CNN’s Berman Corners Rep. Gaetz on Trump Tweet Defending Russia: Has He Ever Said Putin is Lying?
Rep. Matt Gaetz, one of Donald Trump‘s most reliable cable news defenders, appeared on CNN Thursday morning and faced a tough grilling over the president’s suggestion that Russia did not meddle in the 2016 election.
New Day host John Berman was perplexed by Trump’s tweet this morning parroting Vladimir Putin‘s talking points minutes before announcing a summit with the Russian leader.
“I have no idea, but I’m going to stop second-guessing President Trump’s Twitter foreign policy and Twitter diplomacy,” the Florida Republican said. “It seems to have moved us in the right direction in North Korea and if it can improve our relations with Russia that’s good.”
“I’m not asking you to second guess it,” Berman interjected. “And you sit on the Armed Services Committee, and obviously you have a key interest in US-Russian relations, you know the assessment from the US intelligence agencies that Russia meddled in the US election.”
“Russia did meddle in our elections, Russia meddles in elections all over the world,” Gaetz said. “That is not something that is factually in dispute.”
Berman continued to grill Gaetz on the tweet, and the congressman offered the limp defense that Trump’s claim — that “Russia continues to say they had nothing to do with Meddling in our Election” — is factually correct, but that the claim is a “lie.”
“Have you ever heard the president say that Vladimir Putin is lying when he suggests that Russia did not meddle in the election?” Berman asked.
Gaetz dodged, arguing that Trump has been “tough on Russia,” before outlining Putin’s meddling in foreign elections.
“You were just roughly 6 billion times tougher on Vladimir Putin and Russian meddling than President Trump has ever been,” Berman responded. “President Trump is the one who will be sitting down face-to-face with Vladimir Putin one month from now. Do you hope he says to Vladimir Putin, ‘I don’t believe you when you say Russia did not meddle in the U.S. Election’?”
Watch his answer above, via CNN.
[image via screengrab]
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