By Noah Bierman

Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump, seeking to stanch a national furor, said on Tuesday that he misspoke in Helsinki, Finland, and meant to say that he indeed does see Russia as the culprit that interfered in the 2016 presidential election, just as U.S. intelligence agencies have found.

The president’s comments were unlikely to satisfy his critics in both parties. His new version was undercut by his fuller and widely watched remarks on Monday. Also, Trump no longer was speaking truth to power alongside Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, but addressing reporters from the White House alongside Republican lawmakers.

In his attempt to walk back his Helsinki remarks, Trump said he accepts the consensus of American intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the election. Yet in a sign that he cannot fully accept those findings — seeing them as a challenge to his legitimacy — he added that it “could be other people also.” That assertion is not supported by known intelligence.

In Helsinki, as Putin looked on, Trump said the following to a question about whether he believed U.S. intelligence agencies, or Putin’s denials of interference: “My people came to me … they 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” Russia.

On Tuesday, he said this: “The sentence should have been ‘I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be’ Russia.”

“I have the strongest respect for our intelligence agencies, headed by my people,” Trump said at the previously unscheduled session with a small group of White House reporters as he prepared to meet with some House Republicans about additional tax cuts.

He also promised that “we’re doing everything in our power to prevent Russian interference in 2018” elections.

Trump ignored shouted questions, including whether he would criticize Putin, as beleaguered White House media aides pushed reporters out the door of the Cabinet room.

The president, in Helsinki, also criticized the FBI, Democrats, Hillary Clinton and the special counsel’s investigation of Russia’s election activities and possible Trump campaign complicity — all as an occasionally smiling Putin stood a few feet away in the Finland presidential palace.

The scene almost instantly drew condemnation as it played out on television screens. Trump, who repeatedly praised and deferred to Putin, was criticized by foreign policy and national security veterans as weak, an insult that is particularly galling to him.

In two interviews with Fox News and his tweets after the summit, Trump sounded defensive, and more surprised and frustrated by the reaction than contrite. He did not, however, make any attempt to correct his remarks until more than 24 hours later.

“I came back and I said: ‘What is going on? What’s the big deal?” Trump said Tuesday.

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, a New York Democrat, said he was not buying Trump’s new version of events.

“President Trump tried to squirm away from what he said yesterday. It’s 24 hours late and in the wrong place,” he said. “If the president can’t say directly to President Putin that he is wrong and we are right and our intelligence agencies are right, it’s ineffective, and worse, another sign of weakness.”

—-

Trump faced growing pressure from Republicans to either recant his remarks — an unlikely act for this president — or at least change the subject to one that unites his party, such as tax cuts or the pending nomination of conservative Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

“It’s too early to say if this will have any consequence on their elections, but they’re clearly navigating that minefield very cautiously,” said Alice Stewart, a Republican consultant who had private conversations with multiple lawmakers after the Helsinki news conference. “It’s really hard for anyone to come out and say that meeting was a success for the president or certainly this country, so many are reserving their comments.”

—-

For many Republicans, the issue goes beyond politics. Opposition to Russia’s aggressive behavior and authoritarian rule has long been a core aspect of party ideology.

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan quickly condemned Trump’s comments, though he did not name Trump. And while he reiterated that he thought special counsel Robert S. Mueller III should be allowed to finish his probe, Ryan did not promise to let up on Republican attempts to undermine the investigation.

“The president must appreciate that Russia is not our ally,” Ryan said.

He and other House Republican leaders tried to change the subject to taxes and the economy during their weekly news conference. But Ryan was bombarded with questions about Trump’s Helsinki performance, whether it damaged American interests and whether Congress would do anything beyond expressing regret.

Ryan sounded frustrated when he was asked whether Trump should clarify his remarks.

“I have not spoken to him,” Ryan said. “I put out a statement yesterday, within minutes after that press conference. And I think that statement speaks for itself.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell issued strong words of support for NATO allies that Trump had criticized during an alliance summit days before his meeting with Putin. McConnell, like many Republicans, stopped short of criticizing Trump.

“The Russians need to know that there are a lot of us who fully understand what happened in 2016, and it really better not happen again in 2018,” McConnell said during a news conference.

“I’m not here to critique anyone else,” McConnell added.

Signaling Republicans’ own efforts at damage control in the wake of Trump’s Helsinki performance, McConnell said there might be a vote on a bill sponsored by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican, that would create punishments if Russia interferes in the 2018 midterm elections. He made no commitment to bringing the measure up, however.

Democrats were eager to keep the subject alive, calling for hearings, resolutions reaffirming American intelligence assessments and measures lending money to states to protect their voting systems from hacking.

“I’m at a loss for words to describe what happened yesterday in Helsinki, Finland,” said Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate. “I’m disappointed as well by the stunning silence of some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle in response to it.”

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Trump has done “deep damage” to the country.

“President Trump cowered in the presence of Putin, and the entire world watched and saw that,” she said. “Trump’s eagerness to sell out America proves the Russians must have something, personally, politically or financially, on President Trump.”

Democrats were also beginning to use the issue in their attempt to retake control of the House. Max Rose, a Democrat trying to unseat Rep. Dan Donovan in a district centered around the Staten Island borough of New York City, called his opponent a “spineless doormat” in the face of Trump’s transgressions.

“At a moment where members of both parties are rightfully calling out the president’s actions yesterday, Congressman Dan Donovan cannot muster up the courage to challenge the president when he defended a hostile foreign power instead of standing up for America and the people who risk their lives to keep us safe,” Rose said in a statement.

Donovan responded that he has “consistently” agreed with the assessments that Russia meddled while calling for an end to the probe “so detractors can stop using it as a political football to undermine the president.”

Donovan’s fellow New York Republican, Rep. Peter King, often the president’s supporter, called Trump’s comments “indefensible” in a Fox News interview. King also took issue with Trump for expressing openness to Putin’s invitation to have Russian intelligence officials cooperate on the U.S. prosecution of Russian officers indicted on Friday.

“That’s like bringing ISIS into a terrorism task force meeting,” he said.

—-

Still, many Republican lawmakers seemed to avoid direct criticism of Trump and instead focused their criticism on Putin. CNN said dozens of Republican members of Congress rebuffed invitations to react to Trump’s Helsinki summit.

Charlie Gerow, a Pennsylvania-based Republican consultant, said many Republicans see too much risk in taking Trump on, even if the president’s behavior may cause some worry.

“I don’t know and we don’t know at this point” about the effect on the November elections, he said.

“There have been so many political flashpoints assigned by the media … that makes your head spin,” he added. “And two weeks later we don’t even remember them.”