Posted on 02/06/2017 2:39:43 AM PST by reaganaut1
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said he respects Vladimir Putin, and when an interviewer called the Russian leader "a killer," Trump said the United States has many of them.
"What do you think? Our country's so innocent?" he told Fox's Bill O'Reilly in an excerpt released by the network. The president's interview was to air Sunday afternoon on the Super Bowl pregame show.
Trump has long expressed a wish for better ties with Moscow, praised Putin and signaled that U.S.-Russia relations could be in line for a makeover, even after U.S. intelligence agencies determined that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign to help Trump win against Democrat Hillary Clinton. Putin has called Trump a "very bright and talented man."
During Putin's years in power, a number of prominent Russian opposition figures and journalists have been killed.
In the interview, Trump says, "I do respect him," and then is asked why.
"I respect a lot of people, but that doesn't mean I'm going to get along with him. He's a leader of his country. I say it's better to get along with Russia than not. And if Russia helps us in the fight against ISIS, which is a major fight, and Islamic terrorism all over the world — that's a good thing," Trump said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group. "Will I get along with him? I have no idea."
O'Reilly then said about Putin: "But he's a killer, though. Putin's a killer."
Trump responded: "There are a lot of killers. We've got a lot of killers. What do you think? Our country's so innocent?"
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
.
To those that have been watching what has gone down for decades, Trump is being mild.
He has nothing to explain about.
.
Murder is murder. Nobody claimed a moral equivalency except the media who somehow knew what Trump really meant to say. The problem is, he didn't say anything other than are we innocent, we're not - we kill/murder - look it up, there are countless cases.
“And you are naive if you think what he said is not true.
I would rather have truth any day, over any flavor of BS.”
I agree. The OP is on the naïve side.
I guess he got the heads up before the rest of US saying that the military was not posting their air strike results for Years! Now I believe war is war and you fight to win but I like this honesty and it pulls the ladder out under the libs feet!
I’ve posted that so many times on social media, there’s usually nothing left to say.
His last critic/journalist had an “accident” where she fell out of her building.
Not to mention the guy who was poisoned with Polonium.
The assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem, the president of our ally, South Vietnam, by the Kennedy Admin was not a proud moment.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.