Under fire, Trump says he 'misspoke' about Russian interference in U.S. election.

President Trump speaks to the media as he meets with members of Congress at the White House on Tuesday. (Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP)

Facing withering criticism over Monday’s deferential joint news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, President Trump asserted Tuesday that he misspoke when he said that Russia had not interfered with the U.S. presidential election.

“Let me begin by saying that once again, full faith and support for America’s intelligence agencies. I have a full faith in our intelligence agencies,” Trump said, in a prepared statement.

Speaking from the White House, Trump said that after reviewing a transcript of the press conference he realized that “in a key sentence I said the word ‘would’ instead of ‘wouldn’t.’”

“Just to repeat it, I said the word would instead of wouldn’t,” Trump said, referring to his answer at the press conference, in response to a question about whether Russia had tried to influence the American election: “All I can do is ask the question — my people came to me, Dan Coats came to me and some others, they said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin he just said it’s not Russia. I will say this, I don’t see any reason why it would be,” Trump had said, in a remark that stunned listeners and provoked outrage, even from many Republicans.

Full story at Yahoo News.

By Dylan Stableford and David Knowles.