Trump tweets out ‘Fox & Friends’ montage of him acknowledging Russian meddling

President Trump on Thursday tweeted out a montage from “Fox & Friends” showing him acknowledging Russian interference in the 2016 election amid the ongoing backlash to his failure to do so on Monday while standing next to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Trump recognized Russian Meddling MANY TIMES,” the president wrote to his 53.1 million followers, along with the super-cut from the Fox News morning program.

“Trump recognized Russian Meddling MANY TIMES” pic.twitter.com/T8MERS93wI

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 19, 2018

The segment began with co-host Steve Doocy leading into a portion of the president’s Wednesday interview with CBS News anchor Jeff Glor, in which he sought to walk back his remarks at Monday’s press conference, where he seemed to accept Putin’s denial of Moscow’s role in the election meddling.

“Yesterday, the president once again reaffirmed his commitment to combat Russian meddling,” Doocy said before playing the clip of Trump and Glor.

{mosads}After some discussion around Trump stating Wednesday that he held Putin “personally responsible” for the 2016 hacking, co-host Ainsley Earhardt introduced a montage of four past Trump statements on the issue, which all included the president couching his statements by noting others apart from Russia may have also meddled. 

“As far as hacking, I think it was Russia. But I think we also get hacked by other countries and other people. And I can say that you know, when, when we lost 22 million names and everything else that was hacked recently, they didn’t make a big deal out of that. That was something that was extraordinary. That was probably China. We had much hacking going on,” Trump said on Jan. 11, 2017, as president-elect.

“Well, I think it was Russia, and I think it could have been other people in other countries, could have been a lot of people that interfered,” Trump said on July 6, 2017, at a press conference in Poland.

“I think it was Russia. But I think it was probably other people and/or countries,” he says at another point in the Poland press conference.

“It was Russia. And I think it was probably others also,” he reiterated at the same event.

“The Russians had no impact on our votes whatsoever, but, certainly, there was meddling and probably there was meddling from other countries and maybe other individuals,” Trump said at the White House on March 6, 2018.

“So, as you can see right there, he has said a number of times he thought it was Russia and he thought they were meddling,” concluded Doocy after the montage.

Trump retweeting “Fox & Friends” is nothing new. The president is a regular viewer and has tweeted praise for its hosts in the past.

He was also a regular on the show for years before jumping into the political arena.

The weekly segment, which launched in 2011, was called “Monday Mornings with Trump”

“Bold, brash and never bashful, the Donald now makes his voice loud and clear every Monday on Fox,” a Fox News narrator proclaimed in a promo that aired at the time, which then cut to a soundbite of Trump saying, “My message is a better message than anybody else’s.”