Former Secretary of State John Kerry lambasted President Donald Trump‘s Helsinki, Finland press conference with Russian President Valdimir Putin, calling it a dangerous show of subservience on the international stage.
“I found it shocking,” he told CBS’ Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation during a Thursday interview. “I found it to be one of the most disgraceful, remarkable moments of kowtowing to a foreign leader by an American president that anyone has ever witnessed.”
Kerry’s criticism comes just three days after Trump’s summit with Putin, for which he has been bashed by numerous lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and even his friends in the conservative media. Critics say he failed to act from a position of authority, publicly doubting at the conference whether Russian meddling in the 2016 election had even occurred. While he attempted to reverse that remark more than 24 hours later, Kerry doesn’t trust it.
“I don’t buy his walk back for one second,” he said. “And by the way, how can anyone buy walk back after walk back when you take positions here and then you take positions over here and you’re repetitively walking back and changing?”
Castigating Trump for his weak stance during his Monday comments, Kerry explained it was “a kind of surrender,” adding that the president was left squirming.
“The president stood there and did not defend
At this point, Kerry feels Trump has been left with zero credibility, and that the public isn’t even sure whether to believe his remarks.
“That’s the worst situation you could have for the president of the United States and a dangerous world,” he said.
While Kerry is just one of a handful of current and former White House officials speaking out in the aftermath of the summit, Trump has tweeted that it was a success, claiming his opponents would rather see the U.S. at war with Russia.
Watch the clip above via Face the Nation.
[Image via screengrab]
Follow Amy Russo on Twitter: @amymrusso