Following a New York Times report Friday revealing that Donald Trump was targeted by a counterintelligence investigation to determine if he is acting on behalf of the Russian government, it was only a matter of time before someone asked him if he is a Russian asset.
In an effort to control the damage, Trump turned to his favorite propaganda outlet, Fox News, phoning in an interview with Jeanine Pirro on Saturday night.
The interview began with a discussion about Trump’s government shutdown, with Pirro and Trump exchanging their usual fear-mongering propaganda over an “invasion” at the southern U.S. border. Despite Trump previously taking full credit for the shutdown, Pirro blamed the Democrats, accusing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of “enjoying the sun and partying” in Puerto Rico.
Trump responded with an unusual statement: “Well, I haven’t actually left the White House in months, and in all fairness, I’m doing a lot of other work.” He added, “I’ve been here virtually every night, I guess every night, other than one day I flew to Iraq and then to Germany to see our troops…Basically, I’ve been here for many months in the White House.”
Trump seems to have forgotten that just two days earlier, he visited the U.S. border area in Texas for a bit of political theater and a photo op. Maybe there’s a Trump stunt double out there somewhere.
From there, he segued into gore porn, talking about women being tied up and having duct tape placed over their mouths.
Trump also dodged a question about whether he would declare a national emergency over the phony immigration crisis at the border, and reiterated the lie that furloughed federal workers support the shutdown.
“I have to say that a lot of the people that aren’t getting their checks are letting us know, ‘We don’t care, you’ve got to solve the crisis at the border,’” Trump said.
Pirro then brought up the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation and dropped the question. “Are you now or have you ever worked for Russia, Mr. President?” she asked.
And Trump didn’t say no.
“I think it’s the most insulting thing I’ve ever been asked,” Trump replied. “I think it’s the most insulting article I’ve ever had written. And if you read the article, you see that they found absolutely nothing…It’s called the failing New York Times for a reason.”
Trump added that he’s been “tougher on Russia” than “probably any other president period.”
Still, he didn’t say no.
Watch the entire interview (starting at 5:38):