President Donald Trump on Wednesday debunked reports Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted him in the White House, because he is doing things the Kremlin leader doesn’t like, including rebuilding the U.S. military, Newsmax reports.
“We are the most powerful country in the world – and we are getting more and more powerful because I’m a big military person,” Trump told CBN founder Pat Robertson in a White House interview to be aired Thursday on the “700 Club”.
“If Hillary Clinton had won, our military would be decimated. Our energy would be much more expensive.That’s what Putin doesn’t like about me. And that’s why I say: ‘Why would he want me?’ Because from day one I wanted a strong military. He doesn’t want to see that. He wants what’s good for Russia – and I want what’s good for the United States,” Trump said.
CBN released excerpts of Trump’s interview Wednesday, which follows Donald Trump Jr.’s release of emails Tuesday before he met with a Russian lawyer last year saying the Kremlin had damaging information on Clinton and Moscow had backed his father’s White House quest.
The documents also were disclosed by The New York Times. Trump told Robertson he was doing too many things Putin opposed, and that is why the Russian probably would have preferred a Democrat in the White House.
“I keep hearing about that he would have rather had Trump, I think ‘probably not. When I want a strong military, you know she wouldn’t have spent the money on military. When I want tremendous energy, we’re opening up coal, we’re opening up natural gas, we’re opening up fracking – all the things that he would hate, but nobody ever mentions that,” Trump said.
He noted that Clinton supported windmills for energy production, and that Putin “would much rather have that because energy prices would go up and Russia, as you know, relies very much on energy.”
Trump said he had “an excellent meeting” with Putin at the G-20 summit in Germany last Friday, noting they were able to reach a cease-fire in Syria.
“In a case like Syria where we can get together, do a cease-fire, and there are many other cases where getting along can be a very positive thing, but always Putin is going to want Russia and Trump is going to want the United States – and that’s the way it is,” he told Robertson.
On healthcare, Trump said he would be “very angry” if the Republican-controlled Congress did not pass legislation to repeal and replace ObamaCare and said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell “has to pull it off”.
“I don’t even want to talk about it because I think it would be very bad. I will be very angry about it – and a lot of people will be very upset. But I’m sitting, waiting for that bill to come to my desk. I hope that they do it. Mitch has to pull it off. He’s working very hard,” he told Robertson.
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