President Trump late Saturday dismissed a Washington Post report that he tried to conceal conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling it “ridiculous.”
Trump told Fox News host Jeanine Pirro during an interview on “Justice with Judge Jeanine” that he does what “every president does” and had a “great conversation” with Putin.
{mosads}”I’m not keeping anything under wraps, I couldn’t care less. I mean, it’s so ridiculous. These people make it up,” Trump said.
“I have many one-on-one [meetings], nobody ever says anything about it, but with Putin they say, ‘Oh what did they talk about?’ ” he said.
“We talked about very positive things,” he added.
“Anybody could have listened to that meeting, that meeting is open for grabs. The whole Russia thing it’s a hoax, it’s a terrible hoax, everybody knows it,” he added.
Current and former U.S. officials told the Post that Trump on multiple occasions concealed details about encounters with Putin. The newspaper reported that there is a lack of detailed records on five of Trump’s face-to-face meetings with his Russian counterpart.
Trump reportedly took notes on an encounter from his own interpreter on one occasion and directed them not to discuss the meeting with other administration officials.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called the Post report “outrageously inaccurate.”
“The Washington Post story is so outrageously inaccurate it doesn’t even warrant a response,” she said in a statement.
“The liberal media has wasted two years trying to manufacture a fake collusion scandal instead of reporting on the fact that unlike President Obama, who let Russia and other foreign adversaries push America around, President Trump has actually been tough on Russia.”
— This report was updated at 7:42 a.m.
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