U.S. President Donald Trump has backtracked on comments in which he said he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s pledge that Russia didn’t meddle in the 2016 presidential election.
Trump made the comments before a meeting at the White House with top GOP members on Tuesday afternoon.
He received harsh backlash for his comments made after a summit with Putin on Monday, in which he said he doesn’t see “any reason why” Russia would interfere.
On Tuesday he clarified, saying he meant to say that he saw no reason why it would not be Russia that interfered in the elections, and that he had full faith in U.S. intelligence.
“In a key sentence in my remarks I said the word ‘would’ instead of ‘wouldn’t.’ The sentence should have been I don’t see any reason why I wouldn’t or why it wouldn’t be Russia. So just to repeat it, I said the word would instead of wouldn’t,” Trump told reporters.
“The sentence should’ve been I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be Russia, sort of a double negative.”
Trump also said he believes that Russian meddling took place in the 2016 presidential election, but that it did not change the election’s outcome.
“The full faith and support for America’s intelligence agencies – I have a full faith in our intelligence agencies,” Trump said.
“I just wanted to clear up, I have the strongest respect for our intelligence agencies headed by my people.”
WATCH: ‘Could be other people also’: Trump on 2016 Russian election meddling
He also suggested there were other agents that could have infiltrated the election.
“Could be other people also; there’s a lot of people out there,” he said.
Security experts and politicians on both sides had condemned Trump’s Monday comments, with some saying they were “treasonous,” before he backtracked.
After his walk-back on Tuesday, Trump said his administration will “move aggressively” to repel efforts to interfere in American elections.
“We are doing everything in our power to prevent Russian interference in 2018,” he said. “And we have a lot of power.”
WATCH: ‘Better not happen again in 2018’: Mitch McConnell
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Trump was trying to “squirm away” from his comments alongside Putin. “It’s 24 hours too late and in the wrong place,” he said.
Among other things discussed at the one-on-one meeting were the topics of North Korea, Syria, and Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Trump said.
Earlier in the day, Trump seemingly defended the Monday meeting, saying on Twitter that the meeting between the two world leaders went “better than even expected.”
WATCH: Full coverage of Trump and Putin’s summit in Helsinki
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*with files from the Associated Press
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