The White House week when ‘no’ meant ‘yes’

This was the week when "would" turned into "wouldn't" and "no" meant "yes," as President Donald Trump and his top aides tried to walk back several of his comments on Russia and the Federal Reserve. At one point, the rhetorical zigzags left one senator lamenting a "walk-back of the walk-back" that was, she said, "dizzying."

Trump planning to invite Putin to Washington this fall: White House

President Donald Trump has instructed National Security Adviser John Bolton to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to Washington this fall and "discussions are already underway," according to a tweet from White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. The invitation comes just days after the president met the Russian leader in Helsinki and drew sharp bipartisan criticism for refusing to publicly confront Putin about Russian interference in the 2016 election during their press conference - and for casting doubt on the conclusion of the U.S. intelligence community that Putin had ordered it.

Memoir by ambassador Putin wants to question now a bestseller

In this May 15, 2013 file photo, U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul leaves the Foreign Ministry in Moscow, Russia. A memoir by the former U.S. ambassador, whom Russian officials have said they want to interview, is in the top 10 on Amazon.com.

White House says President Trump disagrees with Putin’s request to interrogate Americans

WASHINGTON The White House said Thursday that President Donald Trump disagrees with Russian President Vladimir Putin's request to interrogate American citizens in exchange for helping American investigators look into Russian interference in the 2016 election. "It is a proposal that was made in sincerity by President Putin, but President Trump disagrees with it," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement Thursday.

White House: Trump reverses course and now ‘disagrees’ with …

President Trump initially praised idea floated by Russian leader Vladimir Putin to allow special counsel Robert Mueller's team to interview Russians indicted over election meddling, in exchange for Kremlin questioning of Americans. The White House on Thursday walked back President Trump's exuberant endorsement of a bizarre proposal made by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Latest: GOP senator says Trump is ‘misjudging’ Putin

Russian Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Russian ambassadors to foreign countries in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, July 19, 2018. Putin says his first summit with U.S. President Donald Trump was "successful" and is accusing Trump's opponents in the U.S. of hampering any progress on the issues they discussed.

From the start, a muddied message on Russia

Two weeks before his inauguration, Donald Trump was shown highly classified intelligence indicating that President Vladimir Putin of Russia had personally ordered complex cyberattacks to sway the 2016 election. The evidence included texts and emails from Russian military officers and information gleaned from a top-secret source close to Putin, who had described to the CIA how the Kremlin decided to execute its campaign of hacking and disinformation.

Confusion lingers on Trump, Russia

For the third straight day, President Trump cast doubt on whether he views Russia as a threat, despite warnings from his own government that Moscow continues to target the United States with hostile actions. Trump triggered a new uproar Wednesday morning when he appeared to suggest that Russia is no longer seeking to interfere in US elections.

White House struggles to contain fallout from Trump-Putin summit

Trump, facing a political uproar over his failure to confront Putin during their Helsinki summit on Monday over Russia's 2016 U.S. election meddling, adopted his usual defiant posture, calling his critics deranged. Asked by reporters before a morning Cabinet meeting at the White House whether Russia was still targeting the United States, Trump shook his head and said, "No."

Under fire, Trump says no president as ‘tough’ on Russia

When asked if Moscow, accused by US intelligence agencies of meddling in the 2016 presidential election, was still interfering, Trump said "no." That assertion appeared to be at odds with the assessment of US intelligence chief Dan Coats, who said Monday that Russia was involved in "ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy."

Trump dials back remarks about Russia, says it meddled and he misspoke

Blistered by bipartisan condemnation of his embrace of a longtime U.S. enemy, President Donald Trump sought Tuesday to "clarify" his public undermining of American intelligence agencies, saying he had misspoken when he said he saw no reason to believe Russia had interfered in the 2016 U.S. election. "The sentence should have been, 'I don't see any reason why I wouldn't, or why it wouldn't be Russia.'

President Trump struggles to contain firestorm over Putin summit

President Donald Trump struggled Wednesday to contain the furor over his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as he gave conflicting signals about whether he believes there's any ongoing threat to American elections from Moscow. President Trump struggles to contain firestorm over Putin summit President Donald Trump struggled Wednesday to contain the furor over his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as he gave conflicting signals about whether he believes there's any ongoing threat to American elections from Moscow.

Trump backs off siding with Russia over US intelligence amid bipartisan anger

Donald Trump has backed away from his public undermining of American intelligence agencies after he was blistered by bipartisan condemnation in the US. The president said he simply misspoke when he said he saw no reason to believe Russia had interfered in the 2016 election that put him in the White House.

Is Putin blackmailing Trump? UK-Russia diplomat claims preside…

Sir Andrew Wood, 78, believes Trump's cordial approach to diplomacy with Vladimir Putin at their summit in Helsinki may arouse suspicion about his motives and connections to the Kremlin. The diplomat played a role in the US intelligence agency investigation into the "Trump dossier", a sensational report containing salacious claims about the US president compiled by former M16 agent Christopher Steele.

Trump Corrects His Quote, Says Misspoke On Russian Meddling

Blistered by bipartisan condemnation of his embrace of a longtime U.S. enemy, President Donald Trump sought Tuesday to "clarify" his public undermining of American intelligence agencies, saying he had misspoken when he said he saw no reason to believe Russia had interfered in the 2016 U.S. election. "The sentence should have been, 'I don't see any reason why I wouldn't, or why it wouldn't be Russia" instead of "why it would," Trump said, in a rare admission of error by the bombastic U.S. leader.

Trump now says he misspoke on Russia meddling

Blistered by bipartisan condemnation of his embrace of a longtime U.S. enemy, President Donald Trump sought Tuesday to "clarify" his public undermining of American intelligence agencies, saying he had misspoken when he said he saw no reason to believe Russia had interfered in the 2016 U.S. election. "The sentence should have been, 'I don't see any reason why I wouldn't, or why it wouldn't be Russia" instead of "why it would," Trump said, in a rare admission of error by the bombastic U.S. leader.

Trump unfazed by GOP criticism, says Putin meeting was great

Unbowed by the broad condemnation of his extraordinary embrace of a longtime U.S. enemy, President Donald Trump declared Tuesday that his summit in Helsinki with Russian President Vladimir Putin went "even better" than his meeting with NATO allies last week in Brussels. The tweeted defense came a day after Trump openly questioned his own intelligence agencies' findings that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. election to his benefit, and he seemed to accept Putin's insistence that Moscow's hands were clean.