President-elect Donald Trump gave his first press conference since July on Wednesday in Manhattan. Much of the conference related to Trump’s relationship with Russia, put into question after a Tuesday CNN report. Here are some of the top takeaways.
1. Trump answered some questions about relationship with Russia, but avoided others.
Trump dismissed the accuracy of the reports claiming Russian intelligence had collected compromising information about his personal life and finances, and he renewed his criticism of intelligence agencies who let the information slip.
“I think it was disgraceful — disgraceful that the intelligence agencies allowed any information that turned out to be so false and fake out,” he said.
But Trump refused to answer questions about alleged ties between former campaign staffers and Russian intelligence operatives.
Trump also conceded that reports that Russia hacked into the DNC database were true, a position he had previously rejected. If he and Russian president Vladimir Putin were to develop a positive relationship, he said “that is called an asset, not a liability.”
2. Trump continued his harsh criticism of the news media and “fake news”.
Trump lashed out against CNN and BuzzFeed, the organizations who first reported on the Russian allegations.
At one point, the president-elect engaged in a shouting match with a CNN reporter. Trump refused to take questions from CNN’s Jim Acosta, saying “your organization is terrible” and “you are fake news” as the reporter repeated his question.
