For anyone concerned about President Trump’s upcoming summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, there’s good reason to be worried. No matter what our intelligence agencies and the Justice Department discover about Russia’s unprecedented attacks against U.S. democracy, Trump continues to defend Putin and, instead, attack our allies.
NEW: @jeffglor interviews President Trump in Scotland ahead of Monday’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin; watch a preview on @facethenation Sunday at 10:30am ET and the full interview Monday on the CBS Evening News pic.twitter.com/qbp5cgUBaB
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) July 14, 2018
Trump sat down with CBS News anchor Jeff Glor during his visit to Scotland, a visit that has been loudly protested by the Scottish people, and named the country he is currently in, as well as the rest of the EU, foes instead of allies.
‘I think we have a lot of foes. I think the European Union is a foe, what they do to us in trade. Now, you wouldn’t think of the European Union, but they’re a foe.’
Exchange with President Trump in new interview with CBS News:
Anchor: "What’s your goal for the Putin meeting?"
Trump: "I’ll let you know after the meeting."
— Victor Blackwell CNN (@VictorBlackwell) July 15, 2018
Trump did then name Russia and China as foes, as well, but only after our allied countries. The EU and the rest of our allied countries came to our defense after 9/11, sending troops to help us fight the war on terror, which the U.S. botched badly by attacking the wrong country. Still, they were willing to stand with us. Russia has committed cyberwarfare against our country, but Trump thought to name them as foes before Russia.
‘I respect the leaders of those countries. But, in a trade sense, they’ve really taken advantage of us and many of those countries are in NATO and they weren’t paying their bills.’
IN CBS INTERVIEW W/ @jeffglor
The VERY FIRST FOE (Enemy) of America that Trump names is THE EUROPEAN UNION
Not Russia.
He thinks EU is bigger risk than Putin.
Why? Because Putin got him elected and EU leaders won't sign a loyalty oath to him.#TrumpFirst #AmericaLast pic.twitter.com/9FPX4HfnFh
— Jesse Ferguson (@JesseFFerguson) July 15, 2018
Trump also chose to attack Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into those cyberwarfare attacks on our country and the alleged collusion with Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign instead of a hostile foreign country’s attack. Speaking on FBI Agent Peter Strzok’s appearance before Congress, Trump viciously condemned the man who has led our defense against Russian spies and counterintelligence because he doesn’t like Trump.
‘I think we’re greatly hampered by this whole witch hunt that’s going on in the United States. The Russian witch hunt. The — the rigged situation. I watch some of the testimony, even though I’m in Europe, of Strzok. And I thought it was a disgrace to our country. I thought it was an absolute disgrace…I think it hurts our relationship with Russia.’
Quote of the day (so far) Trump in CBS interview: “I think the DNC should be ashamed of themselves for allowing themselves to be hacked." https://t.co/QWipJZX60f
— Joe Sharkey (@JoeSharkey12) July 15, 2018
Our relationship with Russia is already hurt, but not by the man who has defended us against them for 27 years. Only with Trump as president could the FBI be considered a bigger enemy than the country attacking us.
Featured image via Getty/Chris Johnson
