2016 ELECTION/DEMS/GOP/INTELLIGENCE/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “U.S. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said on Thursday [7-19-18] he did not know what happened in the one-on-one meeting in Helsinki between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin that has raised concern among many U.S. lawmakers. Republicans and Democrats in Congress are seeking answers on what agreements Trump may have reached with Putin in their two-hour meeting on Monday [7-16-18] in which they were accompanied only by their interpreters. The White House has faced an uproar over several issues from the summit including Trump’s failure to confront Putin over American intelligence agencies’ findings that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. election and Putin’s proposal that Russian authorities be allowed to question U.S. citizens…At a post-summit news conference with Putin, Trump responded to a question about Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election by casting doubt on the findings of his own intelligence agencies and denouncing the ‘stupidity’ of U.S. policies. Coats immediately responded on Monday by releasing a statement firmly supporting U.S. assessments that Russia was involved in ‘ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy.’”
-Reuters Staff, “U.S. intelligence chief: ‘I don’t know what happened’ at Trump-Putin meeting,” Reuters, July 19, 2018 1:04 pm