On ABC’s This Week, GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump dismissed reports of reporters killed by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime as unproven.
“They are allegations. Yeah sure there are allegations. I’ve read those allegations over the years. But nobody’s proven that he’s killed anybody, as far as I’m concerned. He hasn’t killed reporters that’s been proven,” Trump told host George Stephanopoulos.
Trump conceded that if the allegations were true, he would “think that that’s terrible,” but added, “this isn’t like somebody that stood with the gun and taken the blame or admitted that he’s killed. He’s always denied it. He’s never been proven that he’s killed anybody. You’re supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, at least in our country. “
Trump asked Stephanopoulos, “Do you know the names of reporters that he’s killed?”
In 2012, The Guardian’s Peter Preston catalogued the deaths of journalists since Putin came to power, many of them dying by gunshot wounds. In addition to journalists, many political critics of Putin, including human rights activist Natalia Estemirova and Sergei Yushenkov, co-chairman of the Liberal Russia movement, have died since he became president. Earlier this year, Boris Nemtsov was shot in central Moscow while walking with his girlfriend after dining out.
The Committee to Protect Journalists has documented 13 killed journalists in Putin’s Russia in the last decade alone.
Trump has brushed off the criticisms before. On Friday’s Morning Joe, Trump responded to Joe Scarborough’s question much differently. Instead of saying he wasn’t aware of the deaths, he didn’t acknowledge them as a problem. When Scarborough said, “He also is a person that kills journalists, political opponents and invades countries. Obviously that would be a concern, would it not?” Trump responded, “Our country does plenty of killing also, Joe … He’s running his country and at least he’s a leader, unlike what we have in this country.”
When pressed again on the killing of journalists, Trump repeated himself, saying, “Well, our country does plenty of killing also Joe, so you know … “
Trump continued his praise of Putin on other programs, telling Chuck Todd on Meet The Press, “He is a strong leader. What am I gonna say, he’s a weak leader? He’s making minced meat out of our president,” he claimed, noting the Russian president’s 80 percent approval rating.
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