Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin both denied Russian interference in the 2016 election when asked at a press conference in Helsinki.

Trump was asked point-blank about whether he believed the U.S. intelligence community’s findings of Russian meddling, to which he replied, "I don’t see any reason why it would be." Trump continued to praise Putin and repeated the Russian leader's denial of election meddling.

Putin, according to the U.S. president, was "extremely strong and powerful in his denial."

During his opening speech, Putin denied the charges, saying "the Russian state has never interfered ... in internal American affairs."

In addition to denying collusion with Moscow on multiple occasions, Trump criticized the ongoing Justice Department probe into his campaign, saying it was harming the relationship between the two largest nuclear powers.