adminAlthough Trump did not react publicly to the video, he “lashed out at the Russian President in a phone call,” the report says, citing sources with direct knowledge of the call.
The call happened a few weeks after Putin showed the video during his address to the Russian parliament and before his re-election, Axios reports. The March 20 call came after Putin was re-elected, and was the same call in which Trump was given briefing materials instructing him not to congratulate Putin. Trump did congratulate Putin on his victory, a source told CNN at the time.
Trump told Putin that he had spoken with British Prime Minister Theresa May and German Chancellor Angela Merkel “and they agree with me” about the “outrageous” nature of the video, a source told Axios.
On the call, Trump said, “I’ve already increased defense spending, modernized our nuclear weapons. … We can do more, so if you want to do an arms race you’ll lose,” according to the report.
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins and Jeff Zeleny contributed to this report.