These factors have caused both Hillary Clinton and numerous media figures to alternatively question and highlight Trump’s cozy relationship with the Russian president.
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Donald Trump said Thursday he hopes Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein stay out of the presidential debates.
Trump’s interview with King was released on Thursday and promoted as an exclusive for RT America, which has been scrutinized for promoting Kremlin policy.
The two men have known each other for decades. “We’ll see what happens”.
“The media has been unbelievably dishonest”, Trump responded.
During the wide-ranging interview, the real estate tycoon also said it was unlikely that Russian hackers targeted Democratic Party databases as part of an effort to influence the election. Trump assures him that he has a plan but that he’s exhausted of giving critical information away to our enemies, such as we did in Iraq and Afghanistan by publishing withdrawal timetables. It seems even more remarkable that the Republican Party’s presidential nominee has been lavishing praise on Putin even as Russian Federation maneuvers to diminish America’s influence in the world.
Trump was interviewed by Larry King for RT, Russia Today, but his campaign manager said this morning that the Republican presidential nominee “didn’t know it would be on Russian TV”.
“It is so sad and so small and so elementary, and I think it’s hurting Hillary Clinton, which I think is even more than sad”, he concluded. RT, which airs in several countries in English and Russian, is funded by the Russian government; though it characterizes itself as independent, the network has been regularly accused of pro-Kremlin bias. Then on Thursday, Trump appeared on RT, a network operated by the Russian government, to slam American media and USA foreign policy and dismiss as “unlikely” the idea that the Russian government was involved in hacking the DNC’s email as American intelligence agencies believe. “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing”, Trump said during a press conference at one of his South Florida resorts.
Jason Miller, a Trump spokesman, told CNN the interview was recorded as a podcast and was a favor to King, adding, “Mr. Trump was never told it would be shared anywhere else”.
BOLLING: When they book you, they don’t specifically say you’re going to be on Russian TV.
“He was doing my TV show”, King said.
After a CNN analyst proclaimed that stories about Clinton’s health had “no place” in the reporting of legitimate news outlets, the network sent reporter Drew Griffin to corner Trump’s medical doctor at his office in a gross display of gotcha journalism. Even the most basic vetting for campaign communications should have discovered this, and noted the potential damage appearing on Russian-owned television might present.
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“But of course, they won’t do that because this is manufactured news by the Clinton campaign to vilify Donald Trump and connect him to Vladimir Putin, and that’s their strategy to win the election”, Schultz added. The fact that this took place less than nine weeks before the general election will have Republicans anxious again about the competence of Trump’s team, and the damage it might do outside of the Trump campaign to the GOP.
