President Trump reportedly complained that a reporter’s question about Russian meddling during the Helsinki press conference was too hard and asked why a more favorable reporter wasn’t selected.
Trump asked his team why Jonathan Lemire of the Associated Press was given the chance to ask him a question during the joint press conference in Helsinki with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to sources who spoke to the Washington Post.
“With the whole world watching, tell President Putin that you denounce what happened in 2016, and would you warn him to never do it again?” Lemire asked the president Monday, which he refused to comply with.
By refusing to comply with denouncing the Russian collusion, which contradicts the FBI’s findings, the president garnered bipartisan backlash over the past week. On Tuesday, Trump tried to walk back those comments and assured the intelligence community that he trusts their findings.
When he asked aides why they chose Lemire, they told him that other reporters would have asked a similar question.
[Also read: Trump calls media ‘hypocrites’ for saying he was ‘too nice’ to Putin]
