National

President Trump on Russia in his own words: Would a 'wouldn't' change everything?

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump sought to walk back his remarks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday by correcting a single word uttered during the 46-minute joint appearance in Helsinki.

When Trump said he couldn't see any reason why Russia "would" have been involved in the U.S. presidential election what he meant to say was "wouldn't."

"I said the word 'would' instead of 'wouldn't,'" Trump explained, speaking at the White House more than 24 hours after his news conference with Putin began drawing fire from allies and critics alike. "The sentence should have been, 'I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be Russia.'"

"I think that probably clarifies things pretty good by itself," Trump said.

Critics were quick to suggest the context around the president's quote indicates he said what he meant the first time. Before he used the word, Trump said he had heard from his director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, that Russia meddled in the 2016 election but that he had also heard a strong denial from Putin.

Putin "just said it’s not Russia," Trump said at the news conference.

"I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be, but I really do want to see the server," the president said, shifting his answer to a long-running complaint that the FBI did not adequately investigate the hacking of the Democratic National Committee.

Yet it's not clear that even if Trump had meant to say "wouldn't" instead of "would" that he could have avoided the sharp backlash from members of both parties that began to mount as Air Force One carried him back to Washington on Monday night.

Here's a look at some of the other remarks that critics found controversial:

Powerful denial 

Shortly after the sentence Trump says he has now corrected, the president appeared to place a heavy emphasis on Putin's denial of Russian meddling. Putin has always denied involvement in the election, long before U.S. intelligence concluded Moscow was working to sway voters in Trump’s favor.

"So I have great confidence in my intelligence people," Trump said, "but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today."

U.S. to blame 

Much of the negative reaction from Republicans to Trump's remarks has come from lawmakers concerned that the president appeared to blame U.S. actions equally with Russia's to explain the touchy relationship between the two countries...

...Despite the fact that Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and launched massive influence campaigns in the U.S.and other countries.

"I hold both countries responsible. I think that the United States has been foolish. I think we’ve all been foolish. We should have had this dialogue a long time ago — a long time, frankly, before I got to office," Trump said. "And I think we’re all to blame."

Russia probe 'ridiculous'

Days after the Justice Department indicted 12 Russian intelligence officers it said were involved in interfering in the election, Trump repeatedly dismissed the ongoing probe by special counsel Robert Mueller — arguing the investigation was partly to blame for frosty relations with Moscow.

"And it has had a negative impact upon the relationship of the two largest nuclear powers in the world," Trump said. "We have 90 percent of nuclear power between the two countries. It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous what’s going on with the probe."

Words not said

Reporters asked Trump specifically whether he holds Russia accountable for troubled relations between the two countries, prompting the president to launch into a discussion about the Mueller probe and denying collusion with Moscow.

Trump did not mention the 2014 annexation of Crimea, British allegations Russia poisoned a former Soviet spy on its soil, election influence campaigns in other countries or questions about the Russian role in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in 2014.

Putin said Trump raised the issue of Crimea in their private meetings, saying that he “continued to maintain that it was illegal to annex it.” Trump never mentioned the issue publicly.

Better relationship?

Trump claimed the summit had already led to a stronger relationship between Washington and Moscow, which he described as a central goal heading into the meeting,

“Our relationship has never been worse than it is now. However, that changed as of about four hours ago,” Trump said. “I really believe that.”