All week, CNN anchors cited an anonymous source who claimed President Donald Trump would not confront Russian President Vladimir Putin about election meddling in their meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany.
That source turned out to be dead wrong.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who was present at the two-hour Friday meeting, said Trump almost immediately “pressed” Putin on attempts to influence public opinion in the 2016 election.
Tillerson said Trump “pressed” Putin on election meddling “on more than one occasion.” Putin denied Russia ever tried to interfere.
“The two leaders agreed that this is a substantial hindrance on the ability of us to move Russian-U.S. relationships forward and agreed to exchange further work regarding commitments of noninterference in the affairs of the United States and our democratic process as well as those of other countries,” Tillerson said.
“So more work to be done in that regard,” he said.
That’s not good news for CNN, which had for days been citing an anonymous source who claimed Trump would not bring up Russian efforts to sway voters through cyber attacks and online messaging.
CNN all week: An anonymous source says Trump won’t confront Putin about Russia meddling in the election!
Today: https://t.co/ik4daHedVA pic.twitter.com/bVTdhlnXWn
— Matt Wolking (@MattWolking) July 7, 2017
It’s another blow to CNN. The news network accepted the resignation of three journalists in late June after they reported a “Russian investment fund with ties to Trump officials” was under investigation. That report was based on the word of a single anonymous source.
CNN was forced to retract the story after Trump campaign associate Anthony Scaramucci reportedly threatened to sue CNN over the poorly-sourced article. CNN reporters resigned shortly after.
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