Trump embraces Putin, repeats 'there was no collusion at all'

HELSINKI — Standing next to Russia's Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump openly questioned his own intelligence agencies' conclusions that Moscow was to blame for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election to Trump's benefit and seemed to accept Putin's insistence that Russia's hands were clean.

Trump's comments, at a joint news conference Monday after summit talks with Putin, drew heavy criticism back in the U.S., including from prominent Republicans. Sen. John McCain was most outspoken, declaring that Trump made a "conscious choice to defend a tyrant" and achieved "one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory." Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee said Trump made the U.S. "look like a pushover."

http://www.startribune.com/trump-questions-us-intelligence-not-putin-on-2016-election-russia-meddling/488246891/