Asked about the prospect of Russian planes buzzing U.S. ships, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said that as president, he would call Russian President Vladimir Putin and tell him to “stop it.”
“Well, first of all, it’s just no respect for our president or our country, and he is tweaking us,” Mr. Trump said on Wednesday’s “The O’Reilly Factor” on Fox News.
“If it were me, I will tell you, I would call him and I would say, ‘Don’t do it. Just stop it. Don’t do it,’” Mr. Trump said. “And they’re going to respect us, and I’ve had a sort of semi-nice relationship with Putin — [he’s] said very nice things about me, as you know.”
“But I would say, ‘Don’t do it.’ [If] they do it again, they could have a problem,” Mr. Trump said.
“I may have to do something which you would hate to do,” he said. “But this is something I wouldn’t want to do, but I would say, ‘Vladimir — don’t do it. Let’s go. Come on. We’re going to have a good relationship. Don’t do it.’”
Russian fighter jets made a few low flights over a U.S. destroyer in the Baltic Sea several weeks ago, and the White House said the U.S. lodged a complaint over the incident through the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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