Russia and Putin · First term · № 28
Answered 'Putin's a killer' by asking whether the United States is 'so innocent'
“There are a lot of killers. We've got a lot of killers. What do you think — our country's so innocent. You think our country's so innocent?”
- Said
- , Fox News interview with Bill O'Reilly (excerpt released February 4, 2017; aired February 5)
- Subject
- O'Reilly interview
- Type
- Praise and deference
- Topic
- Foreign policy
- Era
- First term
What happened
In an interview with Bill O'Reilly of Fox News, Trump said he respected Putin and that it was better to get along with Russia than not. When O'Reilly said Putin was a killer, Trump replied that there were a lot of killers and asked whether the United States was so innocent, then referred to the Iraq war, saying 'a lot of people were killed'. A clip of the exchange was released on February 4, 2017, and the full interview aired the next day before the Super Bowl. CNN described the comparison as an unusual assertion for a U.S. president. On February 6 the Kremlin called O'Reilly's description of Putin 'unacceptable and insulting' and asked Fox News for an apology.