/5339830/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-summit-helsinki-meddling/), adopting a tougher stance in [his latest remarks on the topic](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-interview-cbs-jeff-glor-russia-putin-dan-coats-cabinet-meeting-today-2018-07-18/) after encountering bipartisan backlash for declining to criticize Putin during Monday’s joint [press conference](http://time.com/5339848/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-summit-transcript/) in Helsinki. In an [interview with Jeff Glor on CBS Evening News](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-interview-cbs-jeff-glor-russia-putin-dan-coats-cabinet-meeting-today-2018-07-18/), Trump said he agreed with U.S. intelligence officials that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election. “I have said that numerous times before, and I would say that that is true, yeah,” Trump said. The answer differed from the one he gave during the press conference with Putin on Monday, when he said Putin was “extremely strong and powerful in his denial” and said “I don’t see any reason why it would be” Russia. (He [later clarified](http://time.com/5341795/president-trump-russia-putin-summit-criticism/) on Tuesday that he intended to say “wouldn’t.”) Earlier on Wednesday, Trump said “no” when asked if Russia is still targeting the United States, again contradicting U.S. intelligence officials. But White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders [later said Trump](http://time.com/5342153/donald-trump-russia-targeting-question/) was actually saying “no” to further questions. In the CBS News interview on Wednesday afternoon, Trump said he believes Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, who has warned that [Russia poses an ongoing threat](https://www.npr.org/2018/07/18/630164914/transcript-dan-coats-warns-of-continuing-russian-cyberattacks) to cyber security. “Well, I accept. I mean, he’s an expert,” Trump told CBS about Coats’ warning. “This is what he does. He’s been doing a very good job. I have tremendous faith in Dan Coats, and if he says that, I would accept that. I will tell you though, it better not be. It better not be.” When asked if he holds Putin personally responsible for the election interference, Trump said he does, but declined to say whether Putin had lied. “I would, because he’s in charge of the country, just like I consider myself to be responsible for things that happen in this country,” Trump said. “So certainly, as the leader of a country, you would have to hold him responsible, yes.” > [](https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1019712694356672512) Trump also said he addressed the meddling with Putin in their one-on-one meeting, saying he was “very strong on the fact that we can’t have meddling.” “I let him know we can’t have this, we’re not going to have it, and that’s the way it’s going to be,” Trump said. But even while walking back many of the answers he gave Monday, Trump still defended his performance at the Helsinki press conference. “I think I did great at the news conference,” he said, later adding: “I don’t know what the fuss is all about. I think we did extremely well.” ## Transcript Thank you all, very much, appreciate it. Thank you. [ CROSSTALK ] Is Russia [ CROSSTALK ] the US? Is Russia still targeting the US, Mister President? Thank you, very much, no. No, you don't believe that to be the case? Let's go, we're finished here. Senator [ UNKNOWN ] said he was walking [ CROSSTALK ] Press, let's go. Thank you very much, everyone. Make your way out. Can you just clear a [ CROSSTALK ] We're doing very well, I wanna tell, we're doing very well, and we're doing, Well, probably as well as anybody has ever done with Russia. There's been no president ever as tough as I have been on Russia. All you have to do is look at the numbers. Look at what we've done. Look at sanctions. Look at ambassadors not there. Look, unfortunately, at what happened in Syria recently. And I think President Putin knows that better than anybody, certainly a lot better than the media. He understands it and he's not happy about it, and he shouldn't be happy about it because there's never been a president as tough on Russia as I have been. Okay, thank you very much everybody. 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