During an August 7 press conference, Trump dismissed his own intelligence community’s belief that Russia was working to again have Trump elected.

REPORTER: Thank you, sir. Mr. President, the intelligence agencies today said that Russia is already meddling in this year’s elections to hurt Joe Biden, and that China is considering meddling to hurt you. Do you believe that intelligence, and what do you plan to do about it?

 

TRUMP: I mean, I could be very much. I think that the last person Russia wants to see in office is Donald Trump, because nobody’s been tougher on Russia than I have, ever.

 

REPORTER: That’s not what they calling it.

 

TRUMP: Well, I don’t care what anybody says. Nobody with any common sense would say, “Do it.” Look at what we’ve done with our military. Look at what we’ve done in exposing the pipeline with billions of dollars going to Russia. Look at all of the things we’ve done with NATO, where I’ve raised $130 billion a year from countries that were delinquent, and now they’re paying all of this money. And the $130, by the way, $130 billion, not million, billion, goes to $400 billion over a few years. And that’s all money to protect against Russia. China would love us to have an election where Donald Trump lost sleepy Joe Biden. They would dream. They would own our country.

National Counterintelligence and Security Center William Evanina released a press statement the same day that asserted, “We assess that Russia is using a range of measures to primarily denigrate former Vice President Biden and what it sees as an anti-Russia ‘establishment.'”

Despite Trump’s defense that he had been the hardest on Russia, Trump repeatedly denigrated NATO, comparing it to an unrelated trade agreement. He also took the “extremely strong and powerful” word of Putin over his own intelligence agencies over whether Russia interfered in the 2016 election, and openly said he would accept foreign assistance.

Office of the Direct of National Intelligence – Statement by NCSC Director William Evanina: Election Threat Update for the American Public
WhiteHouse.gov – Remarks by President Trump in Press Briefing | Bedminster, NJ
Business Insider – US intel community believes Russia wants Biden to lose the 2020 election while China wants him to win