US President Donald Trump, battling allegations that Russia helped him win the White House, claimed Wednesday that Vladimir Putin actually would have preferred a Hillary Clinton victory. Decrying what he called a political “witch hunt,” the president also came to the defence of his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, after the release of emails showing his namesake’s embrace of a Russian offer to provide derogatory information about Clinton during the campaign. But in an interview with Pat Robertson of the Christian Broadcasting Network, the billionaire president nonetheless claimed his Russian counterpart would have preferred a win by the Democrat Clinton in 2016. Trump said that while he only learned of his son’s 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer “a couple of days ago,” he did not fault Donald Jr for holding the talks. Under questioning, Wray said he had not discussed the investigation – now in the hands of an independent prosecutor, former FBI director Robert Mueller – with Trump, and pledged to insulate the agency from political interference.

Source: Dhaka Tribune July 13, 2017 19:07 UTC