President Donald Trump held Russian President Vladamir Putin accountable in a Wednesday interview for interfering in the 2016 election.
"You say you agree with U.S. intelligence that Russia meddled in the election in 2016," CBS anchor Jeff Glor said.
"And I've said that before, Jeff. I have said that numerous times before. And I would say that that is true, yeah," Trump said.
"But you haven't condemned Putin specifically. Do you hold him personally responsible?" Glor asked.
"Well, I would, because he's in charge of the country, just like I consider myself to be responsible for things that happen in this country, so certainly as the leader of a country, you would have to hold him responsible, yes," Trump responded.
Trump's response comes days after he appeared to deny the U.S. intelligence community's assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. Trump's remarks at a joint press conference with Putin on Monday caused bipartisan backlash, which forced Trump to walk balk his comments. The president said Wednesday he misspoke at the press conference when he said, "I don't see any reason why it would be Russia," and he clarified, "The sentence should have been: 'I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be Russia.'" The correction came after Trump conducted several interviews where he didn't correct the record. He argued it was only after the backlash that he reviewed the transcripts and video from the press conference and noticed his error.
Glor asked Trump what he stoke to Putin about in their closed door meeting, which was conducted immediately prior to the press conference Monday.
"Very strong on the fact that we can't have meddling," Trump said.
"Do you think any intelligence agencies, U.S. intelligence agencies are out to get you?" Glor asked.
Trump responded by listing a number of former and current officials who worked at the FBI, CIA, or other intelligence agencies as evidence that parts of the intelligence community was out to get him.
Well, certainly in the past it's been terrible. You look at Brennan. You look at Clapper. You look at Hayden. You look at Comey. You look at McCabe. You look at Strzok and his lover Lisa Page. You look at other people in the FBI who have been fired, no longer there. Certainly I can't have any confidence in the past, but I can have a lot of confidence in the present and the future, because it's getting to be now where we're putting our people in. But in the past, no, I have no confidence in a guy like Brennan. I think he's a total low life. I have no confidence in Clapper.
You know, Clapper wrote me a beautiful letter when I first went to office, and it was really nice. And then all of a sudden he's gone haywire because they got to him and they probably got him to say things that maybe he doesn't even mean.
But, no, I certainly don't have confidence in past people. You look at what's happened. Take a look at all of the shenanigans that have gone on. Very hard to have confidence in that group.
The president was asked to respond to criticism that his press conference was a missed opportunity to stand up to Putin.
"I totally disagree. I think I did great at the news conference. I think it with was a strong news conference," Trump said. "You have people that said 'you should have gone up to him. You should have walked up and started screaming in his face.' We're living in the real world. Okay? Nobody has been as tough with Putin as I have."