Vladimir Putin sat for a 2-hour discussion with Bloomberg to discuss the U.S. presidential election and accusations that Russia was behind the recent hacking of the Democratic National Committee. Clinton has repeatedly attempted to link Putin to the Trump campaign after he previously described Trump as a “very colorful and talented man” who wanted to move Russia-U.S. ties to a “deeper level.” That said, Putin refused to take sides in the U.S. election accusing both candidates of using "shock tactics" while adding that playing "the anti-Russian card" was "short-sighted."
“I would like to work with a person who can make responsible decisions and implement any agreements that we reach. Their last name doesn’t matter.”
“It’s necessary for that person to enjoy the trust of the American people. That’s why we never intervened, don’t intervene and try not to intervene in domestic political processes."
“They’re both using shock tactics, just each in their own way. I don’t think they are setting the best example.”
Exclusive: Vladimir Putin on U.S. election race and "shock" tactics by Trump and Clinton https://t.co/wrcF2wSrMr http://pic.twitter.com/bmne70DUDu
— Bloomberg (@business) September 2, 2016
Despite repeated denials from Russia, Clinton told Fox News back in July that she "knows that Russian intelligence services hacked in to the DNC" and went on to link Trump to the event. Per Bloomberg:
"We know that Russian intelligence services hacked into the DNC and we know that they arranged for a lot of those emails to be released and we know that Donald Trump has shown a very troubling willingness to back up Putin, to support Putin," Clinton said in an interview with "Fox News Sunday" on July 30.
Putin said the hacking of thousands of Democratic National Committee emails and documents was a service to the public but questioned why it "even matters who hacked this data." That said, Putin also pointed out that even if he did do it the breaches would "be impossible to trace." While not explicitly taking sides, Putin seemingly took a dig at the Democratic Party and what he saw as an obvious party bias in favor of Clinton during the Democratic Primary…poor Bernie.
“Listen, does it even matter who hacked this data? The important thing is the content that was given to the public.’’
“There’s no need to distract the public’s attention from the essence of the problem by raising some minor issues connected with the search for who did it. But I want to tell you again, I don’t know anything about it, and on a state level Russia has never done this.”
“You know how many hackers there are today? They act so delicately and precisely that they can leave their mark — or even the mark of others — at the necessary time and place, camouflaging their activities as that of other hackers from other territories or countries. It’s an extremely difficult thing to check, if it’s even possible to check. At any rate, we definitely don’t do this at a state level.”
Exclusive: DNC hack was a public service but Russia didn't do it, Vladimir Putin says https://t.co/iIaUeLax2w http://pic.twitter.com/qUjBH4E6mU
— Bloomberg (@business) September 2, 2016
Unfortunately for Putin, whichever candidate ultimately wins the White House it will be their first term which means they won't have the "flexibility" that Obama had during his second term when he no longer had to worry about being accountable to voters.
via http://ift.tt/2c1hNng Tyler Durden