President Trump mocked a Washington Post reporter who asked him if he felt disrespected by Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
Speaking to journalists aboard Air Force One, Trump took exception to a question from the Post‘s White House reporter Michael Birnbaum. “Is President Putin disrespecting you by attacking Ukraine when you’re trying to make peace there?” Birnbaum asked.
“What did he do?” Trump asked in response.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Well, he’s attacked Ukraine,” Birnbaum answered.
“Is he disrespecting me?” Trump replied, before asking: “Who are you with?”
After Birnbaum identified himself as a Post reporter, Trump shook his head dismissively. “You’ve lost a lot of credibility,” Trump said, before quickly moving on to take questions from others.
Trump snubbed the question about Putin after attacks struck multiple parts of Ukraine over the weekend, killing 14 and injuring dozens more, according to Kyiv. A missile blitz on Saturday came hours after Trump said the Kremlin leader was “doing what anybody would do.”
One missile hit in Dobropillia in the eastern Donetsk region, destroying an apartment building. As emergency services rushed to the scene a second projectile hit. Eleven people were killed. Three more people died and seven were injured after a drone attack in the city of Bohodukhiv, in the Kharkiv region.
Russian assaults on Ukrainian targets have picked up again after Trump temporarily pulled the plug on intelligence-sharing between Washington, D.C. and Kyiv. He also suspended military aid to Ukraine following his disastrous Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“This is what happens when someone appeases barbarians,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote in an X post after attacks over the weekend. “More bombs, more aggression, more victims. Another tragic night in Ukraine.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to meet with Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia this week. Zelensky has said he has put “realistic proposals on the table.” He too is expected in Riyadh Monday, officially, to meet crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.
