President Trump on Tuesday told reporters that Russia wants Democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders to win the 2020 election.
During a press conference on his two-day trip to India, Trump said the FBI informed Sanders about purported Russian meddling in the election, questioning the bureau’s decision not to inform him.
“They went to see Bernie and they told Bernie about something having to do with they want Bernie to win. They did not tell me, intelligence never told me … anything about that and it was sort of a strange thing that they went to Bernie,” Trump said.
The president also said the initial reports of Russian meddling have been “highly exaggerated,” and he blasted the House Intelligence Committee for alleged leaks, blaming Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA).
“Somebody leaked it in intelligence but nobody ever told me that,” Trump said. “They ought to stop the leaking from the Intelligence Committee.”
And Trump declared: “I want no help from any country, and I haven’t been given help by any country,” when asked whether he would commit to not accepting foreign help in the election. That remark differed from what Trump told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos last year about foreign aid, saying, “I think you might want to listen, there isn’t anything wrong with listening.”
In a classified briefing last week, intelligence officials informed members of the House Intelligence Committee that Russia was again interfering in American politics ahead of November’s election. U.S. intelligence agencies have said that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.
Before departing for India, Trump offered his own thoughts about the reports. “What it could be is you know the Democrats are treating Bernie Sanders very unfairly and it sounds to me like a leak from Adam Schiff because they don’t want Bernie Sanders to represent them. It sounds like it’s ’16 all over again for Bernie Sanders.”
In India, Trump took questions for 45 minutes from the U.S. and Indian press, discussing topics from the U.S. Supreme Court to film producer Harvey Weinstein, who was found guilty on charges of rape on Monday.
The president defended his overnight Twitter post that two Supreme Court justices — Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg — should recuse themselves from cases surrounding his presidency because they are politically biased. In his tweet, Trump said: “Sotomayor accuses GOP appointed Justices of being biased in favor of Trump.” @IngrahamAngle @FoxNews This is a terrible thing to say. Trying to ‘shame’ some into voting her way? She never criticized Justice Ginsberg when she called me a ‘faker.’ Both should recuse themselves…”
“I just thought it was so inappropriate, such a terrible statement for a Supreme Court justice,” Trump said in India. “She’s trying to shame people with perhaps a different view into voting her way, and that’s so inappropriate.”
Sotomayor, who was nominated to the high court by former President Barack Obama in 2009, wrote in a dissenting opinion on Friday that “It is hard to say what is more troubling, that the Government would seek this extraordinary relief seemingly as a matter of course, or that the Court would grant it.”
“I just don’t know how they can not recuse themselves from anything having to do with Trump or Trump-related. The right thing to do is that,” he added. “What Justice Sotomayor said yesterday was really highly inappropriate and everybody agrees to that. Virtually everybody. I’ve seen papers on it, people cannot believe that she said it.”
On Weinstein, Trump said of the disgraced Hollywood mogul: “I will say, the people that liked him were the Democrats. Michelle Obama loved him, loved him, Michelle Obama loved him, and he gave tremendous money to the Democrats. And I guess my question is, will the Democrats be asking for that money back?”
Trump also said Tuesday that his new White House director of personnel is finding and removing disloyal administration staffers because “we want to have people that are good for the country.”
“I don’t think it’s very many people,” Trump said. “We want to have people that are good for the country, that are loyal to our country. Because that was a disgraceful situation.”