Title: Putin clarifies Trump comment and says America is the world's 'only superpower' | Vladimir Putin | The Guardian
Headings: Putin clarifies Trump comment and says America is the world's 'only superpower'
Vladimir Putin
Putin clarifies Trump comment and says America is the world's 'only superpower'
Alan Yuhas
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Content: “When people call you brilliant, it’s always good, especially when the person heads up Russia,” he told MSNBC shortly after Putin’s original comments. In May Trump falsely described the comments as a compliment of his intelligence. “ They want me to disavow Putin,” he said. “ Putin of Russia said Trump is a genius.” Trump has proposed US-Russian cooperation regarding Syria, counter-terrorism and trade deals, and defended Putin’s record on eliminating a free press. The Kremlin and its allies have over 15 years dismantled independent news organizations, and the 2006 murder of investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya has also been linked by activists to Putin’s Kremlin. Trump told ABC in December: “ it’s never been proven that he killed anybody.” The businessman’s top campaign aide, Paul Manafort, was an adviser to Viktor Yanukovych, a pro-Kremlin Ukrainian politician who was fled to Russia after a 2014 revolution ousted him from office. Putin also spoke carefully on Friday about the presumptive Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, saying he did not work much with her directly when she was secretary of state.