Trump Says He Misspoke

Facing criticism from all sides, President Donald Trump¹ says he misspoke during his visit to Helsinki, Finland. Trump says he accepts the findings of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia interfered² in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

The president said that after reading a transcript³ of his Helsinki comments, he realized he misspoke. Trump said, “The sentence should have been, ’I don’t see any reason why I wouldn’t, or why it wouldn’t be Russia” instead of “why it would.”

"I accept our intelligence community's conclusion that Russia's meddling⁴ in the 2016 election took place. Could be other people also. A lot of people out there. There was no collusion at all.”

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Trump was trying to “squirm away” from his comments beside Russian President Vladimir Putin. Schumer added, “It’s 24 hours too late and in the wrong place.”

The two leaders held a press conference after their meeting Monday in Helsinki. Trump was asked whether he believe U.S. intelligence findings or Putin’s denial of interference in the 2016 U.S. election.

“My people came to me, [Director of National Intelligence] Dan Coats came to me and some others and said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin. He just said it’s not Russia. I will say this. I don’t see any reason why it would be, but I really do want to see the server. But I have confidence in both parties.”

The comment in Helsinki received sharp criticism from U.S. lawmakers and foreign leaders. But Trump continued to say that the media misrepresented his comments.

Early on Tuesday, the president tweeted, “While I had a great meeting with NATO, raising vast amounts of money, I had an even better meeting with Vladimir Putin of Russia. Sadly, it is not being reported that way - the Fake News is going Crazy!”

I’m Jonathan Evans.

Words in This Story

transcript –n. a written record of spoken words

meddling –n. unwelcome involvement in activities and matters of others

collusion –n. secret cooperation for an illegal or dishonest purpose

squirm –v. to move around in a twisting, uncomfortable way

server –n. the main computer in a network that provides files for other computers

vast –adj. extremely large

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 interfered   

v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉

参考例句：

• Complete absorption in sports interfered with his studies. 专注于运动妨碍了他的学业。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I am not going to be interfered with. 我不想别人干扰我的事情。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 meddling   

v.干涉，干预（他人事务）( meddle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He denounced all "meddling" attempts to promote a negotiation. 他斥责了一切“干预”促成谈判的企图。 来自辞典例句
• They liked this field because it was never visited by meddling strangers. 她们喜欢这块田野，因为好事的陌生人从来不到那里去。 来自辞典例句