During a March phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump reportedly threw his own staffers under the bus, calling officials who’d tried to prevent him from congratulating Putin on his victory “stupid,” according to The New York Times. The newspaper reports that Trump “commiserated” with Putin after he said that administration officials had tried to stop the call from happening. “Those are stupid people; you shouldn’t listen to them,” the president reportedly told his Russian counterpart. Trump is set to meet Putin for a one-on-one meeting in Helsinki next week after meeting with traditional U.S. allies at the NATO summit this week.
