He's gonna pay! No, I'm kidding. Putin probably gave him permission to speak out.
Opinion | Finally, Trump Has Something Bad to Say About Russia
While Mr. Trump said nothing on Thursday about either the sanctions or Russia’s interference in the election, he did end days of silence about the attack with a military-grade nerve agent against the former spy, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter, despite Moscow’s denials. “It certainly looks like the Russians were behind it,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. “Something that should never ever happen. We’re taking it very seriously, as I think are many others.”
But Mr. Trump’s comments came a full day after his United Nations ambassador, Nikki Haley, took the lead with a more powerful statement at the Security Council. She insisted the United States stands in “absolute solidarity” with Britain after the attack. Russia’s use of chemical weapons on the soil of another United Nations member is a “defining moment,” she said, and there is a need to “hold Russia accountable.”
And the piling on didn’t stop there. Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, the national security adviser, whom Mr. Trump reportedly may fire, condemned Russia in a speech on Thursday for being “complicit in Assad’s atrocities” in Syria and conducting more than 100 bombing missions in Eastern Ghouta, as well as being “responsible” for the Skripal poisoning.
Opinion | Finally, Trump Has Something Bad to Say About Russia