In Mop-Up Mode, Trump Says He Accepts That Russia Meddled

Blistered by bipartisan condemnation of his embrace of a longtime USA enemy, President Donald Trump backed away from his public undermining of American intelligence agencies, saying he simply misspoke when he said he saw no reason to believe Russian Federation had interfered in the 2016 US election.

As Trump was declaring his "full faith and support" for U.S. intelligence agencies, the lights in the Cabinet Room went dark.

After insisting that he accepts "our intelligence community's conclusion that Russia's meddling in the 2016 election took place", Trump added: "Could be other people also. There was no collusion at all".

US intelligence agencies concluded past year that the Russian government interfered in the 2016 election campaign and sought to tilt the vote in Trump's favor, something Moscow has long denied.

Trump took to Twitter to call his summit with Putin in Helsinki "even better" than his meeting with North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies in Brussels last week.

During the press conference, Putin denied Russia had meddled in the USA election, but admitted: "I wanted him to win because he talked about normalising Russian-American relations".

Back at the White House on Tuesday, the president told reporters that he said he meant he doesn't see why Russian Federation "wouldn't" be responsible.

He added that he had "full faith and support" for the United States intelligence agencies and "accepts" their conclusion that there was Russian interference but he added: "It could be other people also".

The speaker went on to say Russian Federation has meddled in other country's elections.

President Trump returned home from Helsinki Monday night to widespread outrage, with even staunch allies such as former House speaker Newt Gingrich - a Republican - publicly calling the news conference the "most serious mistake" of the Trump presidency.

The political firestorm over his performance at the Helsinki news conference has engulfed the administration and spread to his fellow Republicans, eclipsing most of the frequent controversies that have erupted during Trump's turbulent 18 months in office.

However, the Kentucky senator has emerged as one of the president's loudest advocates in the Senate following the intense aftermath of this week's Putin meeting. "Vladimir Putin does not share our values", said Ryan.

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And now Arnold Schwarzenegger, who replaced Trump as the host of The Apprentice, has slammed the president on Instagram.

But when asked specifically whether he also condemned Trump's defence of the former Russian intelligence officer, Trudeau only targeted Russia.

The White House announced later in the day that President Trump would defend his Helsinki summit directly to cameras in an effort to blunt criticism.

House Democrats say they will try to force a vote affirming the intelligence community's assessment that Russian Federation interfered in the 2016 USA elections, and endorsing Ryan's statement rebuking President Trump.

The president's comments were unlikely to satisfy his critics in both parties.

Ahead of the meeting, staffers provided Trump with some 100 pages of briefing materials aimed at laying out a tough posture towards Putin, but the President ignored most of it, according to one person familiar with the discussions, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. But that didn't work, and the criticism continued with House speaker Paul Ryan - who is second in line to the presidency after the vice-president - and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell joining in.

The president has also taken notice of Paul's support, thanking the Republican senator on Twitter Tuesday.

The summit capped a tumultuous trip during which Trump accused North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies of failing to spend enough on their militaries and embarrassed May by saying she had refused to take his advice about how to negotiate Britain's exit from the EU.

Immediately after Monday's news conference, Trump's mood was buoyant, people familiar with the matter said.

Some lawmakers said they would seek remedies against Russian Federation in Congress.

Trump said he was hoping that Tehran "will call us and we'll maybe make a new deal".