Putin: Trump did not bring up election meddling

President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin did not discuss alleged election meddling on Saturday, despite Trump saying they did, according to Putin’s office.

“No,” Putin’s press secretary Dmitri Peskov told CNN when asked, “as far as you know, did the two leaders discuss meddling?”

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Trump and Putin met on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Vietnam.

When asked about his meeting with Putin, Trump told reporters on Air Force One that Putin denied attempting to influence the 2016 presidential election.

“I just asked him again,” Trump said. “He said he absolutely did not meddle in our election, he did not do what they are saying he did.”

Trump said he wasn’t going to argue with Putin about whether he did or didn’t seek to meddle.

“I can’t stand there and argue with him, I would rather have him get out of Syria,” Trump said. “You have President Putin very strongly, vehemently says he has nothing to do with that. Now, you are not going to get into an argument, you are going to start talking about Syria and the Ukraine.”

The U.S. intelligence community has concluded that Russia sought to influence the 2016 presidential election in favor of Trump.