Trump says his critics hurt the country by “playing politics” on Russia

In a tweet sent Sunday from Hanoi, President Donald Trump bashed the “haters and fools” he said were questioning his efforts to improve relations with Russia and accused critics of “playing politics” and hurting the country. His earlier remarks to reporters were self-contradictory.
On the one hand, he said he believed US intelligence agencies, which accused Russia of meddling in the 2016 US presidential election. But he also believed Russian President Vladimir Putin was sincere when he denied this. “Every time he sees me, he said: ‘I didn’t do that.’ And I believe — I really believe — that when he tells me that, he means it,” Trump said
Instead of asking him again and again, “I’d rather have him get out of Syria. I’d rather have him, you know, work with him on the Ukraine than standing and arguing,” he said.
The US president then slammed the intelligence agencies: “I mean, give me a break. They’re political hacks,” Trump said, citing by name James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence, John Brennan, the former CIA director and his ousted ex-FBI director James Comey, whom Trump said was “proven now to be a liar and a leaker.”