U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to save face after getting grilled by President Trump over meddling in the 2016 elections.
“This is Russia trying to save face and they can’t. Everybody knows Russia meddled in our elections,” said Haley in an excerpt from an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“Everybody knows that Russia meddled in our elections,” @nikkihaley tells @DanaBashCNN #CNNSOTU https://t.co/bwQw7Zx3uH— CNN (@CNN) July 8, 2017
Putin said at a news conference after the G-20 summit Saturday in Hamburg, Germany, that he believes Trump was satisfied with the Russian leader’s denial of meddling, but told reporters that they would have to check with Trump. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in a separate press conference that Trump accepted the denial.
Haley noted that Trump brought up election meddling right away during the Putin meeting Friday and “he did that for a reason.” That comment echoes that of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who attended that meeting, and said Trump repeatedly pressed Putin on the interference issue.
Haley said that Trump wanted to let Putin now that “yes we know you meddled in our elections … and cut it out.”
She said that other world leaders would have a similar message since Russia has tried to meddle in other elections. “They are trying to cause chaos within the countries,” she added.
Haley’s comments came after Trump said earlier this week that Russia could be behind the election meddling, but also floated the idea that other countries may have also tried to get involved. Multiple U.S. intelligence agencies concluded in a January report that Russia was behind the interference, but didn’t mention any other countries.
