President Donald Trump on Monday said both the U.S. and Russia are to “blame” for the decline in relations between the two countries, adding, “we have both made some mistakes.”
“I hold both countries responsible,” he said. “I think that the United States has been foolish. I think we have all been foolish. We should have had this dialogue a long time ago, a long time frankly before I got to office. I think we’re all to blame.”
He then patted himself on the back for stepping “forward along with Russia” to open a dialogue and suggested they could “do some great things together,” specifically citing nuclear proliferation.
Ahead of his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, Trump tweeted that it’s his predecessors’ “foolishness” and “stupidity,” as well as the Russia probe, that has pushed the relationship between the two powers to be worse than ever before.
Trump: "We're all to blame" for decline in U.S.-Russia relations pic.twitter.com/ZGemi56gnS
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) July 16, 2018