President Donald Trump acknowledged on Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely helping Iran following reports suggesting that is the case.
Trump joined Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade on his radio show for a Friday interview, some of which was teased out by Kilmeade during Fox & Friends. In one excerpt from the interview, Kilmeade asked Trump about reports suggesting Russia is helping Iran on targeting enemies and drone tactics.
“You think Putin is helping them?” Kilmeade asked.
“I think he might be helping them a little bit, yeah, I guess, and he probably thinks we’re helping Ukraine, right?” Trump said.
“And you are, right?” Kilmeade asked.
“Yeah, we’re helping them also, and so he says that, and China would say the same thing, you know. It’s like, hey, they do it and we do it, in all fairness. They do it and we do it,” the president responded.
U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff struck a different tone on the Russia matter earlier this week when revealing that Trump had a call with Putin in which the Russian president denied giving any assistance to Iran.
“So, you know, we can take them at their word,” he told CNBC. “That’s a better question for the intel people, but let’s hope that they’re not sharing.”
Witkoff said Russia dismissed the reports about their involvement as false during the call.
“Yesterday on the call with the president, the Russians said that they have not been sharing. That’s what they said,” he said.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reports this week that Trump and Witkoff told Russian officials during the call that “if that was taking place, it’s not something they would be happy with, and they hope that it is not taking place.”
Credit: Yahoo News