CNN commentator Kirsten Powers had some words for President Donald Trump as well as a cables news competitor over the remarks he made at the Helsinki summit this week.
Don Lemon asserted that Trump’s clarification which includes that “other people” could have been involved in the meddling of the 2016 election “undermines his own clarification” that he accepts the conclusions of the US intel agencies that all point to Russia as the culprit.
Powers insisted that he was “giving cover” to congressional Republicans, who many have spoke out condemning Trump for not holding Russian President Vladimir Putin accountable at their joint press conference, adding Trump “rarely gets pushback” from people in his own party.
She then invoked Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade, who criticized Trump over his “ridiculous” tweet blaming the US for poor relations with Russia, something she’s certain the president did not expect.
“Look, I get that there is, you know, depending on which poll you’re looking––somewhere between 80% and 90% of Republicans who support Donald Trump, but leadership is about leading, it’s not about not following,” Powers told Lemon. “And sometimes you do have to say something that’s going to upset the people that support your party. And this would be a really good time for Republicans to do that. And we all know exactly what would have happened if Barack Obama had done this. The world would have exploded, Fox News would burn to the ground. I mean, it would have just imploded. I think they need to not let him get away with this.”
It’s worth noting that Powers was formerly a Fox News contributor.
Watch the clip above, via CNN.
[image via screengrab]