acknowledged interference all along, maybe right now people would be taking his denials more seriously. let me take you back into time with what president trump had to say about vladimir putin as a leader. you admire president putin. i said, i don t admire him. i said he was a strong leader, which he is. he might be bad, he might be good, but he s a strong leader. i respect putin. he s a strong leader, i can tell you that, unlike what we have. we have a pathetic leader. he says great things about me, i m going to say great things about him. i ve already said he is very much of a leader. you can say, oh, isn t that a terrible thing. the man has very strong control of a country. so charles, as a candidate, as president, trump is speaking by way of tweet today. is that just in step with a pattern of the president, deferring to, if not flattering, vladimir putin in russia. it could be, but i maintain this position which i have expressed before. any president of the united