Foreign ministry spokeswoman slams CNN after publication of all Trump's 'Russia remarks'
During his election campaign Mitt Romney said that Russia was the United States’ number one "geopolitical foe" - and Donald Trump agreed with him
MOSCOW, January 17. /TASS/. CNN is being hysterical publishing Donald Trump’s statements about Russia which he made before becoming a presidential candidate, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. Trump particularly said then that Russia was Washington’s biggest problem, he also upheld anti-Russian sanctions.
"They have become hysterical. For a year, they have been broadcasting reports saying that Trump will be a pro-Russian president. And now they come to a conclusion that it’s time to reverse their ways," the Russian diplomat wrote on her Facebook.
On Monday, CNN published a compilation of Trump’s statements which he made in 2014 before entering the presidential race. According to CNN, in an interview the billionaire agreed with 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney who lost to Democrat Barack Obama. During his election campaign Romney said that Russia was the United States’ number one "geopolitical foe".
CNN reports that on the March 24, 2014 edition of "Fox and Friends", Trumps said:
"Mitt was right <…> when he mentioned in one of the debates about Russia, and he said, Russia’s our biggest problem, and Russia is, you know, really something."
Trump added that "you look at what Russia's doing with Iran, how they controlled the situation, and Syria, and virtually every other place that ... We were thrown out of every place."
In another interview with Fox News in March 2014, Trump said that the US should take economic steps in order to harm Russia, CNN added. "There are a lot of things we could be doing economically to Russia. Russia is not strong economically and we could do a lot of different things to really do numbers on them if we wanted to," Trump said. At the same time, on March 14, 2014, in an interview with NBC, Trumps openly upheld anti-Russian sanctions saying "we should definitely do sanctions".
According to CNN, "Trump’s comments more than two years ago, which came in the wake of Russian incursions into Crimea, offer a sharp contrast to the Russia-friendly rhetoric he has employed since launching his presidential campaign."