Donald Trump on Sunday defended Russian President Vladimir Putin’s record on press freedom, challenging journalists to provide him with evidence that the Kremlin has ever sponsored efforts to murder reporters. The Republican frontrunner also vowed again to work closely with Russia, if elected President.
Mr. Trump was praised this week by Mr. Putin, who described the billionaire businessman as a “very colourful, talented person”. Mr. Putin’s words fuelled attacks by Mr. Trump’s rivals for the Republican nomination.
But Mr. Trump, whose lead in the polls has grown after a series of inflammatory Islamophobic slurs, called the Russian President’s remarks a “great honour” and described Mr. Putin as “a man highly respected within his own country and beyond”.
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Mr. Trump was called out on the platitudes during an interview with MSNBC on Friday. Asked to condemn the Kremlin’s alleged involvement in the assassination of reporters, he responded: “Our country does plenty of killing also”.
In a heated interview on ABC’s This Week on Sunday, Mr. Trump said: “In all fairness to Putin, you’re saying he killed people. I haven’t seen that. I don’t know that he has.” Mr. Trump challenged reporters to name a journalist who had been killed in Russia at the hands of the government. Host George Stephanopoulos cited the 2006 murder of investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya, which some activists have long linked to the Russian government.
“If he has killed reporters I think that’s terrible,” Mr. Trump replied. “But this isn’t like somebody that’s stood with a gun and he’s taken the blame or he’s admitted that he’s killed. He’s always denied it.
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