Putin asked special counsel to ‘come and work’ with Russia, Trump says

Kevin Lamarque | Reuters

President Donald Trump and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin hold a joint news conference after their meeting in Helsinki, Finland, July 16, 2018. 

The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment. The special counsel declined to comment on Putin’s offer.

In that response, Trump refused to side with his own administration’s intelligence community, which unanimously agrees that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. He instead blamed “both countries” for the strained relationship and questioned the whereabouts of the Democratic National Committee server hacked by the Russians.

“I really do want to see the server,” Trump said after contending that “I don’t see any reason why it would be” Russia who hacked the opposition party.

When Putin explained his offer during the press conference, he also accused U.S. officials of committing crimes against Russia and said his government would want to question them in return.

He specifically cited Bill Browder, a former high-level investor in Russia who has become one of Putin’s most oft-cited enemies for his role in lobbying for the U.S. sanctions bill known as the Magnitsky Act.

That bill, which imposed punitive sanctions against Russia, was named after Browder’s lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, who died in police custody in Russia.

During the press conference on Monday, Putin said Browder’s associates sent $400 million in campaign contributions to Hillary Clinton’s campaign during the 2016 election.

In a CNBC interview shortly after the press conference, Browder said that the claim was not true, and added that he has not been a U.S. citizen for years.