Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said Tuesday he doesn’t believe President Trump’s effort to walk back comments in Helsinki in which he said he didn’t see why Russia would have tried to influence the 2016 U.S. election.
“I just don’t buy the president’s comments today,” tweeted Warner of Virginia, a frequent Trump critic.
Warner’s tweet came after Trump told reporters he “has full faith” in the nation’s intelligence community and backs their determination that Russia interfered in the presidential election. It came a day after Trump, standing next to Vladimir Putin at a press conference, suggested Russia did not meddle.
“If he wanted to take a stand on Russian election interference, he should have had the strength to do it in front of Vladimir Putin,” Warner tweeted.
[Related: Nancy Pelosi: Trump was ‘afraid’ to mention Russian indictments to Putin]
Trump told reporters Tuesday he accepts the intelligence community’s conclusions about Russian meddling but added, “it could be other people also.”
