President Donald Trump was "24 hours too late and in the wrong place" in backtracking on his comments siding with Russia over U.S. intelligence agencies while standing next to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters Tuesday per a report in the Washington Examiner.
"While we were speaking, President Trump tried to squirm away from what he said yesterday," Schumer said. "It's 24 hours too late and in the wrong place."
Trump’s performance in Finland was widely condemned, including by many within his own party, but the president beat back a torrent of attacks by saying that he misspoke in his comments and that "I accept" the assessment of U.S. intelligence agencies that Moscow meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
"I have full faith and support for America's great intelligence agencies," Trump said before meeting with Republican members of the House Ways and Means Committee. "Always have.
"And I have felt very strongly that while Russia's actions had no impact at all on the outcome of the election," he said. "Let me be totally clear in saying that — and I've said this many times — I accept our intelligence community's conclusion that Russia's meddling in the 2016 election took place."
Trump also said he originally meant to say he saw no reason why it wasn’t Russia that meddled.
"In a key sentence in my remarks, I said the word 'would' instead of 'wouldn't,'" Trump said. "The sentence should have been: 'I don't see any reason why I wouldn't or why it wouldn't be Russia.'"
Schumer earlier in the day called on his Republican colleagues to hold a hearing on Trump’s sit-down with Putin because he was concerned about what the president told Putin in secret.
"We need hearings as soon as possible to assess what President Trump might have committed to President Putin in secret. President Trump's public statements were alarming enough," Schumer said.
"Does anyone believe he was tougher on Putin in secret? You can't assume anything but that as weak as he was in public before President Putin, he was even worse in private. Why else did he not want anyone in the room?"
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