U.S. President Donald Trump has tried to calm a storm over his failure to hold Russian President Vladimir Putin accountable for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.
Trump said he mis-spoke in a joint news conference in Helsinki.
The U.S. leader stunned the world by shying away from criticizing Putin for Moscow’s actions to undermine the election and cast doubt on U.S. intelligence agencies.
His comment prompted calls by some lawmakers for tougher sanctions and other actions to punish Russia.
Trump, who had been given numerous opportunities to publicly rebuke Putin in Helsinki, praised the Russian leader for his strong and powerful denial of the conclusions of U.S. intelligence agencies over allegations of election meddling.
Demonstrators continue
Demonstrators gathered outside the White House on Tuesday for a second night of protests over Trump’s refusal to blame his Vladimir Putin for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.
Tuesday’s protest was headlined by Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for porn actress Stormy Daniels, who is suing Trump and Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen over an alleged sexual encounter.
Avenatti called Trump Putin’s ‘Manchurian Candidate’, the term used to describe a politician being used as a puppet by an enemy power and inspired by the 1962 suspense film of the same name.
Actress Alyssa Milano of the television show “Charmed” who helped inspire the “MeToo movement”, was also at the protest.
