US President Donald Trump expressed gratitude to Russian leader Vladimir Putin for expelling 755 American diplomatic staff from the country at a press event whilst on vacation in Bedminster, New Jersey, Thursday.
According to Trump, the expulsion of staff would save the US “a lot of money” on diplomatic personnel. Putin ordered the United States Embassy in Moscow to cut its staff by 755 people in retaliation for sanctions imposed by Congress due to Russia’s alleged meddling in last year’s presidential election.
The US president touched on a variety of other topics at the press event, including alleged collusion with Russia during his presidential campaign. Trump insisted “there was no collusion between us and Russia” and the intelligence agencies are “investigating something that never happened.”
He went on to say that he won the presidential election because he was a “much better candidate” than Hillary Clinton, rather than any collusion with Russia; “I fought a smart battle. That’s why I won. I didn’t win because of Russia. Russia had nothing to do with me winning.”