Anderson Cooper wins today's Don't Sugarcoat It Award:
ANDERSON COOPER: You have been watching perhaps one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president at a summit in front of a Russian leader, certainly that I've ever seen. An extraordinary press conference. I'm back with CNN global affairs analyst Susan Glasser, David Gergen, international anchor Christianne Amanpour, given the opportunity, asked by an American reporter who he trusted on the issue of Russian meddling, the US Intelligence or Vladimir Putin, he blinked, and he went to Hillary Clinton's e-mail server. As to who he holds responsible, he holds both responsible. 'I think we are all to blame. We have a chance to make some great things.' Made no mention of the shooting down of a plane, Crimea, and election interference. In fact, he said all he can do is ask the question about election interference, that Vladimir Putin was very powerful in his denial of it and the president went on to say he doesn't see any reason why it would have been Russia who interfered.
David Gergen agreed.
DAVID GERGEN: ...I've never heard an American president talk that way, but I think it's especially true that when he's with someone like Putin, who is a thug, a world class thug, that he sides with him again and again against his own country's interests, his own institutions that he runs. He's in charge of the federal government, he's in charge of these intelligence agencies. And he basically dismisses them and he retreats into this -- we've heard this again and again on an international stage, to be talking about Hillary's server.
ANDERSON COOPER: It's embarrassing.
GERGEN: It's embarrassing.
