DiscussMormonism.com

DANANG, Vietnam — President Trump said on Saturday that he believed President Vladimir V. Putin was sincere in his denials of interference in the 2016 presidential elections, calling questions about Moscow’s meddling a politically motivated “hit job” that was hindering cooperation with Russia on life-or-death issues.

Speaking after meeting privately with Mr. Putin on the sideline of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting in Danang, Vietnam, Mr. Trump said that he had again asked whether Russia had meddled in the contest, but that the continued focus on the issue was insulting to Mr. Putin.

Mr. Trump said it was time to move past the issue so that the United States and Russia could cooperate on confronting the nuclear threat from North Korea, solving the Syrian civil war and working together on Ukraine.

“He said he didn’t meddle — I asked him again,” Mr. Trump told reporters traveling with him aboard Air Force One as he flew to Hanoi for more meetings. “You can only ask so many times. I just asked him again. He said he absolutely did not meddle in our election. He did not do what they are saying he did.”

Mr. Trump did not answer a direct question about whether he believed Mr. Putin’s denials, but his account of the conversation indicated he was far more inclined to accept the Russian president’s assertions than those of his own intelligence agencies, which have concluded that Mr. Putin directed an elaborate effort to interfere in the vote.

“Every time he sees me he says, ‘I didn’t do that,’ and I really believe that when he tells me that, he means it,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Putin. “I think he is very insulted by it, which is not a good thing for our country.”

The CCC wrote:Drumpf is either insane and/or a Russian agent. We know he is insane, now we just have to figure out if he is a Russian agent as well.

Let this sink in
The President of the United States of America told the world on foreign soil that he accepts Putin's word over the intelligence agencies in America.
If that is not treason, what exactly is treason?

LOCK HIM THE ____ UP!

Q Did Russia's attempts to meddle in U.S. elections come up in the conversation?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: He said he didn't meddle. He said he didn't meddle. I asked him again. You can only ask so many times. But I just asked him again, and he said he absolutely did not meddle in our election. He did not do what they're saying he did. And he said --

Q Do you believe him?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, look, I can't stand there and argue with him. I'd rather have him get out of Syria, to be honest with you. I'd rather have him -- you know, work with him on the Ukraine than standing and arguing about whether or not -- because that whole thing was set up by the Democrats.

I mean, they ought to look at Podesta. They ought to look at all of the things that they've done with the phony dossier. Those are the big events. Those are the big events.

But Putin said he did not do what they said he did. And, you know, there are those that say, if he did do it, he wouldn't have gotten caught, all right? Which is a very interesting statement. But we have a -- you know, we have a good feeling toward getting things done.

Q: Even if he (inaudible) one-on-one, do you believe him?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I think that he is very, very strong in the fact that he didn't do it. And then you look, and you look at what's going on with Podesta, and you look at what's going on with the server from the DNC and why didn't the FBI take it, why did they leave it; why did a third party look at the server and not the FBI -- if you look at all of this stuff, and you say, what's going on here?

And then you hear it's 17 agencies. Well, it's three. And one is Brennan and one is whatever. I mean, give me a break. They're political hacks.

So you look at it -- I mean, you have Brennan, you have Clapper, and you have Comey. Comey is proven now to be a liar and he's proven to be a leaker.

EAllusion wrote:On a more obliquely related note:

We now have leaked evidence that the Trump campaign was, in fact, corresponding with Wikileaks despite the claims otherwise:

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/ar ... ks/545738/

That piece uncovered even more troubling material. Interestingly, Julian Assange was pushing the Trump campaign to refuse to concede and declare the election rigged.