Former President Donald Trump declined to say Tuesday in Chicago whether he has spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin since leaving office, but he said that it would be a “smart thing” for him to do so.
Trump was being interviewed onstage by Bloomberg News editor-in-chief John Micklethwait at the Economic Club of Chicago.
Micklethwait, who adopted an adversarial posture throughout the interview, asked Trump about allegations in Bob Woodward’s new book, claiming that Trump had spoken to Putin at least seven times since Trump left office.
“Can you say, yes or no, whether you have talked to Vladimir Putin since you have stopped being president?” Micklethwait asked.
“Well, I don’t comment on that, but — I will tell you that — but if did, it’s a smart thing,” Trump replied. “If I’m friendly with people, if I have a relationship with people — it’s a good thing, not a bad thing, in terms of our country.”
Trump noted that he had been tough on Russia, sanctioning the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, while at the same time adopting a friendly personal relationship with Putin. He implied it was wise to be friendly to a nuclear-armed country.
Democrats and the media continue to claim that Trump is subservient to Putin, even though Putin did not invade any countries while Trump was president — in contrast to invasions during the administrations of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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