Trump on Putin's alleged killing of journalists: 'At least he's a leader'

Donald Trump hesitated on Friday to criticize Russian President Vladimir Putin for allegations the Kremlin has killed high-profile journalists critical of the leader, saying "our country does plenty of killing also."

During an interview with MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Trump expanded upon his welcoming of praise from Putin, remarking that “when people call you brilliant, it’s always good, especially when the person heads up Russia.”


Co-host Joe Scarborough then asked Trump what he thought about the number of high-profile murders of journalists who have been critical of Putin. “He’s running his country, and at least he’s a leader, you know unlike what we have in this country,” Trump responded.

Scarborough pressed Trump again on the issue.

“Well I think our country does plenty of killing also, Joe,” Trump said. “So, you know. There’s a lot of stupidity going on in the world right now, Joe. A lot of killing going on, a lot of stupidity.”

Asked then, whether he would condemn Putin's hostility toward journalists, Trump said, “Oh sure, absolutely.”

According to data from the Committee to Protect Journalists, 23 members of the media have been killed in Russia since Putin took power in 2000, though not all of their deaths appear to be related to their work. The 2006 murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, one of the highest profile media cases internationally, resulted in prison sentences for five men in 2014, though it is unclear who ordered the contract killing. Later in 2006, former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, who had fled to the United Kingdom and accused Putin of ordering Politkovskaya's killing, fell ill the same day he met with two former KGB officers. He later died, with British health investigators finding a significant amount of radioactive polonium-210 in his body, the first documented instance of such a poisoning.

Mitt Romney, who was outspoken during the 2012 campaign about the threat Russia posed to the United States, implicitly rebuked Trump on Twitter later in the morning.

"Important distinction: thug Putin kills journalists and opponents; our presidents kill terrorists and enemy combatants," the former Republican nominee tweeted Friday, following Trump's repeated praise of the Russian president's strength, despite his condemnation of his alleged ordered killing of his political and media opponents.

It is the second time in recent weeks that Romney has criticized the Republican poll leader's comments, tweeting on Dec. 8 that Trump "fired before aiming" with his call to temporarily ban all Muslims from entering the U.S.

Throughout the course of his interview, the Manhattan mogul explained why he felt the United States and Russia would have a better relationship in a Trump administration, remarking repeatedly upon the poor “chemistry” between Putin and President Barack Obama.

In looking at photos of Putin and Obama seated together, Trump mused, “Nothing good is going to come of that.”

“I’ve always felt fine about Putin. I think that he’s a strong leader,” he said, proceeding to rattle off his recollections of the Russian leader’s polling. “I think he’s up in the 80s, which is you see where Obama’s in the 30s and the low 40s and he’s up in the 80s, and I don’t know who does the polls, maybe he does the polls, but I think they’re done by American companies, actually.”

As far as dealing with Putin's aggression in Crimea and in eastern Ukraine, Trump reiterated his longstanding position that European countries like “big, monstrous” Germany should do more. “They accept his oil and gas and lots of other things, and here we are fighting like hell,” he said.

On whether that would mean “leading from behind,” Trump demurred. Scarborough asked Trump whether he would give Poland its antimissile defense system, plans for which the Obama administration scuppered in 2009.

“I would consider that, absolutely,” Trump said. “You know, when you say follow, I think that’s great, but maybe we should do a little bit of following and let the neighbors sort of tell us, you know, like, let us let the neighbors take more of an active role in the Ukraine.”

He added, “Frankly I’d like to see a little more enthusiasm from those affected, Joe.”