Claims he misspoke at Helsinki, meant "wouldn't" instead of "would" in implausible walkback

After intense bipartisan backlash to his Helsinki performance, Trump held a hastily arranged White House meeting where he claimed he had misspoken the previous day. Reading from prepared remarks, Trump said "I said the word 'would' instead of 'wouldn't'" and that the sentence should have been "I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be Russia." He claimed this was due to a "double negative" and that he accepts the intelligence community's conclusion. However, the explanation was widely dismissed as implausible - his original statement was clear and coherent, and he had spent several minutes praising Putin's "strong and powerful" denial. Even while walking back the comment, Trump added "could be other people also" and refused to fully acknowledge Russian interference, undermining his own correction. The transparent damage control highlighted both the severity of the original offense and Trump's inability to credibly take responsibility.

"I said the word 'would' instead of 'wouldn't' … The sentence should have been: I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be Russia." — July 17, 2018 White House remarks attempting to walk back his Helsinki statements siding with Putin over U.S. intelligence