Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump continued his defense of Russian President Vladimir Putin Sunday, saying on ABC’s This Week that there was no evidence Putin’s killed anyone. Host George Stephanopoulos asked Trump about the criticism he had received from figures like Mitt Romney after he defended Putin’s murder of journalists, saying on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, “I think our country does plenty of killing also.” “Does he know for a fact that he kills journalists?” Trump asked of Romney. “I don’t think anybody knows that, it’s possible that he does, but I don’t think it’s been proven. Has anybody proved he’s killed reporters? “There are many allegations he was behind the killing of Anna Politkovskaya–” Stephanopoulos began. “Sure, there are allegations,” Trump said dismissively. “I’ve read those allegations over the years. But nobody’s proven that he’s killed anybody as far as I’m concerned.” “If he has killed reporters, that’s terrible…” Trump said. “He’s always denied it. You’re supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, at least in our country.” Watch above, via ABC. donald trump had a heated phone intervierw on "this Week" with george stephanopoulos on abc. Donald Trump. "Knowing the Clintons and knowing Hillary, she made it up," Trump said today on ABC's "This Week." During Saturday's Democratic debate, Clinton said ISIS is "going to people showing videos of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit more radical jihadists.”Trump said many fact checkers have "vetted" the claim of Trump being used in ISIS videos and have proven it to be false. Donald Trump is defending Russian President Vladimir Putin against allegations that he has given orders to kill journalists in his country. “As far as the reporters are concerned, obviously I don’t want that to happen, I think it’s horrible,” Trump said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. “But, in all fairness to Putin, you’re saying he killed people, I haven’t seen that. I don’t know that he has. Have you been able to prove that? The Republican primary front-runner, who has complimented Putin as “highly respectable,” said there is no evidence that the Russian strongman has killed reporters out of political motivation. “Now, I think it would be despicable if that took place, but I haven’t seen any evidence that he’s killed anybody in terms of reporters,” he said. Trump acknowledged that there are allegations of nefarious activity against the Russian president, but said Putin has “always denied it.” “He’s always denied it. He’s never – it’s never been proven that he’s killed anybody. So, you know, you’re supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, at least in our country. It has not been proven that he’s killed reporters,” he said. The billionaire businessman has been criticized by Republicans and Democrats for his congenial rhetoric about Putin. ABC News' George Stephanopoulos later cited some examples where Trump's claims have been proven untrue, including that the September 11th attacks were celebrated in Jersey City, New Jersey. “I'll go down that road and people may call me out but they turn out to be wrong,” Trump said “There were plenty of people cheering," he added. "It was in Jersey and all over the world. There’s an obvious problem and I think it’s disgusting.” ABC News thoroughly examined footage in and around Jersey City following the "If Putin respects me, and if Putin wants to call me brilliant ... I'll accept that, and I'll accept it on behalf of our country,” he said. trump ripped hillary clinton for lying during the democrat debate about trump videos being used as a recruitment tool.During an interview with ABC News on Sunday, host George Stephanopoulos asked Trump which killings by the U.S. were like the sanctioned murder of journalists. Trump insisted that “hundreds of thousands of people” had been killed because “Hillary Clinton made some horrible decisions.” “That’s not the same as ordering killing,” Stephanopoulos noted. “As far as the reporters are concerned, obviously, I don’t want that to happen,” Trump said. “I’m saying when you say a man has killed reporters, I’d like you to prove it,” Trump argued. “And I’m saying it would be a terrible thing if it were true. But I have never seen any information or any proof that he killed reporters.” Watch the video below from ABC’s This Week, broadcast Dec. 30, 2015.

• published: 20 Dec 2015
• views: 39071