During the press conference after their one-on-one meeting, Russian President Vladimir Putin was asked if he had any “compromising material” on President Donald Trump, alluding to the infamous pee tape—and Putin did not outrightly deny it.
After a pause and some nervous laughter in the room, Putin begged off the question, saying that he didn’t know Trump or that he was in Moscow then.
“Yeah, I did hear these rumors that this allegedly collected compromising material on Mr. Trump when he was visiting Moscow,” Putin said through a translator.
“Distinguished colleague, let me tell you this, when President Trump was in Moscow back then, I didn’t even know that he was in Moscow. I treat President Trump with utmost respect, but back then when he was a private individual, a businessman, nobody informed me that he was in Moscow,” he continued.
“Please disregard these issues and don’t think about this anymore again,” he finished.
Trump then piped up, saying that the tape would have been released by now if anyone had it.
The tapes were mentioned in the Steele dossier, alleging that Trump performed sex acts including urine with prostitutes in Moscow in 2013. Some have hypothesized that if Putin has recordings of the event, he may be using them to blackmail Trump.
Watch below:
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) July 16, 2018
