“Mr. Trump’s continued flattery of Mr. Putin and the degree to which he appears to model many of his policies and approaches to politics on Mr. Putin is unprecedented in American politics," President Obama said. Obama: Trump's embrace of Putin 'unprecedented' in American politics

Donald Trump’s embrace of Russian President Vladimir Putin “is unprecedented in American politics,” President Barack Obama said Tuesday.

“Mr. Trump’s continued flattery of Mr. Putin and the degree to which he appears to model many of his policies and approaches to politics on Mr. Putin is unprecedented in American politics and is out of step with not just what Democrats think but out of step with what up until the last few months, almost every Republican thought, including some of the ones who are now endorsing Mr. Trump,” Obama said Tuesday during a joint news conference with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.


Obama continued his mocking of Trump's fellow Republicans, saying, “So you’ll have to explain to me how it is that some of the same leaders of the Republican Party who were constantly haranguing us for even talking to the Russians and who consistently took the most hawkish approaches to Russia, including Mr. Trump’s selection for vice president, now reconcile their endorsement of Mr. Trump with their previous views."

Trump criticized Obama and Hillary Clinton during an interview Monday in which he suggested he would be open to meeting with Putin prior to his inauguration should he win in November.

The Republican presidential nominee on Monday told radio host Michael Savage there’s “no wonder” why Putin can’t stand Obama or Clinton, contending that the two “insult him constantly.”

“If I win on Nov. 8 ... I could see myself meeting with Putin and meeting with Russia prior to the start of the administration,” he said. “I think it would be wonderful.”

Obama described Russia as a large and important nation with a military only second to America’s but argued that it “has to be part of the solution on the world stage rather than part of the problem.”

“But their behavior has undermined international norms and international rules in ways that we have to call them out on,” Obama said. “And anybody who occupies this office should feel the same way because these are values that we fought for and we protected.”

He added that politicians can’t talk about democracy and freedoms of the press and of religion, for example, but “extol the virtues of somebody who violates those principles.”

“Mr. Trump rarely surprises me these days,” Obama said. “I’m much more surprised and troubled by the fact that you have Republican officials who historically have been adamantly anti-Russian and, in fact, have attacked me for even engaging them diplomatically now supporting and in some cases echoing his positions. It’s quite a reversal. You’ll have to ask them how to explain it.”