Fox News host Shepard Smith on Monday observed that President Donald Trump himself never said anything negative about Russian President Vladimir Putin, even as his administration took action to punish the country.
During an interview with Axios reporter Alayna Treene, Smith noted that the United States had expelled 60 alleged Russian spies from the country in response to a nerve agent attack in the United Kingdom.
"We haven't seen the president or this white house take such strong action like this," Treene noted.
"Exactly," Smith replied. "We've reported on that, we have observed those things, as anyone else can, the White House -- if we've been tough on anybody, it's not Russia.
"Now with these expulsions, the strong words of Raj Shah and others, is it's time for a narrative change there?" he continued. "Has the United States made the push it needs to towards the Russians or do we still need to hear from the president, a man from whom we have not heard criticism yet?"
"It's very interesting to see how the White House is reacting to this and the way they're announcing it. The president didn't go ahead and say this himself. He used the press secretary Sarah Sanders," Treene said.
"The president has a hard line on Russia, a hard red line. That's Vladimir Putin," Treene added. "He won't directly criticize Vladimir Putin himself, but he will do so in an administrative way. You know, as we're seeing these actions ramp up, it's going to get a lot harder for him not to personally attack Vladimir Putin but do it administratively so."
Watch video below:
