NEW YORK _ Hillary Clinton called Donald Trump's repeated flattery of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his appearance on a Russian state-sponsored news outlet an "unseemly" sideshow in the campaign that shows the Republican nominee isn't a serious candidate.
"Every day that goes by this just becomes more and more of a reality television show," Clinton said in response to a question after meeting with a panel of national security experts. "It's not a serious presidential campaign. And it's beyond one's imagination to have a candidate for president praising a Russian autocrat like Vladimir Putin"
Clinton was meeting in New York with a group of former national security officials and mostly ignored Trump in her remarks afterward. But as she left she turned around to answer a question about Trump's appearance broadcast on the Russian network RT.
With national and battleground state polls show Trump closing on her, Clinton has seized on Trump's repeated embrace of Putin. His most recent remarks, at a forum on national security Wednesday and then again in an interview broadcast Thursday by RT, have left some fellow Republicans trying to navigate potential political land mines.
"I can't say anything surprises us anymore," she said, characterizing her reaction as "disappointed."
Trump sat for an interview with longtime U.S. radio and television host Larry King that was distributed by RT. His campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, said on CNN Friday that Trump and his aides were unaware that it would be broadcast by RT.
"Mr. Trump recorded a short interview with Larry King for his podcast as a favor to Mr. King," Conway said. "What Larry King does with the interview content is up to him. We have nothing to do with it."
King's program is "produced and owned entirely by Ora Media, LLC., which is solely responsible for their editorial direction," Dana Steere, a representative of the firm, said in a statement. "RT America is one of several dozen companies who license these and other Ora programs for distribution around the world."
