[Harlow:] President Trump telling FOX News in a brand new interview, he respects Russian president Vladimir Putin. That's not new. Here's what is new. The president acknowledges Putin may be a killer but adds "we've got a lot of killers." listen.
[Bill O'reilly, Fox News:] Do you respect Putin?
[Donald Trump, President Of The United States:] I do respect him.
[O'reilly:] Do you? Why?
[Trump:] Well, I respect a lot of people, but that doesn't mean I'm going to get along with them. He is a leader of his country. I say it's better to get along with Russia than not. And if Russia helps us in the fight against ISIS, which is a major fight of Islamic terrorism all over the world, that's a good thing. Will I get along with him, I have no idea.
[O'reilly:] He is a killer, though. Putin's a killer?
[Trump:] A lot of killers. A lot of killers. What, you think our country's so innocent?
[Harlow:] With me on the phone, our chief national security correspondent, Jim Sciutto. Also with us, CNN former Moscow bureau chief, Jill Dougherty. Jim Sciutto, where do I begin? This is seemingly the president of the United States standing up for Vladimir Putin. How do you read this?
[Jim Sciutto, Cnn Chief National Correspondent:] Listen, you know, the word, unprecedented, has been overused, right, including CNN. Look, this is unprecedented by U.S. president speaking about his own country, that kind of moral relativism with not just a U.S. adversary but an authoritarian state that is well known, documented, for enormous examples of mistreatment of its own people at home and abroad. You can certainly say un-presidential. At least if you're talking about being president of the United States to describe your country in that way. And let's listen, I have traveled a lot in countries like Russia, China, elsewhere, that will often use this moral relativism as a propaganda talking point that, well, the U.S. has done just as bad as we have. Listen, you and I know, Poppy, Jill knows, the U.S. has made many mistakes. But the question is, putting it on a par with a historic authoritarian state such as Russia is, one, just not factually true. And two, just a remarkable thing for American president to say, and just let's just throw out a couple current examples, OK? Russia deliberately bombed civilians in Syria. Yes, U.S. air strikes have killed civilians. U.S. military takes enormous steps to avoid civilian casualties. Russian deliberately bombed civilians. Russia has annexed land in Europe. Annexed Crimea. Violation of multiple international treaties and international law. That's something the U.S. doesn't do. Russia supplied weapons to separatists in eastern Ukraine that shot down a civilian airliner over Europe and killed nearly 300 people. Russia poisoned with the radioactive substance a dissident on the streets of London. I covered that story several years ago. And has killed, murdered journalists, critics of the dissidents of the state. That's just at the top of the list. These are things Jill knows better than any.
[Harlow:] Right.
[Sciutto:] Of the way this government acts. So it equate the two is, one, wrong. And two, just remarkable to hear out of the mouth of an American president.
[Harlow:] And Jill, to build on Jim's point, you know, case in point, one of the biggest and most vocal opponents and critics of Vladimir Putin, Borris Niemsov.
[Jill Doherty, Global Fellow, Woodrow Wilson Center:] Yes, and there others. I mean, right now we have
[Sciutto:] Jim, to you, twofold question here. Well, just a point, as Jill says, this isn't the first time that Donald Trump has said this. However, it's the first time as a sitting president that he has said this and makes it different this time than in 2015. A, do you think this just gives cover to Vladimir Putin. And b, how will his fellow Republicans on both sides of the aisle, do you believe, react, many of them who are calling for tougher sanctions against Russia in response to the hacking of the election, now this? First question first. Listen, this is enormous ammunition to a Russia, but not just Russia, to other countries who seek to undermine U.S. soft power, just as Donald Trump's claim of three to five million false voters, right, again, factually untrue, but you have an American president giving ammunition to folks who will say the U.S. democratic system is not what it's cracked up to be. So this has become a pattern from a President Trump. So that's one. You know, from the Republican side, I have been spending the last hour reaching out to a number of Republicans for their reactions. I don't have on-the-record reactions yet. If it fits previous patterns when the president has said things like this, you will have many Republicans who will say nothing, you may have a handful who will stand up and maybe a McCain, maybe a Graham, who have been particularly vocal, one willing to criticize the president, particularly vocal on Russia. And, again, you know, this is not a view that is held by Democrats or Republicans that Russia is not so bad, that Putin's a great leader to be admired, well, what they do is not much worse than what we do. It's not a view you hear from Americans, right? So, so it's it will be interesting to see who is willing to go On the Record criticizing the president's comments.
[Harlow:] Jill Dougherty, what should we expect from President Trump and president Putin going forward, given the fact that the first time it's believed that the two men even spoke was just last week?
[Dougherty:] You know, I think it's very hard to predict exactly what will happen because if you examine what the president said today to Bill O'Reilly, he was kind of on autopilot I think. He said the same thing, President Trump said the same thing he always says, I respect Putin, doesn't mean we are going to get along, but if Russia helps fight terrorism, that's a good thing. I mean, he said that a million times. And yet, at the very moment that he said that, or day before, his representative to the United Nations is slamming Russia for its actions in Ukraine and calling for an end to the occupation of Crimea. So already you have a very disorganized and unclear approach to Russia. I mean, this is this is loose thinking and it is loose talk. Really what I think the president has to do is buckle down, get a policy and not make these kind of I would call them kind of pandering remarks meant to kind of say, well, I understand, this is how the world works. When you're the president of the United States, you cannot do that. It's not, you don't speak loosely about something like murder and assassination. You simply don't. So until we can actually see a real policy by President Trump, then I think, you know, it's fair to criticize to say show us what you really are going to do.
[Harlow:] As you know, this is a president who has said I don't want to show my cards. Jim Sciutto, Jill Dougherty, we will leave it there. I appreciate all your analysis tonight. Stay with me because straight ahead my political panel weighs in. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.