Fox News Host Backs Trump: 'What Was He Supposed to Do, Take a Gun Out and Shoot Putin?'

President Donald Trump received some much-needed support on perhaps his favorite cable news show Tuesday, in the form of comments from Fox News host Jeanine Pirro. Trump has been hit with a deluge of criticism from all sides following his comments during a press conference with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on Monday, when he appeared to side with the denials of the Russian president over the unanimous findings of his intelligence community that Russia had interfered in the 2016 presidential election.

But appearing on Fox & Friends, which Trump has often phoned into and tweeted along with, Pirro suggested the U.S. president was in a no-win situation.

"[Trump] has to make sure that we are safe," Pirro said, referring to Russia's stockpile of nuclear weapons. "He's got some of the most severe economic sanctions. I mean come on, snap out of it everybody. I mean the guy is doing what he's supposed to be doing, and that is protecting us.

Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy, normally a faithful supporter of the president, even pushed back against Pirro's comment. Still, she doubled down.

"What was he supposed to do, take a gun out and shoot Putin?" she said, adding, "Putin said, 'I didn't meddle in your election,' so the president should say hang on let me execute this guy?"

Pirro then joined the president in questioning the credibility of United States intelligence.

"There was a conspiracy to take away that position as president and to disenfranchise the American voters," she said without offering evidence. "The same intelligence community said there were weapons of mass destruction that got us into a war."

Jeanine Pirro
Former judge Jeanine Pirro of Fox News speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at National Harbor, Maryland, February 23, 2017. A diehard Trump supporter, she joined the president in questioning the credibility of... MIKE THEILER/AFP/Getty Images

Speaking alongside Putin in Helsinki, Trump attacked the Russia investigation as an excuse for Democrats losing the 2016 election and touted the scale of his achievement in defeating Hillary Clinton. Trump has long joined conservative commentators in suggesting unfounded conspiracy theories behind the investigation, often deriding the so-called "deep state."

His comments, which appeared to buy into Putin's denials of meddling in the 2016 election, sparked widespread condemnation. Former CIA Director John Brennan even called Trump's performance "treasonous," and said it constituted an impeachable offense.

Many Republicans, too, criticized Trump, with Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake issuing notable rebukes of their party's leader. Even some Fox News personalities, who usually cover Trump extremely favorably, said that the president had misstepped. Still, Trump has found plenty of support on the network and enjoyed the benefit of a softball interview with Sean Hannity Monday night.

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