US President Donald Trump briefly acknowledged in a tweet Thursday that Russia helped him get elected but quickly backtracked in comments to reporters.
Trump until now has said adamantly that he won the 2016 election fair and square, downplaying the impact of what US intelligence agencies say was a concerted Russian effort to meddle in his favor.
"Russia, Russia, Russia! That's all you heard at the beginning of this Witch Hunt Hoax," Trump tweeted a day after Special Counsel Robert Mueller spoke publicly for the first time since the release of his report on collusion during the election campaign and possible obstruction of justice afterward.
"And now Russia has disappeared because I had nothing to do with Russia helping me to get elected," Trump added. He again complained of being a victim of what he called presidential harassment.
Mueller in his remarks declined to clear Trump of obstruction of justice.
Mueller found that Russia meddled in the 2016 election, and while he said that charging Trump with a crime was "not an option" because of federal rules, he emphasized that he did not exonerate the president.
He said that under longstanding Justice Department policy he could not bring charges against a sitting president, effectively leaving it up to Congress to decide whether to begin impeachment proceedings.
Trump told reporters Thursday as he departed the White House, "Russia didn't help me at all." He said Russia would have preferred that Hillary Clinton be elected, not him.
Trump claimed, "Nobody has been tougher" on Russia "than me."
