Fox News Host Asks Donald Trump Directly If He Works For Russia, But Trump Fails To Simply Say ‘No’
Fox News host Jeanine Pirro has long been one of Donald Trump’s most passionate and committed defenders in the media, as the Inquisitr has previously covered. But in a phone interview with Trump on Saturday, Pirro gave Trump a chance to deny that he has ever worked for Russia — and Trump failed to do so.
Pirro’s question came in response to Friday’s explosive New York Times report revealing that, in May of 2017, the FBI became extremely suspicious that Trump was “working on behalf of Russia against American interests,” and that as a result, the bureau opened a counterintelligence investigation into whether Trump was a Russian agent.
Trump posted a lengthy and angry response to the article on his Twitter account Saturday in which he said that the FBI opened its investigation “for no reason and with no proof,” but he never directly addressed the allegation that reportedly sparked the FBI to investigate him — that he works for Russia.
But later on Saturday, in a telephone interview, Pirro gave Trump another opportunity to deny the allegation, asking Trump point blank, “Are you now or have you ever worked for Russia, Mr. President?” as quoted by the online news magazine, the Daily Beast.
Trump on the NYT article about the FBI counterintelligence investigation: "I think it's the most insulting thing I've ever been asked. I think it's the most insulting article I've ever had written." pic.twitter.com/F0QUu1oRhG
— John Whitehouse+ (@existentialfish) January 13, 2019
Trump’s response, however, was not direct.
“I think it’s the most insulting thing I’ve ever been asked. I think it’s the most insulting article I’ve ever had written. And if you read the article, you’ll find they had nothing. It’s called the failing New York Times for a reason,” he answered, as quoted by CNN reporter Ryan Struyk on Twitter.
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, who has covered Trump for several years, asked on her own Twitter account, “Why not just say ‘no?'”
Here's the transcript of Trump's response to Jeanine Pirro asking him, "Are you now or have you ever worked for Russia, Mr. President?" pic.twitter.com/cDxtJUSm81
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) January 13, 2019
Later in the interview, Pirro asked Trump to respond to a Washington Post report published on Saturday, which revealed that Trump has closely guarded the details of his private conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, even forcing a translator present at one of the face-to-face meetings to turn over her notes of the conversation.
Trump claimed that he was not keeping the contents of his conversations with Putin secret.
“I meet with Putin, and they make a big deal. Anybody could have listened to that meeting, that meeting is open for grabs,” Trump told Pirro, as shared on Twitter by Media Matters For America news director John Whitehouse.
Trump also claimed that “I couldn’t care less” if the details of his meetings with Putin were made public, according to the Daily Beast.
