'Aren‘t you the boss?' Maddow supercut shows Trump being 'palpably scared' to talk about Putin
The detail and scope of President Donald Trump's conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin are still murky, and MSNBC host Rachel Maddow is drawing attention to how uncharacteristically cagey Trump has been when asked about his conversations with the Russian dictator.
On her Tuesday, February 18 show, Maddow played a supercut of various instances in which he refused to tell reporters about the details of his conversations with Putin. Maddow observed that Trump would only respond with: "I don't want to say" whenever a reporter asks him how often he's talked to Russia's leader.
"I don't want to say? There's nothing that this man doesn't want to say. This man wants to say everything that has ever crossed his mind. He's the freest man in the world," the MSNBC host said. "Aren't you the boss?"
READ MORE: What we learned from Trump and Putin's phone call
Maddow observed that this is a pattern with Trump. She played several clips in succession of Trump speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, on Air Force One and elsewhere insisting that the details of his calls with the Russian leader remain confidential.
"We'll be we'll be speaking. We are having discussions, yes," Trump said in one clip. When a reporter followed up to ask if the calls were "already scheduled" or "ongoing," Trump said "I don't want to say that."
"Can you tell us about your conversation with Vladimir Putin?" Another reporter asked in a clip of Trump taking questions on Air Force One.
"I don't want to do that," he responded,
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Another journalist asked the president: "Are you trying to set up a meeting with [Putin]?"
"Well, I can't tell you what I'm talking about," Trump said.
Maddow noted that while she doesn't typically play video of Trump talking on her show, she said the clips were worth airing, saying it was "worth the exception just to see that this is something that he talks about, the way he talks about nothing else."
"This is something that he's palpably scared to say, or he feels constrained, like he's not allowed to say," she said. "Why is he so scared of this one thing?"
READ MORE: DC insider warns: Trump's 'big ego' and foreign policy blunders put US in 'very dangerous position'
Watch the segment below, or by clicking this link.
