NBC News Exclusive: ‘Hackers Can Be Everywhere:’ Putin Tells Megyn Kelly in One-on-One Interview

In an exclusive one-on-one interview with NBC News’ Megyn Kelly, President Vladimir Putin addressed his earlier claim that private “patriotic” hackers could have interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

“Hackers can be anywhere. They can be in Russia, in Asia…even in America, Latin America,” Putin said in a preview that aired on “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt.” “They can even be hackers, by the way, in the United States, who very skillfully and professionally, shifted the blame, as we say, on to Russia. Can you imagine something like that? In the midst of a political battle. By some calculations it was convenient for them to release this information, so they released it, citing Russia. Could you imagine something like that? I can.”

You can watch the preview, along with Kelly’s intro and tag here: http://nbcnews.to/2rOqJpH. A transcript is below. More can be found on NBC News.com and on “Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly” this Sunday, June 4 at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT.

Earlier on Friday, Kelly moderated the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic forum. For a recap of the forum, visit NBCNews.com.

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MEGYN KELLY INTRO FROM RUSSIA: Jose, it was an eye-opening exchange with a defiant President Putin in St. Petersburg today. He has denied Russian involvement in the hacking and interference with our U.S. presidential election for some time. That changed earlier this week and the story appears to be evolving yet again.

VLADIMIR PUTIN (FROM ONE-ON-ONE INTERVIEW): Hackers can be anywhere. They can be in Russia, in Asia…even in America, Latin America. They can even be hackers, by the way, in the United States, who very skillfully and professionally, shifted the blame, as we say, on to Russia. Can you imagine something like that? In the midst of a political battle. By some calculations it was convenient for them to release this information, so they released it, citing Russia. Could you imagine something like that? I can.”

MEGYN KELLY TAG FROM RUSSIA: Not just Americans, but he went onto suggest that perhaps the CIA was behind the hacking situation, likening this one to that involving the J.F.K. assassination and the conspiracy theories surrounding that. We went onto discuss his contacts – and those of the Kremlin – with Michael Flynn and with Jared Kushner. And I asked him the question on the minds of A lot of Americans, which is: does he have something damaging on President Trump? We’ll talk about all of it when our new show, “Sunday Night,” premieres this Sunday, 7 p.m. Jose.