CNN host Jake Tapper opened his Friday show with an overview of the developing story on Donald Trump's reaction to Russia's interference in the 2016 election.
Tapper aired a clip of Trump saying that the real problem is people being angry about Russians helping him win an election—and not the fact that they did help him.
"I think we are being hurt very badly by the, I would call it the witch hunt, I would call it the rigged witch hunt," Trump said. "I think that really hurts our country and really hurts our relationship with Russia. I think we would have a chance to have a very good relationship with Russia and a very good relationship with President Putin."
Tapper then discussed the fact that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had briefed Trump on the coming indictments of Russian intelligence agents.
"The man tasked with protecting the United States of America, knowing of these indictments of 12 Russian military officers for a successful cyber attack against the United States, that man expressed regret as to how the investigation is hurting relations with Russia," Tapper said.
But it's worse than that, he said, because Trump asked Russia to hack Clinton, and they redoubled their efforts the same day.
"The president saying this is all a witch hunt," Tapper said. "False, according to his own Justice Department. The president saying the hacks weren't necessarily done by the Russians. False, according to his own Justice Department."
Watch below.