‘Putin killed reporters? Prove it!’ – Trump to ABC show host

He said: “He’s always denied it. It’s never been proven that he’s killed anybody”.

“He’s going to allow Trump to do that, and in the process of that he’s going to get a lot of what he wants”, Rojansky said.

MSNBC’s report noted that the Committee to Protect Journalists has published the names of journalists killed in Russia: “Since 1992, the CPJ says that 56 journalists of various nationalities have been killed in Russia”.

When faced with the criticism that Putin’s government and inner circle have played a role in the killing of journalists and those who oppose them, Trump had said “I think our country does plenty of killing too”.

On Sunday, Trump defended his endorsement by and of Putin, arguing he would “get along [with him] very well for the good of our country”.

“I would never kill them and anybody that does I think would be despicable”, Trump said of reporters at his Monday rally.

McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, asserted that Mr. Putin has murdered “people I knew”, Buzzfeed reported.

“Well, also it’s a person who kills journalists, political opponents and invades countries”, Scarborough said.

Opposing conventional knowledge, Trump continued by saying he has yet to see any evidence that Putin as killed anybody “in terms of reporters”.

While explaining Russia’s position on the Syrian settlement, the president added: “First, we asked the people: this way or not, do you agree or not”.

Trump has expressed admiration of Putin in the past.

The next morning Trump returned the praise on the same talk show in which he accused the United States of killings.

“We are ready to work with any president, for whom the American people will vote”, Putin said. “And I was like, of course, it’s Vladimir Putin.’ They are so alike”.

“I’ve been saying for months that whenever Trump opens his mouth and says something, I’m going ‘OK, where have I heard this before?” “I don’t know that he has. We will have smart leadership and strong leadership, and you know, frankly, having a good relationship with Russian Federation instead of a bad relationship with Russian Federation would be a positive thing, not a negative thing”. “I watched the two of them sitting in their two chairs as the press is taking their pictures and you can see there’s hatred in both cases, all right?”

Putin also described Trump as the “absolute frontrunner in the presidential race”.

“But no, I would never kill them”, he said. “But we have dealt with all kinds of countries in our history with all kinds of governmental systems, and I think our geopolitical interests should take precedence over any ideological purity”.