Trump Denies Ever Meeting Putin Despite Previously Bragging That He Had

Note: This post has been republished from July 27th, 2016.
After months of praising Russian leader Vladimir Putin and bragging about having once met, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump claimed Tuesday that they had never even met at all.

“I have nothing to do with Russia,” Trump maintained in an interview with CBS’s Miami affiliate. “I never met Putin, nothing to do with Russia.”

But in November’s Fox Business Republican debate, Trump went out of his way to defend Putin, and played up their relation based on having once met. “I got to know him very well because we were both on 60 Minutes. We were stablemates, and we did very well that night,” he said.

Based on that meeting, Trump defended Russian intervention in Syria. “If Putin wants to go and knock the hell out of ISIS, I am all for it, 100%, and I can’t understand how anybody would be against it,” he said.

He continued, saying the United States should not be taking the lead in defending Ukraine from Russia aggression. “I’m all for protecting Ukraine and working — but, we have countries that are surrounding the Ukraine that aren’t doing anything. They say, “Keep going, keep going, you dummies, keep going. Protect us.'”

Watch above, via CBS4.

[Image via screengrab]
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