Russia and Putin · 2016 campaign · № 8
Called it 'a great honor' to be praised by Putin, 'a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond'
“It is always a great honor to be so nicely complimented by a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond. I have always felt that Russia and the United States should be able to work well with each other towards defeating terrorism and restoring world peace, not to mention trade and all of the other benefits derived from mutual respect.”
- Said
- , Campaign statement released by spokeswoman Hope Hicks
- Subject
- Putin's compliment
- Type
- Praise and deference
- Topic
- Foreign policy
- Era
- 2016 campaign
What happened
At his annual news conference on December 17, 2015, Putin called Trump 'a bright and talented person without any doubt' and, according to the Russian news agency TASS, 'the absolute leader of the presidential race'. Trump's statement was issued later that day. Jeb Bush responded on Twitter that 'a true freedom-loving conservative wouldn't be flattered by praise from a despot like Putin'. Trump kept returning to the compliment; at a rally in Milford, New Hampshire on February 2, 2016 he said rivals had told him to disavow it: 'I said I'm not disavowing that he called me a genius. Are you crazy?'