Trump dodges, then dismisses, Russia scrutiny

President Donald Trump dodged and then dismissed lingering questions about his relationship with Russia during his long-winded news conference on Thursday — first describing recent reports on the scrutiny as “fake news,” then saying he has no knowledge of campaign associates contacting the country before the election.

“No, nobody that I know of,” Trump said.


Trump did not, notably, say definitively that his campaign had no contact with Russian officials, but vaguely offered that he had no knowledge that it had.

As reporters gathered in the East Wing on Thursday, Russia was the big topic in the news: The New York Times and CNN, citing anonymous intelligence officials, reported Tuesday that advisers to Trump’s campaign were in regular contact with Russian associates before the election. The reports raised eyebrows because the U.S. has accused the Russian government of attempting to sway the election in Trump’s favor through cyberattacks on Democratic Party officials, and Trump stood out during the campaign for his unusually friendly stance toward the country, which most American lawmakers view as a major adversary.

Reporters repeatedly tried to pin Trump down on Thursday and get him to answer, definitively, whether he denies the reports. He had previously said his campaign had no contact with Russia before the election.

Early on in the more-than-hour-long spectacle, Trump described the concerns about Russia as “fake news” and asserted that a bigger issue is the leaks coming out of the intelligence community and the Justice Department to the news media.

“You can talk all you want about Russia, which was all, you know, fake news, fabricated ... to try and make up for the loss of the Democrats and the press plays right into it,” Trump said.

“In fact, I saw a couple of the people that were supposedly involved with all of this,” he continued, referring to the reports. “They know nothing about it. They weren't in Russia. They never made a phone call to Russia. They never received a phone call. It's all fake news. It's all fake news.”

He blamed the leaks for the unceremonious ouster of his national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who left the administration Monday in the wake of reports that he had improperly discussed sanctions on Russia with the country’s ambassador and then misled Vice President Mike Pence about it. Flynn is one of the officials who was reportedly in contact with Russia before the election.

Next, asked directly whether anyone involved in his campaign was in communication with representatives from the Russian government or its intelligence officials, Trump said the Times report was “very much discredited” (it hasn’t been, although former Trump adviser Paul Manafort has denied the allegations described by intelligence officials in the story, as the president noted).

A bit later, another reporter asked him to “say definitively that nobody on your campaign had any contacts with the Russians during the campaign.” And the reporter inquired whether the Russia reports were “fake news” or whether they were “real leaks,” given that both things cannot be true at the same time.

Trump ignored the Russia question. Instead, he asserted that the “leaks are real, you’re the one that wrote about them and reported them” but that “the news is fake because so much of the news is fake,” then went on a short rant about CNN and Democrats for fighting his Cabinet appointments.

The reporter tried again, prodding Trump to answer the first part of his question. Trump sort of did, saying he has “nothing to do with Russia” and “no deals there, I don’t know anything.” He added that he had nothing to do with the Democratic Party emails published on WikiLeaks, before changing the subject to attack Hillary Clinton.

Then Trump got another question on Russia: Did he direct Flynn to discuss sanctions on Russia with its ambassador? No, Trump said.

Throughout the rest of the news conference, Russia continued to come up, again and again.

At one point, Trump described “the whole Russian thing” as a “ruse,” before defending his posturing toward the country’s president, Vladimir Putin. A bit later, he independently warned of the dangers of a “nuclear holocaust” while addressing the need for a positive relationship with the Kremlin.

“Nuclear holocaust would be like no other,” Trump said, responding to a question about recent provocative actions Russia has taken.

“Not good,” Trump said repeatedly as CBS’s Major Garrett ticked off the recent incidents, which include Russian planes buzzing an American ship and a Russian vessel sailing near the coast of Connecticut where a military facility is located.

“All of those things that you’ve mentioned are very recent because probably Putin assumes that he’s not going to be able to make a deal with me because it’s politically not popular for me to make a deal,” said the president, who added that he doesn’t “think” Putin is testing him.

“I don’t know that we’re going to make a deal,” Trump added. “I want to do the right thing for the American people, and to be honest, secondarily, I want to do the right thing for the world. … Don’t forget, we’re a very powerful nuclear country, and so are they. There’s no upside. We’re a very powerful nuclear country and so are they. I have been briefed. And I can tell you, one thing about a briefing that we’re allowed to say because anybody that ever read the most basic book can say it, nuclear holocaust would be like no other. They’re a very powerful nuclear country, and so are we.”

Trump reiterated, as he has said before, that it would be best if the United States and Russia got along.

“Maybe I’m not going to be able to do a deal with Russia, but at least I tried,” Trump said.

That tangent did not satisfy reporters who wanted a clear response to the New York Times report.

A few minutes later, one tried again: “I was just hoping that we could get a yes or no answer on one of these questions involving Russia,” she said. “Can you say whether you are aware that anyone who advised your campaign had contacts with Russia during the course of the election?”

Trump at first started talking about Flynn’s contact with Russia before the inauguration, and the reporter prompted, “During the election?”

This time, the press got an answer.

“No, nobody that I know of,” Trump said.