Hillary Clinton said Friday she’s not surprised by Donald Trump’s most recent praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin, but said she is certainly disappointed by it.
“Every day that goes by, it just becomes more and more of a reality television show. It’s not a serious presidential campaign,” the Democratic nominee told reporters in New York City.
Trump drew criticism this week for once again praising Putin, and for going so far as to say the Russian president is a better leader than President Obama.
The GOP nominee’s running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, likewise argued this week that “it’s inarguable that Vladimir Putin has been a stronger leader in his country than Barack Obama has been in this country.”
“And that’s going to change the day that Donald Trump becomes president,” Pence said.
On Friday, Clinton told reporters the Republican nominee is not a serious candidate, and that no one seeking the Oval Office should be sucking up to Russia.
“It is beyond one’s imagination to have a candidate for president praising a Russian autocrat like Vladimir Putin and throwing his lot in with him in the way that he has approved of his wish list and not even really understanding what Putin has already done, like invading and occupying Crimea,” the Democratic nominee told reporters.
“No one who wants to assume the responsibility of being president, commander in chief, should be making the kind of reckless and dangerous statements and identifying with a regime that has some aggressive tendencies toward our interests, our values, our friends and allies,” she said.
Clinton was in New York City Friday afternoon to receive an intel briefing, as all presidential candidates receive as they seek the White House.
“So can I say I was surprised?” she asked reporters. “I’m not sure anything surprises us anymore, but I was certainly disanointed that someone running for President of the United States would continue this unseemly identification with and praise of the Russian president, including on Russian television.”
Trump joined Larry King recently for an interview on “PoliticKING with Larry King,” which airs on the Kremlin-backed Russia Today.
The GOP nominee’s presidential campaign claimed later that they had no idea that the interview with King would actually air on King’s Russia Today program.
