Trump brought up meddling in US vote, telling Putin to ‘cut it out’

US President Donald Trump brought up allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin on the sideline of the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, asking him to “cut it out,” says the American envoy to the United Nations.

“What he did was bring up right away the election meddling, and he did that for a reason,” Nikki Haley said in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “One, he wanted … to basically look him in the eye, let him know that: ‘Yes, we know you meddled in our elections. Yes, we know you did it, and cut it out.’”

US intelligence agencies report that Russia tried to help Trump's campaign effort. The FBI as well as congressional committees are investigating whether the Russian government coordinated with Trump associates during the campaign.

Haley moved on to say that the Russian leader “did exactly what we thought he would do” when he denied Moscow’s interference.

“And I think that is what it is. They’re gonna always have two different stories on this,” she said. “They’re gonna always have two different stances on this. But at the end of the day what was most important was for President Putin to hear from President Trump: ‘We know you did this. We didn’t like it. Don’t do it again.’”

While speaking with British Prime Minister Theresa May at the Hamburg Messe in Germany, Trump said he and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had a "tremendous meeting with" Putin on Friday, 

‘US not after regime change’

The US ambassador to the UN (pictured below) also appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” where she commented about North Korea’s “hugely dangerous” test-launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) recently.

“We’ve got to put a stop to it,” she said. “And so what we wanted to tell North Korea is, look, we have told you we are not looking for regime change. We are not looking for war. But don’t give us a reason to get involved in any of this.”

Washington will spare no efforts to “push for a strong resolution against North Korea,” at the UN, stated the former governor of South Carolina.

“I think it will be very telling based on how other countries respond whether they want to hold [North Korean leader] Kim Jong-un’s hand through this process or whether they want to be on the side of so many countries who know that this is a dangerous person with the access to an ICBM,” Haley said. “So we're going to fight hard on this.”

The US has previously threatened to stop trading with some countries allowing trade with Pyongyang in an apparent reference to China, which has reportedly boosted trade with its resolute neighbor this year.

“Ammunition comes with multiple options, and it’s not always military,” Haley said last week. “Ammunition also comes with sanctions. Ammunition also comes with trade. We do a lot of trade with a lot of countries. If there is a country that we don’t think is looking out for our security and looking out for our confidence in that, then yes. That is one of the ammunition options we have on the table.”

North Korea’s successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile could mean Pyongyang is closer to being able to strike the US mainland.

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