British Prime Minister Theresa May made sure to get Donald Trump on the record and on camera endorsing NATO, saying that he had indicated he was "100% in favor of NATO" and turning toward Trump until he agreed with the statement.
Trump then treated the world to the sight of an American president declaring that torture "works," though he indicated his views on this were trumped by those of Defense Secretary Mattis.
President Trump said Friday that he continues to believe torture methods can be effective to combat terrorism, but he pledged to defer over whether to implement such tactics to Defense Secretary James N. Mattis, who has opposed them.
Both May and Trump were questioned about lifting sanctions against Russia and Trump’s scheduled weekend discussion with Vladimir Putin. May said she expected sanctions to stay in place, but Trump gave a much less reassuring non-answer.
“It’s very early to be talking about that,” Trump said when asked if he would lift the sanctions. “If we can have a great relationship with Russia and with China and all countries, I’m all for that. No guarantees, but if we can, that would be a positive, not a negative.”
And there was the part where Trump talked about Putin as if he were a kid on the playground.
He says he does not know President Putin. He hopes they have a good relationship. He wants them to go after Isis together. How the relationship works out, he doesn’t know. Sometimes he thinks he will like someone, and he doesn’t like them at all. And sometimes he likes people he did not expect to like.
Earlier today John McCain warned that he would work to turn Russian sanctions into a law that Trump couldn’t easily dismiss, because the guy who Donald Trump is talking to happens to be ...
... a murderer and a thug who seeks to undermine American national security interests at every turn. For our commander in chief to think otherwise would be naive and dangerous.
But of course “naive and dangerous” isn’t just Trump’s middle name, it’s his aspirational motto.
Meanwhile, May stuck to the EU position on sanctions.
"We have been very clear that we want to see the Minsk agreement fully implemented", she said, adding that the sanctions would continue until that is achieved.