WH Adds Putin Admission That He Wanted Trump To Win To Official Transcript

TOPSHOT - US President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin attend a joint press conference after a meeting at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, on July 16, 2018. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP) ... TOPSHOT - US President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin attend a joint press conference after a meeting at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, on July 16, 2018. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP) (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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The White House has updated its official transcript of the press conference between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin to show that Putin admitted to a reporter that he did want Trump to win the 2016 election.

The key exchange was originally omitted from the original transcript, which the White House chalked up to muffled audio recording error, not a “malicious” attempt to hide Putin’s admission.

During the press conference last week, Jeff Mason from Reuters was chosen to ask Putin and Trump questions. He initially asked Trump about the decline in U.S.-Russia relations and Putin about his country’s interference in the 2016 election. He ended by asking Putin directly “did you want President Trump to win the election?  And did you direct any of your officials to help him do that?”

“Yes, I did.  Yes, I did.  Because he talked about bringing the U.S.-Russia relationship back to normal,” Putin responded.

Reporters first noticed the omission earlier this week and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow even opened her show Tuesday night, suggesting the missing text was glaringly intentional.

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