President Donald Trump on Friday scolded a Fox News correspondent for asking what he called a “stupid question” about reports that Russia is providing intelligence to Iran to help it target US assets in retaliatory strikes. The exchange occurred at the end of a White House roundtable on college sports, as Trump took questions from reporters.
Peter Doocy, a Fox News correspondent, asked Trump about reporting from the Washington Post and Fox News that Russia is assisting Iran in targeting US forces. Trump cut him off, joking that the issue was “an easy problem compared to what we’re doing here” regarding college sports. After pausing for laughter, Trump said: “What a stupid question that is to be asking at this time. We’re talking about something else.”
The Associated Press reported on Friday that Russia has provided Iran with information that could help it “strike American warships, aircraft and other assets in the region,” according to two officials familiar with US intelligence. Trump later gave Doocy another chance to ask a question but refused to let him raise topics other than college sports. When Doocy asked why Trump was discussing sports “right now, because there is a lot of other stuff going on in the world,” Trump briefly addressed the war in Iran, saying: “In, uh, Iran, we’re doing very well. Somebody said, ‘How would you score it from 0 to 10?’ I said, ‘I give it a 12 to a 15.’”
Trump has largely avoided questions from reporters since launching the war on Iran in concert with Israel on Saturday. On Sunday, he ignored shouted questions about Iran as he paused in the Rose Garden to admire statues of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. When reporters asked about his objectives and who he wanted to lead Iran, Trump simply pointed at the statues and said: “Unbelievable statues, you’ll see, come and look at them.” He then walked away without answering questions about the families of service members killed in Iranian retaliatory strikes.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested in a CBS News interview that Trump is aware of the Russian role and has “a knack at knowing how to mitigate those risks.” Hegseth did not say whether Trump had confronted Russian President Vladimir Putin over the matter. Trump is scheduled to visit Dover Air Force Base on Saturday to honour six US service members killed in an Iranian retaliatory strike.
