Donald Trump understands the misgiving some members of the Congress might have about the current state of U.S.-Russia relations, but is ready for both countries to “move forward”, a Trump foreign policy advisor during the election campaign told RIA Novosti, a Russian state-owned news agency.
Walid Phares, a scholar of Lebanese Christian descent who Trump picked as his Middle East policy advisor during the presidential campaign, explained to RIA that “some Congress members are worried” about the “multitude of problems inherited from the past but still troubling us today.” He added, however, that “[Trump] is convinced that we are now in the next stage and must go on.”
Despite Donald Trump’s repeated verbal advances towards Russia — made both during his campaign and while in office — this might represent the first time someone from his team spoke directly to Russian media. While still on the campaign trail, Trump himself was interviewed by Larry King for his show Politicking which King syndicates to RT (formerly Russia Today, a government-funded foreign-language news service). Trump later backtracked from the interview, saying through a spokesperson he was only talking to King as a favor to a friend and didn’t expect the interview to be published by RT — a claim with King later disputed.
