President Donald Trump told Washington Post reporter Michael Birnbaum Sunday that he had lost credibility for asking whether Vladimir Putin was disrespecting him during an exchange on Air Force One. (Watch the video below.)
Trump has come under increasing criticism for appearing to side with the Russian president in his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine that has stretched into three years.
Trump praised Putin as a genius when he launched the incursion. He has largely avoided blaming Putin, pointing the finger at Zelenskyy as he tries to broker a peace that would seem to reward the aggressor. Meanwhile, Russia has intensified its strikes on Ukraine amid Trump’s cessation of military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine to perhaps force it to the negotiating table, ABC News reported.
“Is President Putin disrespecting you by attacking Ukraine when you’re trying to make peace there, Mr. President?” Birnbaum repeated.
Trump appeared to play coy to make Birnbaum spell out the intent of his query. The president then asked for his affiliation.
“I’m Michael Birnbaum, Washington Post,” the reporter said.
“You’ve lost a lot of credibility,” Trump sneered before moving on.
Birnbaum later shared that Trump did eventually answer one of his questions, “indicating, perhaps, that the Washington Post can live to fight another day.”
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Last month Trump clashed with HuffPost’s S.V. Date aboard Air Force One, snarking that he thought HuffPost had died. HuffPost was later kicked out of a media pool covering Trump at the White House.