Steve Doocy had an unusual revelation during an interview with National Security Adviser John Bolton on Tuesday morning’s Fox & Friends.
If Russia is still trying to disrupt American elections, as top White House officials reconfirmed last week, then does that mean Vladimir Putin “lied” to President Trump?
The host pointed out that the “show of force” in the White House press room aimed to emphasize that Russia “even today, apparently, is still meddling in our election process.”
ADVERTISEMENT
This was likely news to many Fox & Friends viewers who are under the impression that the entire Russian investigation is, in the words of the president and the show’s no. 1 fan, a “hoax.”
“Given that, it kind of looks like Putin told our president a lie,” Doocy added.
Of course, during his infamous Helsinki press conference, Trump said that Putin was “extremely strong and powerful in his denial” that Russia had interfered and was continuing to interfere in U.S. elections.
Bolton would not go so far as to accuse Putin of “lying” to the president, but he did say that while the Russian president has made those denials, he doesn’t think there’s “any question that the Russian state is involved” in those activities. He said that’s why Trump wanted the heads of various intelligence agencies to confirm as much during last week’s press conference.
“So do you think if they try something that we will have retribution for Russia or China or anybody else that tries something?” co-host Brian Kilmeade asked Bolton, like Trump, obscuring the fact that Russia has been and continues to be the known culprit when it comes to election meddling.
Just last week, The Daily Beast reported that the Russian intelligence agency behind the 2016 election attacks had targeted Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) ahead of her 2018 re-election bid. This, despite President Trump’s prediction that Russia will “will be pushing very hard for the Democrats” in this fall’s midterms.
Without offering any specifics, Bolton told Kilmeade, “We’re considering a variety of steps to take,” adding, “We want our elections to be left alone.”
