Fallout after Trump-Putin meeting

President Donald Trump said on Monday he holds both the United States and Russia responsible for the breakdown in the relationship -- adding Russia to the mix after he said earlier Monday US policies and the special counsel's investigation were responsible.

Trump said he feels that the US and Russia have "both made some mistakes."

Still, the US president again lambasted the special counsel's investigation stemming from Russian interference in the 2016 election as "a disaster for our country."

"I think that the probe is a disaster for our country. I think it’s kept us (the US and Russia) apart. I think it’s kept us separated," Trump said.

A reporter just asked President Trump about comments he made describing Russian President Vladimir Putin as a "competitor."

Here's what Trump said:

President Donald Trump said Monday that he raised the issue of election interference during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a topic, he said, where Putin “has an interesting idea.”

“I felt this was a message best delivered in person,” Trump said of bringing up the 2016 election interference.

He continued, “President Putin may very well want to address it and very strongly cause he feels very strongly about it and he has an interesting idea.”

He said the two leaders also discussed nuclear proliferation, the denuclearization of North Korea, and radical Islamic terrorism.

Putin said in his opening remarks that Trump brought up "so-called interference" during the meeting, noting that he "had to reiterate" that Russia had nothing to do with it.

President Trump said his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin had significantly improved the relationship between the two countries.

He that while the US-Russia relationship "has never been worse than it is now," he believes that has now "changed" after his summit with Putin.

Trump also said he believes that diplomacy with Russia, while perhaps not politically popular, is necessary.

"Nothing would be easier than to refuse to meet, to refuse to engage," Trump said. "But that would not accomplish anything."

Russian President Vladimir Putin, standing next to President Trump at a news conference, insisted that Russia "never interfered" with American affairs, including the 2016 presidential election.

Putin said Trump raised the issue, something the US President had promised to do.

"Once again, President Trump mentioned issue of the so-called interference of Russia with the American elections," Putin said. "I had to reiterate things I said several times, including during our personal contacts, that the Russian state has never interfered and is not going to interfere in internal American affairs, including election process."

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he expressed his concern over President Trump's decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

"We also mentioned our concern about the withdrawal of the United States from the JCPOA," Putin said. "Thanks to the Iranian nuclear deal, Iran began most controlled country in the world."

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Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking at a joint news conference, described his meeting with President Trump as frank and business-like. He said it was successful and they had a "fruitful round of negotiations."

But Putin acknowledged the US-Russia relationship has been complicated.

Moments before President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin took the stage, a man was forcibly removed from the room. Watch how it unfolded below.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, it seems, knows how to play the waiting game.

The Kremlin leader arrived in Helsinki at around 1:00 pm local time, just around the time his summit with President Donald Trump was originally scheduled to start. Observers took note: Putin has a habit of keeping other dignitaries waiting.

In 2016, he arrived in Japan over two hours behind schedule for talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The year before, Pope Francis waited patiently for more than an hour at the Vatican for his Russian guest to arrive. And on more than one occasion, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko had to cool his heels while waiting for meeting with Putin to start.

But the record for waiting patiently for Putin may belong to German Chancellor Angela Merkel. In 2014, amid the crisis over the Crimea annexation, Putin kept Merkel waiting in Milan for a meeting four hours later than originally scheduled.

Negotiating tactic? In fairness, Putin’s late start at the historic Helsinki summit may have one possible explanation: Sunday was the World Cup final in Moscow, marking the end of a month of celebrations around the tournament.

Putin had always been scheduled to arrive first in Helsinki, so Trump delayed his departure to the Presidential Palace to accommodate Putin's tardiness. All told, the summit got started only an hour behind schedule.