President Trump asserted that Barack Obama was outsmarted by Russian president Vladimir Putin, drawing an outraged response from a reporter in the G7 summit press pool who effectively called Trump a liar.

“Why do you keep using the misleading statement that Russia outsmarted President Obama when other countries have said the reason why Russia was kicked out [of the G8] was very clearly because they annexed Crimea?” asked a reporter. “Why keep repeating what some people would see as a clear lie?”

Some reporter got upset when President Trump said Putin outsmarted Obama. President Trump: “I know you like President Obama but [Crimea] was annexed during President Obama’s term. If it was annexed during my term I’d say sorry folks I made a mistake.” pic.twitter.com/QCuu4RBYuL — The Columbia Bugle 🇺🇸 (@ColumbiaBugle) August 26, 2019

“Well, I know you like President Obama,” Trump began. “It was annexed during President Obama’s term. If it was annexed during my term, I would say, ‘Sorry folks, I made a mistake.'”

“President Obama was pure and simply outsmarted. They took Crimea during his term. That was not a good thing — it could have been stopped . . . but President Obama was unable to stop it, and that’s too bad.”

Trump also said he would “certainly” like to invite Putin to next year’s summit, contending that many major issues discussed over the weekend involved Russia.

“There were a lot of things that we were discussing and it would have been easy if Russia were in the room,” Trump said. “Yesterday we were discussing four or five matters, and Russia was literally involved in all of those… matters.”

“I’m only thinking about the world and I’m thinking about this country, in terms of the G7 — whether it’s G7 or G8 — I think it would be better to have Russia inside the tent than outside the tent.”

“Is it politically popular for me to say that? Possibly not. I think a lot of people would agree with me frankly,” the president continued. “I do nothing for politics. I do what’s right.”

The United States will host next year’s summit, which President Trump has hinted could take place at his country club and resort in Doral, Florida.



Is President the chosen one who will fight for America’s interests on the global stage?

Dan Lyman: Follow @CitizenAnalyst