Media

Trump adviser Scaramucci gives interview to Russian state-owned news outlet

by Joe Concha - 01/18/17 9:31 AM ET

A senior adviser to President-elect Donald Trump, Anthony Scaramucci, spoke to Russian state-owned news agency Tass in a wide-ranging interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“What the new American president is saying is that he has an enormous respect for the Russian people and the legacy of the relationship that the U.S. has with Russia, which dates back to the Second World War,” Scaramucci said.

{mosads}Russia’s influence on the 2016 U.S. presidential election has been a focal point for weeks leading up to Trump’s inauguration on Friday.

Trump has questioned the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that Moscow was behind the hacking of Democratic groups that led to damaging email leaks, although he last week acknowledged Russia was likely behind the hack.

“We were two nations in the heat of battle during the Cold War, yet there was enough mutuality of respect that we kept all of our citizens safe during that period of time. So I think he has a perspective, a stock of perspective — he’s a man of tremendous common sense and I think his position, his belief is there’s probably shared values or shared interests that we can align ourselves with each other and this could be mutually beneficial,” Scaramucci said of Trump.

Scaramucci is the lone member of the incoming administration to be in attendance at Davos, an annual event in the Swiss Alps that attracts business leaders from around the world.

“He has enormous respect for the Russian people and Russian culture and so he is signaling that, hopefully, whatever the hostilities may be, perhaps we can improve them over the coming years,” Scaramucci said.

Tass, the fourth-largest news agency in the world, was founded by the Russian government in 1902.

Tags Donald Trump