‘Fox & Friends’ host: ‘I don’t understand’ Trump tweet blaming US for bad Russia relations

“Fox & Friends” host Brian Kilmeade on Monday questioned why President Trump would send a tweet blaming the U.S. for poor relations with Russia before his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I like the president’s tweets,” Kilmeade said. “I understand what he’s trying to do with the [European Union] and NATO.”

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“But what I don’t understand is this tweet,” Kilmeade continued, referencing Trump’s tweet that said the United States’ relationship with Russia has never been worse “thanks to many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt!”

“It’s really not our foolishness and stupidity. They might not like the things we’re doing — but would you really say foolishness and stupidity is a correct characterization?” Kilmeade asked.

Trump is known to be a fan and avid watcher of the Fox News morning show.

Kilmeade’s comment came as Trump sat with Putin in Helsinki for a high-stakes meeting that Trump said would be focused on trade, arms control and China. 

The meeting between the leaders came just days after special counsel Robert Mueller indicted 12 Russian intelligence officials for their role in hacking the Democratic National Committee. 

Following the special counsel indictments, many Democratic lawmakers voiced opposition to a summit taking place, but Trump did not budge and said before the meeting that “getting along with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing.” 

Trump has said multiple times that he would question Putin about election interference. But he’s also tempered expectations for what he might be able to do stop it. 

“I don’t think you’ll have any ‘Gee, I did it, I did it, you got me.’ There won’t be a Perry Mason here,” Trump said last Friday, referring to the courtroom drama from the 1950s and ’60s.

In addition, when asked by CBS if he would ask Putin to extradite the Russians that were charged in the indictment, Trump said he “hadn’t thought of that.”

“But I certainly, I’ll be asking about it. But again, this was during the Obama administration. They were doing whatever it was during the Obama administration,” the president said.