President Donald Trump claimed he misspoke about whether he thought Russia meddled in 2016 presidential elections — and Twitter is having a field day with it.
Trump says he misspoke about Russia’s election meddling. Twitter isn’t buying it.
Trump said he didn’t see any reason why it “would” be Russia, but now he’s claiming he meant to say “wouldn’t.”
Madeleine Ngo covers economic policy for Vox. She previously worked at the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Here’s what happened: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump met in Helsinki on Monday, where Putin publicly denied claims that Russia had interfered in the 2016 US presidential election.
Standing next to Putin, Trump said he didn’t have reason to think Russia meddled with the election — contradicting the findings of US intelligence agencies. “I don’t see any reason why it would be [Russia]” that interfered in the 2016 election, Trump said.
However, on Tuesday, after massive backlash from scores of US politicians and general outrage in the media, Trump walked back these comments, claiming he had intended to say “I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be [Russia].”
Many people on Twitter aren’t buying his excuse. Especially because Trump waited an entire day to correct himself.
Even Richard Marx, the singer behind the 1980s soft rock hit, “Right Here Waiting,” weighed in.
Late night hosts also joined in and took jabs at Trump, including Jimmy Kimmel, who has been an outspoken critic of the president.
And though it’s easy to ridicule Trump’s excuse that he simply meant to say “wouldn’t,” the joke, it turns out, may be on the American people.
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