Donald Trump says he 'gave up nothing' in Putin summit but offers no specifics on talks

David Jackson | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON -- A week after his meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin stirred bipartisan criticism at home, President Donald Trump on Monday defended his handling of the summit but he offered no details on what was said in the private, two-hour meeting between the two leaders in Helsinki.

"When you hear the Fake News talking negatively about my meeting with President Putin, and all that I gave up, remember, I gave up NOTHING," Trump said wrote on Twitter. "We merely talked about future benefits for both countries. Also, we got along very well, which is a good thing, except for the Corrupt Media!"

Trump has been criticized by both Republican and Democratic lawmakers for his joint news conference with Putin in Helsinki in which he declined to challenge the Russian president on issues such as Moscow's interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the seizure of Crimea from Ukraine.

At the news conference following the private meeting, Trump also appeared to accept Putin's denials of trying to undermine the U.S. election, even though U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia did intervene.

When you hear the Fake News talking negatively about my meeting with President Putin, and all that I gave up, remember, I gave up NOTHING, we merely talked about future benefits for both countries. Also, we got along very well, which is a good thing, except for the Corrupt Media! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 23, 2018

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Trump has defended his meeting with Putin by saying he wants to work with Russia on issues like counter-terrorism, North Korea, Syria, and Ukraine, and he has invited Putin to visit Washington sometime in the fall, another source of anxiety for lawmakers.

Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform, said the evidence proves that Russia "is not our friend and they tried to attack us in 2016," and Trump needs to be more forthright about it.

"The disconnect cannot continue," Gowdy said on Fox News Sunday. "The evidence is overwhelming and the president needs to say that and act like it."

U.S. special counsel Robert Mueller is probing whether Trump or anyone from his campaign coordinated with Russia in its attempt to tilt the 2016 election toward the Republican. Trump has denied any collusion and has repeatedly called the Mueller probe a "hoax" and a "witch hunt."

While defending the Putin meeting, Trump again called for ending the Mueller probe. Over the weekend, Trump zeroed in on release of a foreign intelligence search warrant regarding campaign aide Carter Page, claiming is it is evidence that the Barack Obama administration "spied" on his campaign using information from a politically motivated "dossier" of information about Trump and the Russians.

That "Fake Dirty Dossier" is "responsible for starting the totally conflicted and discredited Mueller Witch Hunt!" Trump said in one tweet on Monday.

Legal analysts noted that intelligence agents had good reason to suspect Page had a relationship with Russia, and that the FBI found much of the dossier to be credible; they noted that four judges, all appointed by Republicans, signed off on the Page warrant and that Mueller recently obtained indictments on a dozen Russian intelligence officials on charges of election sabotage.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said on ABC's This Week that "there’s no ignoring the fact that for whatever reason, this president acts like he’s compromised."

There's no other way "to explain why he would side with this Kremlin former KGB officer rather than his own intelligence agencies," Schiff said.