July 1, 2018

President Donald Trump on Sunday deflected blame for Russia's interference in the 2016 election to the FBI.

While speaking to Fox News host Maria Bartiromo, Trump was asked if he was going to "mention the meddling" when he meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin next month.

Trump immediately changed the subject: "I would like to see some answers as to why we didn't take the server, why the FBI didn't take the server from the DNC."

"Why didn't the FBI take it? Look what they did to other people," the president continued. "Why didn't they take it? How can the DNC say get out of here. They threw them out of the office."

Trump went on to complain about special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, saying it would find "nothing wrong." And then he invoked the investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's emails.

"[Y]ou go back, how about the e-mails -- deleting 33,000 e-mails?" he asked. "We don't even have to talk about the uranium and all the different -- just tell me, you get a subpoena. And after getting the subpoena from the United States Congress, right? People go to jail for doing it on a civil case. They delete 33,000 e-mails."

"Before the FBI even walked in, they are walking in and say you have -- by the way, keep your laptops and then they even say destroy your laptops or something? In a week or something you can destroy your laptops?" he said.

The president, however, never did say whether he would confront Putin about election interference.

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