On Thursday, a scathing editorial in The Washington Post outlined what President Donald Trump should have said in an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos.
Instead of acting like the leader of the free world, Trump suggested that he had no problem taking dirt on a political opponent from a foreign operative.
"When Mr. Trump made objectionable remarks in the past, we wrote editorials imagining what a decent president would have said. We haven't done that in a while; it is pointless to expect him to act presidential," the editorial board wrote.
They went on to provide Trump with a script of what he could and should have said.
"If there is one thing the past three years have shown, the only good answer to a foreign country offering dirt on your political opponent is to decline and immediately report the offer to the FBI. Our country is still enduring the fallout from Russian interference in 2016. It has cast a pall on my presidency and led to the indictment of former senior government and campaign officials. The last thing any president should do is encourage foreign meddling in our next presidential election," the wrote.
Adding, "That is why I denounce and renounce any foreign government seeking to aid my campaign, and I will not use any material they dig up, even if it might benefit me. I have instructed Republican campaign committees to spurn any scandal-mongering from foreign sources and to excise any such information from any campaign material. I also will insist that nonparty groups, such as super PACs, do not seek information or otherwise cooperate with foreign actors."
Read the full editorial here.