The US ambassador to the United Nations insisted Saturday that President Donald Trump had confronted Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin head-on over allegations of election interference, adding, "Everybody knows that Russia meddled in our elections."

Ambassador Nikki Haley said Trump had gone into the meeting "to basically look him in the eye, let him know that, yes, we know you did it and cut it out."

The US and Russian sides have issued sharply conflicting accounts of the meeting Friday in Hamburg, Germany between the two leaders. Russia has denied meddling, and Putin said Saturday that in the meeting, "I got the impression that my answers satisfied him" and that Trump "agreed."

But Haley said the Russian denials were expected. "This is Russia trying to save face," she told CNN. "And they can't. They can't."