GOP senators recoil at Trump’s latest defense of Putin; McConnell calls Russian leader ‘a thug’

‘President Trump offered a fulsome defense of Russian President Vladi­mir Putin over the weekend, leaving Republican lawmakers frustrated and flummoxed yet again by the president’s warm feelings toward the rival nation.
In a Fox News interview, Trump, who during the campaign repeatedly praised Putin, again said that he respected the Russian leader and hoped to get along with Moscow, and he seemed to equate the United States with its adversary when pressed by host Bill O’Reilly, who said: “But he’s a killer, though. Putin’s a killer.”
“There are a lot of killers,” Trump said in the interview, which aired Sunday before the Super Bowl. “We’ve got a lot of killers. What do you think? Our country’s so innocent?”’
Read more: GOP senators recoil at Trump’s latest defense of Putin; McConnell calls Russian leader ‘a thug’