Trump claims he told Putin: 'We can't have this, we're not going to have it, and that's the way it's going to be'
DONALD Trump has insisted he confronted Vladimir Putin over Russian interference in the 2016 election, saying he holds him personally responsible.
It marks a dramatic U-turn for the US President who earlier sided with the Russian leader and accepted his “powerful denial” of any meddling at the Helsinki summit on Monday.
His latest backtracking comments came after he claimed he "misspoke" on the saga he has long branded a "witch hunt".
Last night, the former reality TV star told : "(I was) very strong on the fact that we can't have meddling, we can't have any of that."
"We can't have this, we're not going to have it, and that's the way it's going to be," he claimed he told Putin during their two-hour-long closed doors meeting.
Asked if he holds the Russian president "personally responsible" for the election meddling, Trump said: "Well, I would, because he's in charge of the country.
"Just like I consider myself to be responsible for things that happen in this country. So certainly as the leader of a country you would have to hold him responsible, yes."
At the Helsinki summit on Monday, Trump sided Putin over the findings of his own US intelligence agencies who alleged the Kremlin "disrupted" the 2016 election in his favour.
Standing just feet away from the Russian president in Helsinki, Finland, he said Putin "just said it is not Russia... I will say this: I don't see any reason why it would be".
Even Republicans were scathing in their criticism over the comments, made 18 months into his presidency, on foreign soil, standing next to a historic enemy.
It came days after Trump gave the go ahead for US lawmakers to announce it was indicting 12 Russian spies over election hacking.
Just one day after the summit, he told reporters: "The sentence should have been, 'I don't see any reason why I wouldn't, or why it wouldn't be Russia'.
"I accept our intelligence community's conclusion that Russia's meddling in the 2016 election took place."
Even then he made a point of adding: "It could be other people also. A lot of people out there. There was no collusion at all."
The phrase "there was no collusion at all" could be seen scrawled in thick marker pen on the President's typed statement.
During his statement, the lights in the room faded to complete darkness, prompting Trump to joke that "it must be the intelligence agencies".
None of this explained why Trump, who had tweeted several times and sat for two TV interviews since the Putin news conference, waited so long to correct his remarks.
Throughout his presidency, Trump has dismissed Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe into election meddling and collusion with his administration as a "witch hunt".
In one of many, many examples dating back to September 2017, he tweeted to say allegations of Russia buying Facebook ads to influence voters was a "hoax".
Republican Senator Susan Collins perhaps summed it up best when she said: "There's a walk-back of the walk-back of the walk-back of the walk-back? This is dizzying."
A number of senators are now swiftly signing on to a bipartisan bill that would slap new sanctions on Russia, or any other country, caught posting ads, running fake news or otherwise interfering with election infrastructure.
Democrat Chris Van Hollen said Trump "isn't willing to protect the integrity of our democracy in the United States, so Congress has to act."
Two other lawmakers, Republican senator Jeff Flake and Democrat Chris Coons, will try to force a vote on a resolution backing the intelligence community's findings today.
The Republican chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, Richard Burr of South Carolina, said if Trump doubts that Russia would again try to intervene, "he needs to read the intelligence".
The most scathing assessment of Trump's weakness in front of Putin came from ex-CIA director John Brennan who said: "It was nothing short of treasonous."
Donald Trump decided the 12 new indictments against alleged Russian spies over election hacking should be announced before his summit with Vladimir Putin, reports claim.
The US president thought it would give him the upper hand in talks, sources close to the decision said.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein presented Trump with the option last week, Bloomberg reported.
Trump's decision meant the news was released just 72 hours before his cruch meeting in Finland.
Yesterday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders let slip on what Trump described as an "incredible offer" from Putin to hand over the Russians indicted over election hacking.
In return, she said the Kremlin wanted access to Americans wanted for "unspecified crimes". The request was dismissed as "ridiculous" by one former US ambassador.
And Trump poured more petrol on the flames when he was asked if Russia was still targeting the US and he simply answered, "no", without elaborating.
His answer came days after National Intelligence Director Dan Coats compared the cyber threat level on the US to today to just before 9/11, when they believed a terror attack was imminent.
Coats also said Russia was the "most aggressive" but there were also threats coming from China, Iran, North Korea and individual hackers.
Sanders said Trump actually was saying "no" to answering additional questions, even though he subsequently went on to address Russia in the same Cabinet meeting.
'There was no collusion' was seen scrawled in black marker pen on Trumps notes during his meeting on Tuesday
At least one Republican lawmaker, Jason Villalba from Texas, is calling for him to be impeached on the grounds he has increased national debt and turned the country into a "joke".
"Our president has mocked and belittled our immigration laws, our intelligence agencies, our foreign policy strategy and even the American people," .
And California Democrat Eric Swalwell said the president should be sacked if he hands over former US Ambassador Michael McFaul to the Russians, as they have requested.
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