“I mean, you obviously condemn Vladimir Putin killing journalists and political opponents, right?” the host asked.
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Trump has already expressed affection for Putin before, claiming that they knew each other “very well” and that he would undoubtedly improve USA relations with Russian Federation to make the situation more stable. “Especially when the person heads up Russia”, Trump replied.
Rivals in the primary race for 2016 have sought to use Putin’s endorsement against the billionaire.
While Republican presidential candidates have talked tough in response to Putin on the campaign trail, often criticizing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for her “reset” with Russian Federation shortly after President Barack Obama entered office in 2009. That’s what Trump is, except he would also have the nuclear codes.
U.N. Security Council members approved a resolution Friday outlining a peace process for Syria involving talks by representatives of the Damascus government and the opposition, but the draft says nothing on the critical issue of what role President Bashar Assad will play.
“I suppose [Putin] sympathises with Trump without knowing him well in person but he is following him closely, what he does and says, just because he is not a kind of usual Western politician”, Alexander Baunov, an analyst at the Moscow Carnegie Center, told the Associated Press news agency.
A recent petition to block Donald Trump from entering the United Kingdom has received over 500k signatures.
Trump then said there was no evidence that Putin or his government have participated in the killing of journalists. He added that United States voters will have to judge Trump based on his merits.
However, Trump went back to complimenting Putin a moment later, praising his high approval rating among Russians, which Trumped cited at “in the 80s”. It’s an worldwide bromance that’s driving GOP establishment figures to call out Trump’s ideological incompatibility with the Republican Party in yet another arena. He called Trump “Hillary 2.0” through his Twitter account.
Trump further argued, “the pressure is on the president”.
But the connection Trump is seizing on, Black said, ignores Putin’s track record – and the GOP’s, consistent since McCain, of eyeing Putin as a bad actor on the world stage.
He considers the handling of US-Russian relations by President Obama effective in terms of US interests while standing up for basic worldwide standards violated by the activities of Russia along its border with Ukraine.
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“But, in all fairness to Putin, you’re saying he killed people”.
