Thread: Putin denies having dirt on Trump in heated Fox News interview

Putin denies having dirt on Trump in heated Fox News interview

By Blair Guild CBS News
July 16, 2018, 7:50 PM

Russian President Vladimir Putin denied possessing compromising information about President Trump and insisted Russia had no part in meddling in the 2016 U.S. election during a contentious interview with Fox News' Chris Wallace following a meeting between the two world leaders in Helsinki, Finland.

"We don't have anything on them, and there can't be anything on them," Putin said Monday in his first interview with a U.S. news outlet since June 2017. "I don't want to insult President Trump when I say this -- and I may come as rude -- but before he announced that he will run for presidency, he was of no interest for us. He was a rich person, but, well, there's plenty of rich persons in the United States."

In the 32-minute interview with Fox, Putin said Russia had no interest in Mr. Trump before he launched his bid for the presidency.

"He was in the construction business. He organized the beauty pageants. But no, it would never occur to anyone that he would think of running for president. He never mentioned his political ambitions. It sounds like it's utter nonsense," Putin said.

Mr. Trump and Putin held a joint press conference Monday afternoon after meeting one-on-one in the Finnish capital. Mr. Trump seemed to accept Putin's denial of interference, despite the U.S. intelligence community's conclusion that Russia did in fact meddle in the 2016 election.

Wallace read Putin a portion of the indictment handed down by a federal grand jury last week in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation that accused 12 Russian intelligence officers of breaking into Democratic computer systems and stealing emails and documents.

Putin smiled and laughed. Wallace then offered the document to Putin, but the Russian president signaled for him to place it down on a nearby table.

Putin ultimately said that the indictment, released just three days ahead of the Helsinki summit, was insignificant and he questioned why Mueller would not address the matter with the Russian government directly, pointing out the 1999 treaty about cooperation in criminal investigations

"Why wouldn't special counsel Mueller send us an official request within the framework of this agreement?" Putin questioned. "Our investigators will be acting in accordance with this treaty. They will question each individual that the American partners are suspecting of something. Why not a single request was filed?"

Having denied Russian interference in the election and the possibility that the Russian government may have blackmail on Mr. Trump, Putin said that the U.S. and Russia are "starting to achieve some understanding" between each other.

"I think this is the beginning of the path. This is the start. We did make a good start today," he said.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/vladimi...chris-wallace/

"I think this is the beginning of the path. This is the start. We did make a good start today," he said.

I hope so, it will a wonderful thing if the momentum started in Helsinki can continue on and ramp up into something meaningful and beneficial to both the USA, Russia, and the world.

It should be noted here that this will be achieved by this President, not with the help of the "intel" community, but in spite of it, a sad testimony to the growing irrelevancy of the "intel" community.

Originally Posted by Judy

Putin smiled and laughed. Wallace then offered the document to Putin, but the Russian president signaled for him to place it down on a nearby table.

Putin probably thought it was laced with nerve agent that would kill him a day or so later. When you do it to others, you expect them to do it to you!