AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais
- On the flight home from Helsinki, Finland, President Donald Trump tweeted a message that backtracked on his comments questioning US intelligence agencies.
- He said he had 'GREAT confidence" in intelligence agencies, hours after questioning their conclusions in a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
- White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders delivered journalists aboard the flight sheets of paper with the tweet typed out because the press cabin doesn't have WiFi.
With no internet in the press cabin of Air Force One, journalists are handed tweets from President Donald Trump on sheets of paper, a White House reporter has revealed.
On the flight home from Helsinki, Finland, on Monday evening, Trump tweeted a message that backtracked on his comments questioning US intelligence agencies that he had made earlier in the day.
"As I said today and many times before, 'I have GREAT confidence in MY intelligence people.' However, I also recognize that in order to build a brighter future, we cannot exclusively focus on the past - as the world's two largest nuclear powers, we must get along!" he said in a tweet following a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Shortly after the tweet was posted, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders delivered journalists aboard the flight sheets of paper with the tweet typed out.
The sheet of paper shows Trump's Twitter handle at the top with his statement typed below.
Politico's White House reporter Annie Karni said the paper is handed out because the press cabin has no WiFi, unlike Trump's cabin on the plane.
She said the paper makes the tweets "look more like presidential statements."
Trump's tweet about US intelligence appeared to backtrack on what he had said hours earlier standing next to Putin.
In the press conference earlier on Monday, Trump had openly questioned his own intelligence agencies and denounced the special counsel investigation into Russian interference efforts into the 2016 presidential election, which remains ongoing.
"My people came to me - [Director of National Intelligence] Dan Coats came to me and some others - they said they think it's Russia," Trump said. "I have President Putin; he just said it's not Russia. I will say this: I don't see any reason why it would be."
Lawmakers and political pundits from both parties denounced Trump's failure to condemn Putin, and his performance at the summit overall.
With no WiFi on AF1 in press cabin, the tweets are delivered to us on paper, making them look more like presidential statements. pic.twitter.com/trcu9QMEpV
- Annie Karni (@anniekarni) July 17, 2018