Russia and Putin · 2016 campaign · № 9
Answered questions about Putin killing journalists with 'our country does plenty of killing also'
“Well, I think our country does plenty of killing also, Joe. You know. There's a lot of stupidity going on in the world right now, Joe. A lot of killing going on and a lot of stupidity and that's the way it is.”
- Said
- , Call-in interview on MSNBC's Morning Joe
- Subject
- Putin and journalists
- Type
- Praise and deference
- Topic
- Foreign policy
- Era
- 2016 campaign
What happened
Host Joe Scarborough asked whether Trump was concerned about Putin's tactics, including the alleged killing of political dissidents and journalists. Trump first said, 'He's running his country and at least he's a leader. You know, unlike we have in this country,' then gave the answer above; Talking Points Memo reported that he eventually said he 'absolutely' condemned the killing of journalists. On ABC's This Week two days later he said: 'In all fairness to Putin, you're saying he killed people. I haven't seen that. I don't know that he has. Have you been able to prove that?' and 'it's never been proven that he's killed anybody.' Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney criticized the remarks. At a rally in Grand Rapids on December 21, 2015 he returned to the subject: 'they say, he killed reporters. I said, really? He says, he didn't. Other people say he didn't. Who did he kill?'