Story highlights The US ambassador to the United Nations said Trump confronted Putin in closed-door meeting

"I think President Putin did exactly what we thought he would do, which is deny it," Haley said

Washington (CNN) US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley says Russian President Vladimir Putin denied Moscow interfered in last year's US election in order to "save face."

"This is Russia trying to save face, and they can't, they can't," Haley told CNN's Dana Bash in an interview for "State of the Union" that will air in full on Sunday. "Everybody knows that Russia meddled in our elections. Everybody knows that they're not just meddling in the United States' election. They're doing this across multiple continents, and they're doing this in a way that they're trying to cause chaos within the countries. "

When asked about what happened behind closed doors during Trump and Putin's highly anticipated face-to-face meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, on Friday, Haley said Trump wanted to look Putin "in the eye."

"What he did was bring up right away the election meddling, and he did that for a reason," Haley said. "One, he wanted him (Putin) to basically look him in the eye, let him know that, 'Yes, we know you meddled in our elections. Yes we know you did it. Cut it out.' And I think President Putin did exactly what we thought he would do, which is deny it."

Asked why, if everyone knows Russia interfered in the US election, Trump hasn't said so in such an unequivocal way publicly, Haley reiterated that Trump's meeting was confrontational.

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