Beside Putin in Helsinki, Trump rejected the logic of his own intelligence agencies

Date: 2018-07-16
Entry type: authoritarian-alignment
Current status: The exchange remains documented in the official White House transcript.
Last reviewed: 2026-09-03

Entities and roles

Vladimir PutinRussian president whose denial Trump cited
2018 Helsinki Trump-Putin press conferenceevent where the statement was made
Donald J. Trumppresident speaking at the joint press conference

Claims and evidence

factdocumented
Asked in Helsinki about Russian election interference, Trump cited Putin's denial and said he did not see why Russia would have interfered, while acknowledging that United States intelligence officials believed it had.
- The White House: Remarks by President Trump and President Putin in Joint Press ConferenceQuestion from Jonathan Lemire and Trump's response