In brief remarks during a visit with the Slovakian prime minister, reporters asked Trump about the call. Had he discussed Russian meddling with Putin?

Trump: He sort of smiled when he said something to the effect that it started off as a mountain and it ended up being a mouse. But he knew that, because you knew there was no collusion whatsoever. So that is pretty much what it was— Reporter: Did you tell him not to meddle in the next election? Trump: Excuse me. I’m talking. I’m answering this question. You are very rude. So we had a good conversation about many different things. Okay. Reporter: Did you tell him not to meddle in the next election? Trump: We didn’t discuss that. Really, we didn’t discuss it. We discussed five or six things.

It’s not hard to believe that he didn’t discuss it, since the president has repeatedly shown great hesitation in discussing the hacking—or “the Russian hoax,” as he called it Friday.

The problem is not that Trump is willing to speak to Putin. It’s important and useful for the United States to maintain diplomatic channels even with adversaries, and working with Russia can serve U.S. purposes in Syria, Venezuela, and elsewhere. “Getting along with Russia and China is a good thing; it is not a bad thing. And getting along with countries … it is a good thing, and we want to have good relationships with every country,” Trump said.

All well and good. The problem is that Trump is unwilling to simultaneously hold Russia to account for its brazen interference in the election. No one in government other than Trump denies the Russian attack. During Attorney General William Barr’s testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee this week, he, Democrats, and Republicans all agreed on the attacks and the serious threat to American elections—a consensus that was all the more impressive since there was practically nothing else on which all three parties agreed.

One reason Trump can’t bring up the hacks is that he is a terrible negotiator. Because he is bad at one-on-one discussions and eager for Putin’s approval, he is unable to discuss other issues with Putin while also holding a firm line on election interference.

Another is that he has fiercely resisted any suggestion that his electoral victory was the fruit of anything other than his own genius. Whenever the subject of Russia’s interference—its social-media campaigns, its hacking and dissemination of private emails—has surfaced, Trump has responded angrily, as if acknowledging what Russia did would call into question the legitimacy of his victory. (And not without reason; many Democrats believe that it does.)

Read: Trump almost always folds

The other big reason for Trump’s silence is that he remains incapable of separating himself from Putin for the purposes of the investigation. Trump insists that the Mueller report found “No Collusion—No Obstruction”—in fact, it made neither of those conclusions—but cannot make the distinction that even as the special counsel’s probe did not charge him with any crimes or find a criminal conspiracy by his campaign, it unequivocally did conclude that there was Russian interference. It is as though Trump believes that because he was (supposedly) vindicated, everyone else was also vindicated.