MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace opened today’s Deadline: White House by saying, “There’s plenty to celebrate today in the Kremlin. Vladimir Putin’s goal of weakening the West by sowing chaos and discord is having a banner week in the UK and in the US.”
She brought up the shutdown––”a political crisis [Trump’s] created for himself and his party over a border wall that is not popular enough among the public to create any pressure”––and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi‘s (D-CA) request that the State of the Union be delayed.
But Wallace also brought up a New York Times report on what Trump did after meeting with Vladimir Putin:
The day after the two meetings, as Mr. Trump was on Air Force One taking off from Germany heading back to Washington, he telephoned a Times reporter and argued that the Russians were falsely accused of election interference. While he insisted most of the conversation be off the record, he later repeated a few things in public in little-noticed asides.
He said that he raised the election hacking three times and that Mr. Putin denied involvement. But he said Mr. Putin also told him that “if we did, we wouldn’t have gotten caught because we’re professionals.” Mr. Trump said: “I thought that was a good point because they are some of the best in the world” at hacking.
Wallace spoke with New York Times White House correspondent Peter Baker about that report today and expressed astonishment at how Trump was not only accepting Putin’s denials, but was trying “to convince you and your colleagues of the same.”
You can watch above, via MSNBC.
[image via screengrab]
Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com
