Trump lavishes praise on ‘leader’ Putin

Donald Trump doesn’t seem very bothered by the killing of journalists under Russian president Vladmir Putin, because, Trump said this morning, that demonstrates that Putin “is a leader”.

“I think what he’s saying is, you know, a bit of bravado, telling them they’re doing a good job and our military is on the case and we can certainly bring in more”, said Doughterty, a former CNN correspondent who’s now a research scholar.

Trump, whom Putin recently called “bright and talented”, eventually condemned killing journalists and political opposition when a confused Scarborough asked a third time.

“Well, also a person that kills journalists, political opponents, and invades countries”.

When Scarborough pushed again, arguing that Putin “kills journalist that don’t agree with him”, Trump didn’t budge. “Obviously that would be a concern, would it not”, Scarborough asked. “I just think we would”, Trump “said” in the email.

“Well, you know, isn’t it sort of nice if like countries that we’re always fighting with, maybe we get along and let them do – right?”

TRUMP: There’s a lot of stupidity in the world right now, Joe. As a member of the media, I’m predisposed to think that the murder of members of the media shouldn’t be waved away.

The Republican frontrunner added, “Oh sure, absolutely”.

And two cycles ago, it was the GOP’s presidential nominee John McCain who famously stated that he had stared into Putin’s eyes and “saw three letters: a K, a G and a B”, a reference to Putin’s past as an agent of the ruthless Soviet intelligence agency.

“I always felt fine about Putin”, Trump said.

One of Mr Trump’s rivals for the Republican ticket, Jeb Bush, criticised his response to the Russian leader’s remarks on Thursday.

Trump then went on to cite how Putin is a “strong leader”, and touted Putin’s approval ratings – “up in the 80s” – as a reason why he was a better leader than Obama.

Later on Friday, Trump gave an interview to WABC and wouldn’t back away from his comments.

Nevertheless, Trump chose to believe the most complimentary versions of the story, and responded to the Russian president this morning.

The black box from the Russian Su-24 fighter-bomber downed by Turkey has been damaged, said Nikolai Primak, head of the Defense Ministry incident investigation group, at a briefing where the box was opened, the Interfax news agency reported Friday.