Fox News host Jessica Tarlov and other figures roasted President Donald Trump over an “embarrassingly naive” hot mic moment that Tarlov said must have Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin “smiling in Moscow.”
The president held high-stakes talks at the White House Monday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders, including a series of White House photo ops. The meetings come days after Trump rolled out the red carpet for Putin in an effort to secure a deal.
Just before the press was permitted in for the European leaders photo op, Trump was caught on a hot mic telling someone his thoughts on Putin:
I think he wants to make a deal for me. Do you understand that? As crazy as it sounds.Sit down. Sit down, everybody. I think we’ll let the press come in for a minute.
That moment instantly went viral, and prompted brutal reactions from media figures and others.
Tarlov, who co-hosts Fox News Channel’s The Five, wrote “The inner KGB agent within Vladimir Putin is smiling in Moscow tonight.”
Former White House correspondent and current journalism teacher Sam Youngman wrote “It’s wild to see a hall of fame con-artist not realize he’s the mark.”
Pod Save host and former Obama White House senior adviser Dan Pfieffer called the moment “So embarrassingly naive.”
CNN’s Edward Isaac-Dovere called out the moment as well, posting the clip
Conservative anti-Trump media figure Heath Mayo wrote “So stupid. Putin is playing Trump—and now Trump has let him know.”
Popular responses by other users included posts calling Trump “delusional,” a “child,” a “degenerate,” an idiot,” and more.
The clip has racked up over 1.4 million views on X/Twitter since it was posted.
Watch above via the White House feed (H/T Aaron Rupar).