Trump and Putin Joke About 'Getting Rid of Journalists' on Anniversary of Capital Gazette Shooting

By Nick Martin, Splinter

28 June 19

t the G20 Summit in Osaka, United States President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a nice hearty chuckle about ridding their countries of journalists. This happened to came on the one-year anniversary of the Capital Gazette shooting in Maryland, in which five journalists died. 

While the two leaders sat next to one another and gazed out among the press scrum—some time after Trump smiled and wagged his big doughy finger at Putin and told him, “Don’t meddle in our election”—they found some common ground in their detest for reporters who don’t come outfitted with marionette strings.

“Get rid of them. Fake news is a great term, isn’t it? You don’t have this problem in Russia but we do,” Trump said, per The Guardian.

“We also have. It’s the same,” Putin reportedly responded.

Twenty-six journalists have been killed in Russia since Putin began his first stint as president since 2000, while 58 in total have been murdered since 1992. In America, reporters are regularly harassed and assaulted at Trump rallies, and also now have to fear for their lives while working in their offices. All the while, Trump has repeatedly referred to reporters as “the enemy of the people.”

But yes, by all means: ham it up, assholes.