President Donald Trump dismissed his administrative aides as "stupid people" during a call to Russia's President Vladimir Putin earlier this year, The New York Times reported Monday.
According to the Times, national security aides had urged the president to not congratulate Putin on his electoral victory when Trump spoke with the Russian leader in a phone call March 20.
But Trump ignored the advice.
And then he went on to tell Putin that Russia and the United States should get along better, describing as "stupid people" unnamed administration officials whom the Russian president said had tried to prevent the call from even taking place.
"Those are stupid people; you shouldn't listen to them," Trump responded, according to the Times.
Trump is set to meet with Putin next Monday in Helsinki, Finland. The summit will come at the end of Trump's weeklong trip to Europe, which includes stops in Brussels for the NATO summit and in the United Kingdom.
During a rally last week in Montana, Trump dismissed his upcoming face-to-face meeting with Putin, saying the ex-KGB spy is "fine."
"You know what? Putin's fine. He's fine. We're all fine. We're people," Trump told the rally crowd. "Will I be prepared? Totally prepared. I've been preparing for this stuff my whole life."
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