[h=2]'You have been watching one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president I have ever seen': Anderson Cooper eviscerates Trump after Vladimir Putin press conference[/h]
- Anderson Cooper slammed President Trump in the wake of his press conference with Vladimir Putin on Monday in Helsinki
- 'You have been watching one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president at a summit in front of a Russian leader,' said Cooper
- President Trump was asked during the press conference if he would denounce Putin and if he believed his own intelligence agencies over the Russian leader
- 'I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today,' said Trump
- 'I thought we were going to get out of that press conference with a minimum of damage and that was really, really extraordinary,' said Christiane Amanpour
- 'The president of the United States very much yielding the field on this day to Vladimir Putin. Anderson,' noted Jim Acosta, one of Trump's frequent targets
Anderson Cooper made it very clear how he felt about president Donald Trump's performance during his joint press conference with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
'You have been watching perhaps one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president at a summit in front of a Russian leader certainly that I've ever seen,' began Cooper in his remarks once the press conference had ended on Monday.
Cooper said this in a calm and even voice, delivering it as fact and not an opinion.
'An extraordinary press conference,' added Cooper, who is on assignment in Helsinki for the week.
'You have been watching perhaps one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president at a summit in front of a Russian leader certainly that I've ever seen,' began Cooper in his remarks once the press conference had ended on Monday.
Cooper said this in a calm and even voice, delivering it as fact and not an opinion.
'An extraordinary press conference,' added Cooper, who is on assignment in Helsinki for the week.
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Haranguing with Mr Cooper: Anderson Cooper (above on Monday) slammed President Trump in the wake of his press conference with Vladimir Putin on Monday in Helsinki
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Vlad about you: 'You have been watching one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president at a summit in front of a Russian leader,' said Cooper (President Trump and Vladmir Putin after the press conference on Monday)
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Vlad libs: President Trump was asked during the press conference if he would denounce Putin and if he believed his own intelligence agencies over the Russian leader (President Trump responds to a question on Monday)
Cooper then explained how he arrived at his review of President Trump's performance in his first question to Christiane Amanpour, who is also in Finland.
'Christiane, given the opportunity, asked by an American reporter who he trusted on the issue of Russian meddling, the U.S. Intelligence or Vladimir Putin, he blinked and he went to Hillary Clinton's e-mail server,' noted Cooper.
'As to who he holds responsible, he holds both responsible. I think we are all to blame. We have a chance to make some great things.'
Cooper continued: 'Made no mention of the shooting down of a plane, Crimea and election interference. In fact he said all he can do is ask the question about election interference. And said that Vladimir Putin was very powerful in his denial of it and the president went on to say he doesn't see any reason why it would have been Russia who interfered.'
Amanpour quickly made it clear that she was very much in agreement with Cooper and equally bewildered by what she had just witnessed take place on he international stage.
'I think that was it. "I don't see any reason why it would have been Russia hacking into our election and went on to talk about the server and the 30,000 e-mails," et cetera,' replied Amanpour.
'He basically said in Russia, they would never have let this stuff happen. I mean it really was quite extraordinary actually. I thought we were going to get out of that press conference with a minimum of damage and that was really, really extraordinary as you just said.'
She went on to note: 'And he then said that Putin came up with a great offer as to how to figure this out, which of course Putin responded as he always does with the sort of obfuscation. Yes, we have a sort of treaty on various issues, but you have to send us a formal letter and we'll respond and we'll reciprocate but only in kind. We need to have people of interest.'
This all came to a head in the press conference when the AP cut right to the heart of the matter in the final question of the day.
'Just now, President Putin denied having anything to do with the election interference in 2016. very U.S. Intelligence agency has concluded that Russia did,' said Jonathan Lemier.
'My first question for you, sir, is who do you believe? My second question is would you now, with the whole world watching, tell President Putin, would you denounce what happened in 2016 and would you warn him to never do it again?'
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It's a Vlad, Vlad, Vlad, Vlad World: 'The president of the United States very much yielding the field on this day to Vladimir Putin. Anderson,' noted Jim Acosta (above), one of Trump's frequent targets
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Truly vladly deeply: Amanpour and Cooper listen to the panel during their coverage of the summit on Monday (above)
'I think that was it. "I don't see any reason why it would have been Russia hacking into our election and went on to talk about the server and the 30,000 e-mails," et cetera,' replied Amanpour.
'He basically said in Russia, they would never have let this stuff happen. I mean it really was quite extraordinary actually. I thought we were going to get out of that press conference with a minimum of damage and that was really, really extraordinary as you just said.'
She went on to note: 'And he then said that Putin came up with a great offer as to how to figure this out, which of course Putin responded as he always does with the sort of obfuscation. Yes, we have a sort of treaty on various issues, but you have to send us a formal letter and we'll respond and we'll reciprocate but only in kind. We need to have people of interest.'
This all came to a head in the press conference when the AP cut right to the heart of the matter in the final question of the day.
'Just now, President Putin denied having anything to do with the election interference in 2016. very U.S. Intelligence agency has concluded that Russia did,' said Jonathan Lemier.
'My first question for you, sir, is who do you believe? My second question is would you now, with the whole world watching, tell President Putin, would you denounce what happened in 2016 and would you warn him to never do it again?'
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It's a Vlad, Vlad, Vlad, Vlad World: 'The president of the United States very much yielding the field on this day to Vladimir Putin. Anderson,' noted Jim Acosta (above), one of Trump's frequent targets
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Truly vladly deeply: Amanpour and Cooper listen to the panel during their coverage of the summit on Monday (above)
President Trump responded by first trying to change the narrative.
'So let me just say that we have two thoughts. You have groups that are wondering why the FBI never took the server, why haven't they taken the server. Why was the FBI told to leave the office of the democratic national committee,' said President Trump.
'I've been wondering that. I've been asking that for months and months and I've been tweeting it out and calling it out on social media. Where is the server? I want to know where is the server and what is the server saying? With that being said, all I can do is ask the question.'
He then answered the question of who he believed more by saying: 'So I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today. And what he did is an incredible offer. He offered to have the people working on the case come and work with their investigators with respect to the 12 people. I think that's an incredible offer. Okay thank you.'
Jim Acosta, who has been at the receiving end of President Trump's public attacks more than any other reporter since he took office, also weighed in on the press conference.
'Yeah, Anderson. I think what you were just saying there a few moments ago, I think that sums it up nicely. This was the president of the United States essentially taking the word of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, over his own law enforcement agency on this critical question,' said Acosta, who was in the room for the remarks.
He then spoke about President Trump's response to that AP question, going on to detail his own reaction.
'But I will tell you, it was astonishing, just astonishing to be in the room with the US president and with the Russian president on this critical question of election interference and to hear the president of the United States retreat back to these talking points about DNC servers and Hillary Clinton's e-mails when he had a chance right there in front of us, right there in front of the world to confront Vladimir Putin and tell him to stay the hell out of American democracy, and he just didn't do it,' said Acosta.
'It was one of those moments, I think, obviously we all think this is a very big deal right now and sometimes these sorts of things can fade away. But I don't think this is one of those moments.'
'So let me just say that we have two thoughts. You have groups that are wondering why the FBI never took the server, why haven't they taken the server. Why was the FBI told to leave the office of the democratic national committee,' said President Trump.
'I've been wondering that. I've been asking that for months and months and I've been tweeting it out and calling it out on social media. Where is the server? I want to know where is the server and what is the server saying? With that being said, all I can do is ask the question.'
He then answered the question of who he believed more by saying: 'So I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today. And what he did is an incredible offer. He offered to have the people working on the case come and work with their investigators with respect to the 12 people. I think that's an incredible offer. Okay thank you.'
Jim Acosta, who has been at the receiving end of President Trump's public attacks more than any other reporter since he took office, also weighed in on the press conference.
'Yeah, Anderson. I think what you were just saying there a few moments ago, I think that sums it up nicely. This was the president of the United States essentially taking the word of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, over his own law enforcement agency on this critical question,' said Acosta, who was in the room for the remarks.
He then spoke about President Trump's response to that AP question, going on to detail his own reaction.
'But I will tell you, it was astonishing, just astonishing to be in the room with the US president and with the Russian president on this critical question of election interference and to hear the president of the United States retreat back to these talking points about DNC servers and Hillary Clinton's e-mails when he had a chance right there in front of us, right there in front of the world to confront Vladimir Putin and tell him to stay the hell out of American democracy, and he just didn't do it,' said Acosta.
'It was one of those moments, I think, obviously we all think this is a very big deal right now and sometimes these sorts of things can fade away. But I don't think this is one of those moments.'
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Vlad men: Cooper has been spending his spare time engaging with fans using his Instagram stories (above)
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Very Vlad Things: Cooper also shared an image of himself attempting to grow a beard over the weekend (above)
Acosta went on to explain how he believed this would be a landmark moment for the current administration because it 'really crystallizes a very critical problem for the United States right now in that you have the president, the leader of the free world, taking the word of Vladimir Putin who from all accounts inside the US Government, the US Intelligence community, the law enforcement community, attacked American democracy in 2016.'
He did not stop there, adding: 'You know, when Vladimir Putin was asked whether he wanted Trump to win, that might have been the only honest moment of this news conference when Vladimir Putin said yes, he did want President Trump to win. And then shortly after that handed him that soccer ball. They came across as play mates on a soccer field more than they did international rivals, Anderson.
'The president of the United States very much yielding the field on this day to Vladimir Putin. Anderson.'
Susan Glasser was up next, with The New Yorker columnist making her debut as CNN's global affairs correspondent.
'I think this moment is going to go down with [the moment George W. Bush said he got a sense of Putin's soul after looking him in the eye back in 2001] for me at least to hear the president of the United States attacking Robert Mueller's investigation, questioning the U.S. Intelligence agencies, the work of his own justice department, while standing literally next to Vladimir Putin,' said Glasser.
'He called the probe a disaster for our country as Russia's leader looked on. He began the summit meeting this morning with that extraordinary tweet in which he said that essentially the United States is to blame for the bad state of relations with Russia. Crimea and the illegal annexation of territory in Europe, the first such armed takeover since the end of world War II was never mentioned until the very last question of the press conference.'
She later commented that President Trump had just delivered the 'most partisan press conference I've ever seen between an American leader and the leader of Russia.'
It was then back to Cooper.
'He was tougher on Democrats and the intelligence community in this press conference,' said the CNN anchor.
'I mean he was given the opportunity by an American reporter to just turn to Vladimir Putin and say something to him about Russia's meddling in the United States democracy, which is ongoing, and he refused to do that. Instead went after Democrats.'
3 buck bill Cooper
Dramatic piece of shit
Dramatic piece of shit
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