NYT’s Friedman: Trump’s Behavior on Russia ‘Simply Inexplicable,’ ‘Our President Is a Disturbed Person’

On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “New Day,” New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman discussed his “Whatever Trump Is Hiding Is Hurting All of Us Now” column and argued, “Our president is a disturbed person.”

Friedman said, “When the president of the United States, in the face of public warnings by his three intelligence chiefs, [who] tell us our democratic system is being attacked by a foreign power, when he doesn’t respond to that, that is not violating norms anymore. That’s violating his oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution.”

After discussing the reaction to his column, he added, “This is America. Our country is at stake. Our president is a disturbed person. And he’s behaving in ways that are simply inexplicable, that tell you that he is either compromised because the Russians have been funding his company in ways that he’s — he would find would be embarrassing if publicly disclosed. That’s why he hasn’t shown us his tax returns. Or he’s compromised because of maybe behavior he engaged in while in Moscow. Or he is simply a towering fool, who is ignoring the advice of his intelligence chiefs being made in public. And when his national security adviser is over in Germany, at a conference, rather than summoning him home to lead a response to Russia, he rebukes him for not properly supporting the fact that these things didn’t tip the election. I’m not saying they did tip the election. I have no idea what the impact is, one way or another. What is unacceptable is that this behavior continues, and he is not responding. He’s not leading a response. That is not presidential. That’s deeply disturbing behavior.”

(h/t Mediaite)

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

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