Anderson Cooper has never been one to hold back when it comes to critiquing President Donald Trump.
On Monday, Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a joint press conference in Helsinki, Finland, following the pair’s two-hour closed-door talk.
When asked if Trump believed his own intelligence agencies or the Russian president when it came to the allegations of meddling in the election, the U.S. president shocked the media with his response.
“President Putin says it’s not Russia. I don’t see any reason why it would be,” he replied.
RELATED: Report: Donald Trump ‘Snubbed’ By Prince Charles and Prince William
The consensus made among the media and a number of political analysts was that Trump did not hold Putin accountable for Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, despite the amount of credible evidence showing that Russian intelligence officers were looking to throw the election Trump’s way.
Immediately following the press conference, the CNN journalist opened up his panel for discussion by speaking about Trump’s behaviour.
“You have been watching perhaps one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president at a summit in front of a Russian leader certainly that I’ve ever seen, an extraordinary press conference,” Cooper said.
Trump’s words come just several days after 12 Russian intelligence officers were indicted on charges related to the hacking of the Democratic National Committee as part of Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian election interference.
Following the press conference, a number of celebrities and politicians shared their thoughts on Trump’s statement, with #TreasonSummit trending on the social media site.
