Trump praises Putin as better leader than Obama
His remarks come on the heels of his comments over Clinton email scandal
Donald Trump called President Vladimir Putin of Russia “a better leader” than President Barack Obama, offering the praise in an interview with Fox & Friends on Thursday, just a day after saying he hoped Russian intelligence services had successfully hacked Hillary Clinton’s email. Asked about comments he had made Wednesday at a news conference where he said “Putin has much better leadership qualities than Obama,” Trump reiterated his views in slightly starker terms.
“I said he’s a better leader than Obama,” Trump said. “I said he’s a better leader than Obama, because Obama’s not a leader, so he’s certainly doing a better job than Obama is, and that’s all.”
Trump also tried to walk back, in part, comments he made Wednesday about Russia hacking Clinton’s emails — an extraordinary moment in which the Republican nominee urged Russia, an adversary, to conduct cyberespionage against a former secretary of state.
“Of course, I’m being sarcastic,” Trump said in the interview. “But you have 33,000 emails deleted, and the real problem is what was said in those emails from the Democratic National Committee. You take a look at what was said in those emails, it’s disgraceful. It’s disgraceful.”
Trump seemed to be conflating the roughly 30,000 emails on Clinton’s private server during her time as secretary of state and the roughly 20,000 Democratic National Committee emails that had been hacked. Trump’s comments Wednesday about Russian hacking set off criticism, and his efforts to recalibrate began just hours after he looked into a bank of television cameras and declared, “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.” Trump posted on Twitter on Wednesday that he was simply urging Russia to hand her emails over to the proper authorities. “If Russia or any other country or person has Hillary Clinton’s 33,000 illegally deleted emails, perhaps they should share them with the FBI!” Trump wrote. But on Thursday, he twice he called his comments “sarcastic.”
Trump’s remarks, which came on the penultimate day of the Democratic National Convention, largely dominated the news cycle during the day Wednesday, as Trump and Pence hopscotched the nation campaigning.
Even before Trump showed up for his rally in Ohio, the arena buzzed with talk of the Republican nominee’s appeal earlier in the day.
“We’d be lucky if Russia helped us out,” said Kathye Zaper, a realtor from Maumee, Ohio.
“The Clintons are a bunch of liars who need to be exposed any way possible. They should lock Hillary up and throw away the key.”
Though Trump’s comments so defied political orthodoxy that even many of his political backers — including Pence — sought to condemn any interference by Russia in U.S. elections and governing, people at the rally in Toledo applauded what they described as Trump’s forthrightness.
Pam Thieman, a 61-year-old from Toledo, said she thought Trump had a “great idea” in encouraging the Russians to hack Clinton’s email. “I’m more than happy to have Putin help,” she said.
“We’ve got to expose everything that woman is hiding.”