Washington: US President Donald Trump on Thursday asserted that Russia did not help him get elected in the 2016 presidential elections and alleged that Moscow would have preferred Hillary Clinton as president.
"No, Russia did not help me get elected. You know who got me elected? You know who got me elected? I got me elected? Russia didn't help me at all. Russia, if anything, I think, helped the other side," Trump told reporters in the South Lawns of the White House.
"Do you believe that Russia helped you get elected?" he was asked by reporters.
Trump defeated Hillary Clinton of the Democratic Party in the 2016 presidential elections. She was considered to be favourites by pollsters and the media in the 2016 elections before Trump surprised everyone by his victory.
"What you ought to ask is this, do you think the media helped Hillary Clinton get elected? She didn't make it, but you take a look at collusion between Hillary Clinton and the media. You take a look at collusion between Hillary Clinton and Russia. She had more to do in the campaign with Russia than I did. I had nothing to do," Trump said in response to a question.
"And by the way, that's one other thing, if you look, this was all about Russia, Russia, Russia, they don't talk about Russia anymore because it turned out to be a hoax, it was all a hoax," said the US President.
His comments came 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 afterwards.
"Of course, I fight back, because it was a false accusation, a totally false accusation and it's a disgrace and it's a very sad period for this country. I think in the end I will consider what's happening now to be one of my greatest achievements, exposing this corruption," Trump asserted.
When asked about the growing chorus of members of Congress calling for impeachment, he said: "I never thought that would even be possible to be using that word. To me, it's a dirty word, the word impeach. It's a dirty, filthy, disgusting word and it had nothing to do with me."
"I don't think so, because there was no crime. You know it's high crimes and, not with or or, it's high crimes and misdemeanours. There was no high crime and there was no misdemeanour, so how do you impeach based on that?" he said.
"It came out that there was nothing to do with Russia. The whole thing is a scam. It's a giant presidential harassment, and honestly, I hope it goes down as one of my greatest achievements because I've exposed corruption, I've exposed corruption like nobody knew existed," he said.
