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.
White House finally adds in the missing text from the Putin-Trump presser where Putin admits he wanted Trump to win, WH says the mistake wasn't "malicious" https://t.co/uOkCRkmVAJ pic.twitter.com/6jSiwA3hYK
— Nicole Lafond (@Nicole_Lafond) July 26, 2018
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.
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.
curious as to why Putin’s admission that he directed his team to assist tRUmp is not a glaring headline:
"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.” Putin responded.
It was deliberate. And meant to deceive.
But I thought Putin didn’t want Trump to win because Trump would be so darn tootin’ tough on Russia?!?
WH: “The omission wasn’t ‘malicious’ … although we were hoping it would go unnoticed.”