Under fire for his deferential treatment of Vladimir Putin, a defiant President Donald Trump vowed in an interview that if his dealings with the Russian strongman don’t “work out, I’ll be the worst enemy he’s ever had.”
“I’ll be his worst nightmare, but I don’t think it’ll be that way,” Trump told CNBC’s Joe Kernen at the White House on Thursday. “I actually think we’ll have a good relationship.”
Trump also slammed former President Obama as a “total patsy” for Russia and claimed that he has been “far tougher on Russia than any president in many, many years – maybe ever.”
The embattled president has been widely condemned by Democrats and Republicans alike in the wake of his joint news conference with the Putin in Helsinki, where he seemed to accept the Russian leader’s denials of meddling in the 2016 election.
Amid an enduring firestorm, he subsequently claimed he misspoke during one exchange with reporters in Finland.
On Thursday, Trump invited Putin to the White House this fall for a second sit-down while cleanup efforts from their first summit were still in full swing.
A White House meeting would be a dramatic extension of legitimacy to the Russian leader, who has long been isolated by the West for activities in Ukraine, Syria and beyond.
Trump asked National Security Adviser John Bolton to invite Putin, and “those discussions are already underway,” Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Thursday.
Trump tweeted that he looked forward to “our second meeting” as he defended his performance at Monday’s summit, in which the two leaders discussed a range of issues including terrorism, Israeli security, nuclear proliferation and North Korea.
“There are many answers, some easy and some hard, to these problems … but they can ALL be solved!” Trump tweeted.
In the CNBC interview, Trump reiterated that he valued the chance of improving the Washington relationship with the Kremlin – despite the US intelligence community’s findings that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election.
“Getting along with President Putin, getting along with Russia, is positive, not a negative,” Trump said, repeating his common refrain.
“Now, with that being said if that doesn’t work out I’ll be the worst enemy he’s ever had – the worst he’s ever had,” he added.
His comments came on the heels of a New York Times report that said Trump, two weeks prior to his inauguration, had been presented with extensive evidence that the Russian strongman personally ordered the meddling in the US election.
To prove he is not beholden to the Russian leader, Trump cited several actions he has taken, including urging German Chancellor Angela Merkel to withdraw support for a new pipeline that would bring gas from Russia into her country.
At the recent NATO summit, Trump had called Germany “a captive of Russia” due to its reliance on Russian energy.
“I said, ‘Wait a minute, we’re supposed to be protecting you from Russia and you’re paying them billions of dollars. What’s that all about?’” Trump told CNBC.
“Now, you think that’s a positive for Russia? I’m talking them [Germany] out of things that they [Russia] were given billions of dollars. It’s ridiculous, by the way, that that’s happening,” he added.
Trump also cited the financial sanctions his administration has imposed on Russia and “the diplomats I threw out,” referring to Washington’s expulsion of 60 Russian diplomats who had been identified as intelligence officials after the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain.
“Look at all the things that I have done,” Trump said.
“Obama didn’t do it,” he said, comparing his efforts to his predecessor’s. “Obama was a patsy for Russia. A total patsy.”
Despite his assessment, under Obama, the US issued a number of sanctions against Russia after its annexation of Crimea in 2014. Obama and other allies also expelled Russia from the G-8 that year as payback for the Crimea crisis.
