President Vladimir Putin On Russian Election Interference (Full Report) — Megyn Kelly — NBC News

[0:03] President Putin, you have repeatedly and passionately denied that Russia was behind the interference [0:09] with our American presidential election. [0:12] But as you know, the consensus view in the United States is that you did. [0:16] That's what the 17 intelligence agencies concluded, and that's what the Republicans [0:19] and the Democrats on the Congressional Oversight Committees, who have seen the classified report, [0:25] have said. [0:27] Are they all lying? [0:29] They have been misled, and they aren't analyzing the information in its entirety. [0:36] I haven't seen even once any direct proof of Russian interference in the presidential [0:41] election in the United States. [0:45] We met President Putin in St. Petersburg, his hometown and Russia's former capital. [0:51] He grew up in a modest neighborhood here, became a KGB spy master, and has been Russia's strongman [0:57] for 17 years now. [0:59] Welcome to the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. [1:02] It was my job to moderate the forum, Mr. Putin's signature event, with more than 4,000 people [1:07] in the audience, including world leaders, some sharing the stage. [1:12] The normally wonkish gathering quickly became heated when I asked President Putin about Russia's [1:17] attempts to hack the 2016 election. [1:20] What the experts say is that this couldn't have been faked, that it's 100 factors that [1:24] point to Russia. [1:25] Let's say it's the forensics, it's the digital fingerprints, it's the IP addresses, the malware, [1:30] the encryption keys, the specific pieces of code, that all of them, all of them point [1:35] to Russia, and none of them points to anyone other than Russia. [1:42] What are you talking about? [1:49] IP addresses, they can be invented, you know? [1:52] There are a lot of specialists who can even make it so it comes from your home IP address, [1:56] as if your three-year-old daughter carried out the attack. [1:59] President Putin, there are reports today in the American press that the Trump administration [2:04] took active steps to ease sanctions on Russia, almost immediately after Trump took office. [2:13] Was this possibility ever discussed between the Trump team and your representatives prior [2:19] to President Trump being inaugurated? [2:21] You know, I saw what was happening. [2:25] To be honest, it was a big surprise for me, too. [2:30] What they're saying is just nuts. [2:33] I don't know where the people spreading this disinformation came from. [2:37] It's some sort of catastrophe. [2:40] After those testy exchanges, we weren't sure what was going to happen later when we sat down [2:45] for our one-on-one interview and went right back to the issue of hacking. [2:50] You had said for months that Russia had nothing to do with the interference of the American [2:54] election. [2:55] And then, this week, you floated the idea of patriotic hackers doing it. [3:00] Why the change? [3:01] And why now? [3:02] I hadn't said anything. [3:05] It's just that a French journalist asked me about those hackers. [3:08] I told him the same thing I can tell you. [3:11] Hackers can be anywhere. [3:12] They can be in Russia, in Asia, even in America, Latin America. [3:18] They can even be hackers, by the way, in the United States, who very skillfully and professionally [3:24] shifted the blame, as we say, onto Russia. [3:28] Could you accept that? [3:31] In the midst of a political battle, by some calculations, it was convenient for them to [3:36] release this information. [3:39] So they released it, calling out Russia. [3:42] Can you imagine something like that? [3:43] I can. [3:45] Then the former KGB agent floated a Cold War conspiracy theory about U.S. dirty tricks. [3:50] But there is a theory that Kennedy's assassination was arranged by the United States Intelligence [3:56] Services. [3:57] So if this theory is correct, and that can't be ruled out, then what could be easier in [4:03] this day and age than using all the technical means at the disposal of the intelligence services, [4:09] and using those means to organize some attacks, and then pointing the finger at Russia? [4:14] For the record, U.S. intelligence has concluded Mr. Putin himself ordered the disruption of the [4:19] election. [4:20] Regardless, President Putin said the U.S. should be the last country to accuse Russia of meddling. [4:25] I will tell you something that you probably already know. [4:30] I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. [4:32] But the United States, everywhere, all over the world, actively interferes with the electoral [4:38] campaigns of other countries. [4:40] Put your finger anywhere on the map of the world, and everywhere you will hear complaints [4:45] that American officials are interfering in internal electoral processes. [4:49] But with respect, that sounds like a justification. [4:54] It doesn't sound like a justification, it sounds like a statement of fact. [4:58] Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. [5:01] But I repeat, we don't even have to do that. [5:05] Presidents come and go, and even the parties in power change. [5:08] But the main political direction does not change. [5:12] That's why, in the grand scheme of things, we don't care who's the head of the United States. [5:16] We know more or less what is going to happen. [5:19] And so in this regard, even if we wanted to, it wouldn't make sense for us to interfere. [5:26] But the FBI, Congress, and a special counsel are nonetheless investigating Russia's interference, [5:32] and whether the Trump team was in on it. [5:34] A special counsel has been appointed to investigate contacts between your government and the Trump [5:40] campaign. [5:41] You've said that your ambassador, Kislyak, was just doing his job, right? [5:45] So what exactly was discussed in those meetings? [5:48] There were no meetings. [5:51] I, you understand? [5:53] There were no meetings. [5:55] When I saw this, my jaw dropped. [5:57] No meetings between Ambassador Kislyak and anybody from the Trump campaign? [6:01] I have no idea. [6:02] I'm being completely honest with you. [6:03] I don't know. [6:04] The routine job of an ambassador. [6:06] Do you think that from all over the world or from the United States, the ambassador reports [6:10] to me every day who he meets with or what they discuss there? [6:13] That's complete nonsense. [6:14] Do you even understand what you're asking or not? [6:16] Well, you're his boss. [6:17] Listen, his boss is a minister of foreign affairs. [6:21] Do you think that I have time to talk to our ambassadors every day, all over the world? [6:25] Complete nonsense. [6:26] Among those under scrutiny is the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. [6:31] At a meeting with Russia's ambassador last December, he reportedly tried to establish [6:35] a secret communications channel with the Russian government. [6:39] This was a proposal, a proposal by Mr. Kushner. [6:42] I don't know about this proposal. [6:45] No proposal like that came to me. [6:52] Have you gone back to speak with the ambassador about what was in those discussions he had [6:56] with Jared Kushner, with anybody else from the Trump campaign? [6:59] No. [7:01] Never? [7:02] No, I haven't. [7:03] Aren't you interested? [7:04] No, because had there been anything significant, he would have reported it to the minister. [7:06] The minister would have reported it to me. [7:08] There weren't even any reports. [7:09] There is nothing to even talk about. [7:12] There wasn't even any kind of specific discussion about sanctions or anything else. [7:19] For me, this is just amazing. [7:21] You created a sensation out of nothing. [7:27] And out of this sensation, you turned it into a weapon of war against the current president. [7:33] Well, this is, you know, you're just, you people are so creative over there. [7:39] Good job. [7:40] Your lives must be boring. [7:42] Michael Flynn hasn't had a boring life. [7:46] In 2015, he attended an event with President Putin in Moscow. [7:50] He was later hired and then fired as President Trump's national security adviser and is now [7:56] being investigated for his Russian connections. [7:59] Did you know General Michael Flynn? [8:01] He came over here for a dinner, a photo of which has been widely circulated in the American [8:06] media. [8:07] What was the nature of your relationship with him? [8:12] You and I, you and I personally have a much closer relationship than I had with Mr. Flynn. [8:19] You and I met yesterday evening. [8:21] You and I have been working together all day today, and now we're meeting again. [8:25] When I came to the event for our company, Russia Today, and sat down at the table, next to [8:30] me there was a gentleman sitting on one side. [8:32] I made my speech, then we talked about some other stuff, and I got up and left. [8:38] And then afterwards I was told, you know, there was an American gentleman, he was involved [8:41] in some things. [8:42] He used to be in the intelligence services. [8:45] That's it. [8:46] I didn't even really talk to him. [8:48] That's the extent of my acquaintance with Mr. Flynn. [8:51] But what about his relationship with President Trump? [8:54] I would get along with Russia, and I'll get along with Putin. [8:57] And he's not going to make us look bad anymore. [8:59] But we're going to get along. [9:02] There have been questions in America about Donald Trump's finances. [9:05] He hasn't released his tax returns. [9:07] There have been questions about this secret Russian dossier, which he says is fake, but [9:12] which purports to have blackmail information in it generated by the Russians. [9:18] There have been questions about the communications between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign. [9:21] All of which has Americans asking, do you have something damaging on our president? [9:28] Well, this is just not a load of nonsense. [9:31] Where would we get this information from? [9:33] Why did we have some special relationship with him? [9:35] We didn't have any relationship at all. [9:37] There was a time when he used to come to Moscow, but you know, I never met with him. [9:42] We have a lot of Americans who visit us. [9:44] Right now, I think we have representatives from a hundred American companies that have come to Russia. [9:49] Do you think we're gathering compromising information on all of them right now or something? [9:54] Have you all lost your senses over there? [9:57] No, no, no. [9:59] And the truth is, is that it, is another, is that their government is going to come up and [10:00] to the end of our conversation. [10:01] Toward the end of our conversation, we moved away from the election controversy to President [10:04] Putin's reputation for repression. [10:06] Many Americans hear the name Vladimir Putin. [10:09] And they think he runs a country full of corruption, a country in which journalists who [10:16] are too critical could wind up murdered, a country in which dissidents could wind up in jail [10:22] or worse. [10:23] To people who believe that, what is your message? [10:26] I want to say that Russia is developing along a democratic path. [10:31] That is certain. [10:32] And no one should have any doubt about that. [10:35] Why do you feel you have the right to ask us these kinds of questions [10:39] and do it all the time, to moralize and to give us lessons on how to live? [10:43] We are ready to listen to comments when it's done constructively, [10:49] with the goal of establishing a relationship, creating a common environment. [10:54] But we will absolutely not accept when these sorts of things are used [10:58] as an instrument of political conflict. [11:02] I want everyone to know that. [11:04] That's our message.