Thursday July 6, 2017
US President Donald Trump gives a speech in front of the Warsaw Uprising Monument on Krasinski Square during the Three Seas Initiative Summit in Warsaw, Poland, July 6, 2017. AFP PHOTO | JANEK SKARZYNSKI
US President Donald Trump on Thursday conceded that Russia may have interfered in the 2016 election that brought him to power but said other countries may also have been involved.
"I've said it very simply. I think it could very well have been Russia. I think it could well have been other countries. I won't be specific. But I think a lot of people interfere," Trump said during a visit to Warsaw.
"Nobody really knows. Nobody really knows for sure," he said, challenging US intelligence agencies which suspect Russian President Vladimir Putin orchestrated a sweeping campaign to tilt the November vote in Trump's favour.
"I remember when I was sitting back listening about Iraq. Weapons of mass destruction. How everybody was 100 per cent sure that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Guess what — that led to one big mess," Trump said of intelligence claims that prompted the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
He also lashed out at his predecessor Barack Obama over the vote meddling allegations, saying: "My big question is why did Obama do nothing about it from August until November? It wasn't because he choked."
Trump's comments came on the eve of a G20 summit in Germany where he is due to meet Putin.