Of all the reporters, anchors and cable news hosts that panned President Trump’s joint press conference with Vladimir Putin on Monday, CNN’s Anderson Cooper may have been the toughest.
“You have been watching perhaps one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president at a summit in front of a Russian leader truly that I’ve ever seen,” Cooper said after the press conference concluded.
The consensus among media and political watchers was that Trump did not adequately hold Putin accountable for Russian meddling in the 2016 election, despite abundant evidence showing that Russian intelligence officers sought to sow discord and throw the election to Trump.
Cooper’s harsh sentiment was echoed by journalists and analysts across the network, including chief national correspondent John King. “I’ve been here for 30 years. I came to Washington in the final months of the Reagan administration. And I have never seen an American president simply surrender to the leader of Russia,” he said. “You should call this ‘The Surrender Summit.'”
Trump’s performance also got low marks from Fox News host Neil Cavuto. “I’ll give the benefit of the doubt to maybe jet lag and time differences, but holy moly,” he said on air.
Two American reporters, Reuters’ Jeff Mason and The Associate Press’ Jonathan Lemire, were both widely applauded on social media for asking Trump and Putin tough questions about Russian meddling in the election.
The press conference got off to a wild start, as a man identifying himself as a journalist for The Nation was thrown out before Trump and Putin arrived.
