President Donald Trump is set on attempting to prove Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election, and according to a new report he was convinced of the idea by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to The Washington Post, Trump grew more insistent of the idea that Ukraine tried to defeat him in 2016 after a private meeting with Putin at the 2017 G20 summit.
One former senior White House official said Trump even stated so explicitly at one point, saying he knew Ukraine was the real culprit because “Putin told me.”
Two other former officials said the senior White House official described Trump’s comment to them.
The Ukraine theory that has consumed Trump’s attention has now been taken up by Republicans in Congress who are defending the President against impeachment. Top GOP lawmakers have demanded investigations of Ukrainian interference for which senior U.S. officials, including the director of the FBI, say there is no evidence.
“He would say: ‘This is ridiculous. Everyone knows I won the election. The greatest election in the world. The Russians didn’t do anything. The Ukrainians tried to do something’,” one former Trump administration official told the Washington Post, adding that Trump never offered proof to prove his unfounded assertion.
A core part of Fiona Hill’s testimony in the impeachment inquiry was outright stating that people claiming Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election were spreading Russian propaganda.
Trump’s attempt to press Ukraine on the election interference theory resulted in his impeachment on Wednesday.
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