Former Republican Sen. Rick Santorum on Friday tried to make excuses for President Donald Trump’s widely criticized meeting in Helsinki this week with Russian President Vladimir Putin — but CNN’s Alisyn Camerota wasn’t having any of it.
During a CNN interview, Santorum acknowledged that Trump completely bungled his press conference with Putin, in which he wouldn’t say if he believed his own intelligence agencies more than Putin. However, Santorum argued that the Trump administration had actually been much tougher on Russia than the president’s rhetoric would suggest.
Additionally, Santorum said it was highly irresponsible for former intelligence officials to throw around words like “treason” when discussing Trump’s actions in Helsinki.
Camerota, however, said she couldn’t believe Santorum could be so sanguine about the president undermining his own intelligence agencies while standing next to the man who allegedly ordered the hacking of Hillary Clinton’s campaign emails.
“I just have to clarify, you seem to have been comfortable standing next to Vladimir Putin and blaming America?” she asked.
“I’m not comfortable with that!” a defensive Santorum insisted.
“That’s what they weren’t comfortable with!” Camerota said, referring to the former intelligence officials. “And they felt that it rose to the level of calling it something to the effect of treason!”
Watch the video below.