11 August, 2017
President Donald Trump on Thursday thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for ordering the U.S. embassy in Moscow to slash its staff - boasting that this would cut payroll costs.
The comment came during a press briefing at the president's golf club in West Bedminster, N. J., after Trump was asked to speak publicly about the Russian imposed sanctions for the first time.
The display happened almost a week after it was announced that special counsel Robert Mueller impaneled a grand jury in the FBI's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and its possible ties to the Trump campaign.
While Putin has denied the Russian government interfered in the election - and Trump himself has, at times, cast doubt on Russia's role - the USA intelligence community has concluded that Russian intelligence services, acting at Putin's direction, did interfere. So I greatly appreciate the fact that we've been able to cut our payroll of the United States. "We'll save a lot of money", continued the President. That move was in retaliation for the latest U.S. sanctions that were devised as a punishment for alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 United States presidential election.
The US State Department responded to Moscow's move last month, saying that it was an "uncalled-for act".
"I want them to get on with the task", Trump said, despite the fact that Mueller is investigating "something that never happened".
If Trump were so inclined, there is much he could do, from slowing down the issuance of visas to Russians who want to visit the US, to freezing the bank accounts of Putin and his oligarch friends (it would be poetic justice to freeze 755 accounts), to adopting a Pentagon proposal to ship anti-tank missiles and other potent weaponry to the Ukrainian armed forces resisting Russian aggression.
"You can say that was collusion, plus, the Democrats colluded on the Ukraine, so they colluded", said Trump.
"I don't think Russian Federation wants me because I want a strong military and I want low energy prices".
