A day before Trump meets Vladimir Putin, US president appears to break with intelligence analysis that Russia was solely responsible for meddling

Donald Trump has challenged the US intelligence verdict on foreign interference in last year’s presidential election, saying that while he accepts apparent Russian involvement, it may not have been the only country.

A day before he meets Vladimir Putin in Germany, the US president said in remarks in Poland that he believed other foreign powers had also meddled in the November 2016 election, but did not say which.



“I’ve said it very simply. I think it could very well have been Russia. I think it could well have been other countries. I won’t be specific. But I think a lot of people interfere,” Trump said. “Nobody really knows. Nobody really knows for sure.”

The US and Russian leaders are due to meet in Hamburg on Friday on the sidelines of a potentially fractious G20 summit, in an encounter that will be closely watched. US intelligence officials have concluded that Putin directed a sweeping cyber campaign to tip the November vote in Trump’s favour.

Trump has so far been reluctant to unambiguously accuse Moscow of interfering in the election that propelled him to the White House, presumably because he does not want to see his electoral victory tainted.



He was no less ambiguous on Thursday, saying by turns that Russia could have been involved, was probably involved and was certainly involved, before justifying his doubts by referring to the intelligence claims that led to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

“I remember when I was sitting back listening about Iraq. Weapons of mass destruction,” he said. “How everybody was 100% sure that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Guess what – that led to one big mess.”

Trump also said he believed his predecessor, Barack Obama, allowed Russian interference in the US election to continue. Obama warned Moscow before the election to stop meddling, but reports have since emerged that he decided against retaliating after the CIA warned him Putin was behind it.



“My big question is, why did Obama do nothing about it from August until November?” Trump said. “They say he choked. Well, I don’t think he choked. I think he thought Hillary Clinton was going to win the election, and he said: ‘Let’s not do anything about it.”’