Trump compares Putin, past U.S. governments
President says VP Pence will probe unproven claims of voter fraud in 2016 election
While defending his diplomatic approach to Russian President Vladimir Putin — and suggesting that Putin’s regime is equivalent to past U.S. governments — President Trump said in a pre-Super Bowl interview broadcast Sunday that Vice President Pence will head a special commission to investigate unproven claims of voter fraud in last year’s election.
“We’re going to look at it very, very carefully,” Trump said of his claim that 3 million to 5 million voted illegally last year as he lost the popular vote to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Election officials in both parties said there is no evidence.
Also during the Fox News interview, Trump:
Declined to say whether he would void the nuclear agreement with Iran in light of new sanctions placed on the Tehran government late last week. “We’ll see what happens,” Trump said.
Suggested he is willing to use U.S. force to battle Mexican drug cartels that have operations in the United States. Trump said he likes the people of Mexico and President Enrique Peña Nieto, but “they have problems controlling aspects of their country, there’s no question about it.”
Claimed his tax cut and regulatory policies will lead to “tremendous job growth in this country.”
Said he might seek to cut off federal funds for California if it declares itself a “sanctuary state” for migrants who are in the country illegally; “if we have to, we’ll defund,” he said.
Predicted that the the New England Patriots would defeat the Atlanta Falcons by eight points in the Super Bowl.
Fox broadcast the taped interview amid bipartisan criticism of his comments about Russia.
Trump says he doesn’t know if he will get along with Putin or not, but “it’s better to get along with Russia than not” when it comes to issues like fighting the Islamic State.
When Fox interviewer Bill O’Reilly called Putin a “killer,” Trump responded: “There are a lot of killers. We’ve got a lot of killers. What do you think — our country’s so innocent?”
Pressed about allegations that Putin has had political opponents murdered, Trump said, “A lot of killers around, believe me.”
“We’re going to look at it very, very carefully.” President Trump