Sen. Tillis: 'Putin Is Playing President Trump Like a Fiddle'

On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “OutFront,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) said Russia’s Vladimir Putin has been playing President Donald Trump “like a fiddle.” Tillis said, “I saw the devastation. I saw what this murderer Vladimir Putin has ordered. I heard the stories about women being raped in front of their husbands and then their husbands assassinated. I went to schools that are meeting in subways because they can’t meet above ground. I talked to victims who escaped from Crimea, where they’re basically brainwashing them into thinking they’re de-Nazifying Ukraine, and it’s interesting when you consider they have a Jewish president.” He added, “Russians are lying. Putin is lying. Putin is playing President Trump like a fiddle, and history is not going to look good on an America that failed to rise up and defend the Western world, if Putin actually gets his way. And I believe that a summit with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, two countries who want to overwhelm the world, is absurd. ” Host Erin Burnett said, “So when Trump says today, and I quote him again, Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine. They haven’t been doing much. And the same thing with China. What do you even say to that?” Tillis said, “He is a murderer and not doing a lot, what does that mean? He only killed 20 or 30 people a day versus a thousand? I mean, my God, one life is too many at the hands of Vladimir Putin, and President Trump should know better.” Follow Pam Key on X @pamkeyNEN