Donald Trump has sensationally admitted that Russia did interfere in the 2016 presidential election.

Speaking to a pool of journalists at the White House Tuesday, Trump made the stunning about-face after Monday’s disastrous summit with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, but insisted the meddling had not affected the election result.

Trump said: ‘I felt very strongly that while Russia’s actions had no impact at all on the outcomes of the elections let me be totally clear in saying, and I have said this many times, I accept our intelligence communities conclusion that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election took place.

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‘There was no collusion, at all, and they have seen that, and seen it strongly.’




Trump claimed ‘confusion’ over his agreement with Vladimir Putin’s denial of any meddling happened because he accidentally used the word ‘would’ instead of ‘wouldn’t.’

The original statement made in Helsinki was ‘I have president Putin, he just said it’s not Russia. I will say this. I don’t see any reason why it would be.

‘So I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.’

Trump added Tuesday: ‘I came back, and thought, what’s the big deal, I got a transcript, reviewed a clip of an answer that I gave and I realized there is a need for some clarification.

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‘It should have been obvious, I thought it would have been obvious, but I would like to clarify just in case it wasn’t.

‘In a key sentence in my remarks I said the word “would” instead of “wouldn’t.”

‘The sentence should have been “I dont see any reason why it wouldn’t be Russia.”

Trump pictured delivering his emergency statement Tuesday (Picture: Getty)

‘Sort of a double negative. So you can put that in, and I think that probably clarifies things by itself.’

And Trump then revealed a new vowed to crack down on any inteference in the upcoming midterm elections.

He said: ‘Russians attempted to interfere in our elections my administration will move aggresively to repel any efforts to interfere in our elections.

‘We are doing everything in our power to prevent Russian interference in our 2018 (midterms), and we have a lot of power.’

The stunning about-face cames after Trump spent much of the last 18 months branding special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian meddling as a ‘witch hunt’.

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Trump, who spent two hours in private with Putin, was urged to take action by allies after Monday’s disastrous summit with Putin in Helsinki, Finland.

He sparked fury among Republians and Democrats – and normally sympathetic broadcasters such as Fox News – after telling a room of journalists he accepted Putin’s denials of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

That came despite evidence from US intelligence agencies to the contrary, sparking claims Trump had been disloyal to the United States and its security services.

Trump also claimed that the US and Russia were equally to blame for the badly deteriorated relationship between the two countries.

Trump’s disastrous press conference with Vladimir Putin forced him to issue an emergency statement Tuesday (Picture: AP)

Republican Senator John McCain issued a lengthy statement condemning Trump after, saying: ‘Today’s press conference in Helsinki was one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory.



‘The damage inflicted by President Trump’s naivete, egotism, false equivalence and sympathy for autocrats is difficult to calculate.’

House Speaker Paul Ryan, a fellow Republican, also warned Trump that Putin is ‘not our ally.’

He insisted that Russia had meddled in the election, although said they did not influence the overall result.

Trump went ahead with Monday’s press conference in the face of calls to cancel it after 12 Russians were indicted for electoral meddling on Friday.

Special counsel Robert Mueller alleges the 12 men hacked into Democrat party computers and leaked damaging information.