President Trump said during his rally in Pennsylvania on Thursday night that Russia is “unhappy” he won the presidential election.
“In Helsinki, I had a great meeting with Putin, we discussed everything,” Trump said during the rally. Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin last month in Finland.
“I’ll tell you what, Russia is very unhappy that Trump won, that I can tell you. But I got along great with Putin,” Trump said during the rally, while also adding that the country is being “hindered” by the Russia investigation, which he called a “hoax.”
During a joint press conference following his meeting with Trump, Putin was asked whether he wanted Trump to win in 2016.
{mosads}”Yes, I did. Yes, I did. Because he talked about bringing the U.S.-Russia relationship back to normal,” he said. The White House was forced to correct the official transcript from the event 10 days after it happened in order to reflect the question.
During the press conference, Trump also appeared to side with Putin over the U.S. intelligence community in Putin’s denial of election interference. Trump later said that he misspoke at the time. Trump blasted the media for coverage of the event.
“They wanted to see a boxing match,” Trump said. “I said whatever happened to diplomacy? I used to study, not so much, diplomacy.”
He also defended his relationship with Putin.
“We got along really well. By the way, that’s a good thing, not a bad thing,” Trump said on Thursday night.