Former Secretary of State John Kerry said President Trump showed Russian President Vladimir Putin and the rest of the world that he has no idea what he’s doing as commander in chief when he failed to acknowledge Russian inference in the last election during his press conference in Helsinki this past week.
“I found it to be one of the most disgraceful, remarkable moments of kowtowing to a foreign leader by an American president that anyone has ever witnessed. And it wasn’t just that it was a kind of surrender. It’s that it’s dangerous,” Kerry told CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
He added: “Here’s why it’s dangerous because it sends a message to President Putin and the rest of the world that the president of the United States, the leader of the free world really doesn’t have a handle on what he’s doing and that he doesn’t, you know, know either what the facts are or he won’t accept the facts.”
Trump faced intense bipartisan backlash for his press conference performance after he dismissed U.S. intelligence findings that Russian interfered in the 2016 election and praised Putin, who has denied his country meddled.
The president and White House officials have since sought to clarify the remarks, which has led to more confusion about whether the president misspoke during his appearance with Putin, as he has claimed.
[Byron York: Why Trump doesn’t admit Russian election interference]
Trump said Tuesday he accepts the U.S. intelligence community conclusions that Moscow launched cyberattacks against Democratic Party officials and state election systems in the most recent presidential election.
Then on Wednesday, Trump said “no” when asked whether Russia was still targeting the U.S., despite Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats saying Russia’s attempts to interfere in U.S. elections are still ongoing. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said hours later that Trump was saying “no” because he was refusing to answer questions from reporters. In an interview with CBS that aired later Wednesday, Trump said he’d accept Coats’ assessment.
Kerry says he doesn’t believe Trump’s attempt to clarify his comments.
“How can anyone buy walk back after a walk back when you take positions here and then take positions over here and you’re repetitively walking back and changing?” Kerry asked.
“We are at a point where after the documented untruths of this president — documented by many, many different media sources, that there is no credibility. You don’t know whether to believe or not believe, that’s the worst situation you could have for a president of the United States and a dangerous world,” he said.
