What, do you think our country’s so innocent?” 
 
 The US president appeared to place the US and Russia on the same moral plane in an interview broadcast before the Super Bowl kicked off in Houston, Texas. Trump also said in the Fox interview that he has "respect" for Russian President Vladimir Putin, but that respect does not mean they'll get along. “You have illegals, you have dead people, you have this. I have no idea." It’s very possible I won’t.” 
 
 
 
 O’Reilly said: “He’s a killer, though. Pressed about Putin's history of violence, Trump said: "There are a lot of killers. “We’ve got a lot of killers. Trump didn’t directly answer a question about whether he, in fact, has evidence -- but suggested that he has seen voter-registration records that suggest widespread voter fraud. “If he has killed reporters I think that’s terrible. “It’s never been proven that he’s killed anybody, so you know you’re supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, at least in our country. “We can be babies, but you take a look at the registration,” Trump said. So a lot of killers around, believe me.” 
 
 
 
 On Monday the Kremlin said it wanted an apology from Fox News over O’Reilly’s “unacceptable” comments. Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election campaign dogged Trump throughout his election and transition, as intelligence agencies delivered increasingly urgent assessments of Russian efforts to hack emails belonging to the Democratic National Committee and advisers of Trump rival Hillary Clinton. Also on Sunday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R- Ky., told CNN’s “State of the Union” that he doesn’t want to spend federal money to investigate Trump’s allegation. Trump's courtiers bring chaotic and capricious style to White House Read more 
 
 “When you see … people who are not citizens and they are [on] the registration rolls … it’s a really bad situation,” Fox quoted Trump as saying.
– President Trump tells Fox News that he does indeed respect Vladimir Putin, even though he agreed with Bill O'Reilly's assessment that the Russian leader is a "killer." Said Trump: "There are a lot of killers. We’ve got a lot of killers. What, do you think our country’s so innocent?" As he has in the past, Trump argued that it makes sense to get along with Moscow to help the fight against ISIS. And as for Putin, "Will I get along with him? I have no idea." Fox released an excerpt as part of a pre-Super Bowl interview that will air at 4pm Eastern. The "innocent" line has triggered a quick backlash, with USA Today picking up on this tweet from Wall Street Journal deputy editorial page editor Bret Stephens: "Trump puts US on moral par with Putin's Russia. Never in history has a President slandered his country like this." The Guardian notes that Trump has expressed the sentiment before: When MSNBC's Joe Scarborough told Trump that Putin kills journalists, he replied: “Well, I think that our country does plenty of killing, too, Joe.”