President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Russia and probably other countries and individuals meddled in the 2016 presidential election — though it did not affect the outcome — and "we won't allow that to happen" in this year's midterm contests.
"Russia had no impact on our votes whatsoever," he said at a White House news conference with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven. "But certainly there was meddling — and probably from other countries and maybe other individuals.
"You have to be really watching very closely," he added. "You don't want your system of votes to be compromised in any way.
"We won't allow that to happen," he said, referring to the November mid-terms.
"We're doing a very deep study and coming without some very strong suggestions on the '18 election."
Trump added that the U.S. would "counteract whatever they do.
"We'll counteract it very strongly," he said. "But you have to be very vigilant."
Russia special counsel Robert Mueller last month indicted 13 Russians and three organizations for meddling in the presidential election — and Moscow claimed Monday to have evidence the U.S. has attempted to interfere in its forthcoming presidential vote.
Navy Adm. Michael Rogers, the outgoing chief of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, told lawmakers last week Russia had not "paid a price" for its meddling efforts.
President Trump also extolled the virtues of paper ballots in light of Moscow's campaign.
"It's always good to have a paper back-up system of voting," he said. "It's called paper.
"Not highly complex computers. Paper.
"A lot of states are doing that," he added. "They're going to a paper back-up.
"I think that's a great idea. We're studying it very closely."
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