GOP senator warns Trump: Putin, Kim ‘very cold-blooded, calculating’

Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) on Sunday urged President Trump to exercise caution during his upcoming summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “very cold-blooded [and] calculating.”

“I think it’s fine to talk to the Russians, but the president should clearly understand that neither the Russians nor dictators like Kim Jong Un are going to be charmed by anybody,” Blunt said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

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“They are very cold-blooded, calculating,” Blunt added. “Putin would be in that category.”

The Trump-Putin talks will take place this month after Trump attends a summit with NATO allies.

“Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd asked Blunt if he is concerned about the U.S.-Russia summit after Trump’s recent meeting with North Korea, which resulted in an agreement that North Korea has reportedly not adhered to.

Blunt said he supports the summit but hopes Trump does not recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea, as the president has previously suggested.

Though Trump last week floated the possibility of discussing Crimea during his meetings with Putin, Russian officials told Reuters that the country’s involvement in the region will not be on the agenda.

“I’ll talk to [Putin] about everything,” Trump said last week.

The summit’s agenda will include a discussion of Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the war in Syria, Trump said.