CNN’s Jake Tapper Confronts Top Trump Official With Stunning Clip of Russian State TV Praising Trump’s ‘Total Alignment’ With Putin

CNN anchor Jake Tapper confronted a top official of President Donald Trump’s State Department with stunning footage of Russian State TV praising Trump.

In an interview on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday, Tapper confronted Steve Witkoff — Special Envoy to Middle East who has also taken a lead role in Russia-Ukraine peace talks — about Russia’s belief that Trump’s view of the conflict is in “total alignment” with Vladimir Putin’s. To drive home the point, Tapper played footage from Wednesday of a Russian State TV host named Vladimir Soloviov praising Trump’s views, and claiming he essentially got his talking points direct from Putin during a Feb. 12 phone call.

“When Trump is answering questions about the press conference. I think it is not a coincidence that many of the narratives that are being voiced largely materialized after their conversation,” Soloviov said. He added, “The phrases [Trump] is saying, are so deep and so correct. They are in total alignment with the way we see things.”

The CNN anchor pressed Witkoff about the shocking clip.

“Do you think it’s good that the Russians think that the Trump administration is in total alignment with the way that Putin sees things?” Tapper asked.

Witkoff dodged the question by offering up a more broad response about the importance of having good relationships with both Russia and Ukraine:

“I think we’ve had, Jake, by my estimation, almost a million and a half deaths share. And finally, we have a leader — that is President Trump — who is determined to end the carnage. And so, the only way you’re going to end the carnage is if you have a relationship with the leaders of of both countries that are involved.

I went over to Russia, I had a meeting with with President Putin. It was a long meeting. Positive, constructive. Lots of good things got discussed — in large part because the president enjoyed a positive relationship with President Putin from his first term in office, and that then evolved into a positive conversation with the president on a telephone call from the White House. And then there was a positive conversation with [Ukraine] President [Volodymyr] Zelensky.

So I think you’ve got to have these relationships. You’ve got to have communication. That’s the only way you get deals done.”

Watch above, via CNN.

Watch above, via CNN.