2016 ELECTION/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Trump on Russian Interference in the 2016 election, July 16, 2018: ‘I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today. My people came to me- [Director of National Intelligence] Dan Coats came to me and some others-they said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin; he just said it’s not Russia. I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be.'”
-Melissa Etehad, “In His own Conflicting Words,” The Los Angeles Times, July 25, 2018