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Fox News host Pete Hegseth defended former President Donald Trump’s praise for Russia.
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He said Trump continues to “troll” the media about Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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On Tuesday, Trump praised Putin’s justification for invading Ukraine as “amazing”.
On Tuesday night, Fox News host Pete Hegseth defended former President Donald Trump’s recent glowing description of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying Trump was simply trying to troll the media.
Earlier that day, Trump had praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling Putin’s justification for sending troops into Ukrainian territory “clever” and “genius.”
Hegseth said on the Fox show “Jesse Watters Primetime”: “This is the reality, Vladimir Putin lives rent-free in the minds of our media, of the American media. No organism, no entity has done more to spread Russian propaganda and to support the front man that is Vladimir Putin, than our own media.”
“And Donald Trump was happy to troll them, as he continues to do to this day,” Hegseth continued. “Because they can’t resist it, and they’ll become obsessed with it.”
Hegseth, who co-hosts the show “Fox and Friends,” went on to criticize President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama, saying that Vladimir Putin took advantage of their “weakness” and that the Russian leader conversely saw “a peer.” ” in Trump.
Fox News did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
Putin on Monday recognized the independence of two breakaway republics in Ukraine – Luhansk and Donetsk – and ordered troops into those regions as a “peacekeeping operation”. Western leaders have widely condemned the move and imposed sanctions against Russia over concerns over an all-out invasion of Ukraine by the Kremlin.
Trump, however, praised Moscow’s actions in an interview on Mar-a-Lago’s “Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show” on Tuesday.
“Putin declares a lot of Ukraine – of Ukraine – Putin declares it independent. Oh, that’s great,” Trump told the hosts. “I said, ‘How smart is that?’ And he goes in and becomes a peacekeeper.”
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