Earlier in the day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Sputnik that Moscow was no longer bound by a moral duty not to supply Damascus with S-300 air defense missile systems after last week's Western strikes on Syria.

Moscow said Syria used S-125, S-200, Buk and Kvadrat systems to repel the attack.

WASHINGTON ― When the U.S., France and Britain launched 105 cruise missiles at a trio of Syrian targets April 13, all eyes were on how the vaunted air defense network in Syria would handle the weapon.
 
But the crown jewel of that system, Russia’s highly regarded S-400, never fired. And while the older Syrian systems did appear to launch some munitions, the Pentagon claims those systems were not used until after the Western weaponry had already impacted their targets.
 
“Russian air defenses were energized. They were scanning.... They did not choose to engage,” Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the director of the Joint Staff, said during an April 19 press event. “I can tell you though that the rest of Syrian air [defense] capability, which is completely Russian-made, Russian-designed, Russian-supported, engaged extensively and comprehensively failed.”
 

Trump on China:
 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news [...] 27310129a4
 
"When the students poured into Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government almost blew it, then they were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength."
 
Trump on Xi:
 
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-poli [...] fundraiser
 
“He’s now president for life. President for life. No, he’s great,” Trump said. “And look, he was able to do that. I think it’s great. Maybe we’ll have to give that a shot someday.”
 
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/dip [...] i-liked-it
 
“President Xi, who is a strong man, I call him ‘king’,” Trump said in a wide-ranging speech at Tuesday’s dinner. “He said, ‘But I am not king, I am president.’ I said, ‘No, you are president for life, and therefore you are king.’ He said, ‘Huh … huh.’ He liked that. I call him ‘king’. I get along with him great.”
 
Trump on Hussein:
 
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/con [...] d=40373481
 
"We shouldn't have been there. We shouldn't have destabilized Saddam Hussein, right. He was a bad guy, really bad guy. But you know what he did well? He killed terrorists," Trump said.
 
"He did that so good. They didn't read them the rights. They didn't talk. They were terrorists. Over. Today, Iraq is Harvard for terrorism. You want to be a terrorist, you go to Iraq. It's like Harvard, OK? So sad, so sad."
 
Trump on el-Sisi:
 
https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-04 [...] nald-trump
 
"You have a great friend and ally in the United States and in me," Trump told Sisi, sweeping aside his predecessor Barack Obama's concerns about the Sisi government's purge of political opponents and rights activists.
 
"I just want to let everybody know that we are very much behind President al-Sisi — he has done a fantastic job in a very difficult situation," Trump said.
 
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/09/tr [...] ls-report/
 
“Mr. Trump looked over a gathering of American and Egyptian officials and called out in a loud voice: ‘Where’s my favorite dictator?’ Several people who were in the room at the time said they heard the question,” the newspaper reported.
 
Trump on Assad:
 
https://www.salon.com/2016/07/06/it [...] dictators/
 
"I think in terms of leadership, he's getting an A and our president is not doing so well,"
 
Trump on MBS:
 
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2 [...] down-tweet
 
“I have great confidence in King Salman and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, they know exactly what they are doing,” the US president, who is travelling in Asia, posted on Twitter. “Some of those they are harshly treating have been ‘milking’ their country for years!” The tweets came days after Trump urged Saudi Arabia to list the first offering of shares in Aramco, one of the world’s most important oil companies, on the New York stock exchange or Nasdaq. The White House had been silent about the unprecedented arrests, which began on Saturday with little warning or legal process, and were widely seen as a consolidation of power by 32-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed.
 
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2 [...] ar-job-g20
 
“You have done a spectacular job,” Trump told the powerful crown prince on Saturday, calling him “a friend of mine”. […]. Trump praised the crown prince, who has moved to loosen some social restrictions in the kingdom but also cracked down on activists, including women pressing for the right to drive. “It’s an honour to be with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia ... a man who has really done things in the last five years in terms of opening up Saudi Arabia,” Trump said. “It’s like a revolution in a very positive way.”
 
Trump on Kim:
 
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/15/poli [...] index.html
 
"He's the head of the country," Trump said of Kim Friday during a live interview on Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "And I mean he's the strong head. Don't let anyone think anything different." "He speaks and his people sit up at attention," the President added. "I want my people to do the same."
 
https://www.theatlantic.com/politic [...] un/562619/
 
“I learned that he’s a very talented man. I also learned that he loves his country very much.”
 
“His country does love him,” he said. “His people, you see the fervor. They have a great fervor. They’re gonna put it together, and I think they’re going to end up with a very strong country, and a country which has people—that they’re so hard working, so industrious.”
 
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/ [...] 37186.html
 
He added: “I may be wrong, but I believe that chairman Kim has a great and beautiful vision for his country, and only the United States, with me as president, can make that vision come true
 
https://www.businessinsider.com/tru [...] mit-2019-3
 
"Again, the relationship is very good. He likes me. I like him. Some people say, 'Oh, you shouldn't like him.' I said, 'Why shouldn't I like him?'" […] At a rally in West Virginia last year following their first summit in Singapore in June, Trump was effusive about his relationship with Kim, telling supporters "we fell in love." ”No, really. He wrote me beautiful letters," he continued.
 
Trump on Erdogan:
 
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/t [...] ing-134650
 
‘Well, we have to ask our parliaments. We have a process; we can’t just tell you we’re going to spend more, we have a legal process.’ Trump turns around to the Turkish president, Recep Erdoğan, and says, ‘Except for Erdoğan over here. He does things the right way,’ and then actually fist-bumps the Turkish president,” Bremmer said.
 
https://www.politico.com/story/2017 [...] ise-242986
 
“It’s a great honor and privilege — because he’s become a friend of mine — to introduce President Erdogan of Turkey,” Trump told reporters. “He’s running a very difficult part of the world. He’s involved very, very strongly and, frankly, he’s getting very high marks.”
 
Trump on Bolsonaro:
 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin [...] e-he-does/
 
“He is working very hard on the Amazon fires, and in all respects doing a great job for the people of Brazil,” Trump tweeted on Tuesday. “He and his country have the full and complete support of the USA!”
 
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino [...] se-n985116
 
President Donald Trump praised Brazil’s new far-right leader Tuesday as he welcomed him to the White House, saying the man who’s been described as the “Trump of the Tropics” has done “a very outstanding job.”
 
Trump said President Jair Bolsonaro had run “one of the incredible campaigns,” saying he was “honored” it had drawn comparisons with his own 2016 victory. And he predicted the two would have a “fantastic working relationship,” telling reporters as he opened a joint press conference that they have “many views” in common.
 
https://www.washingtontimes.com/new [...] l-leader-/
 
President Trump on Tuesday praised Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s decision to appoint his son, Eduardo, as the ambassador to the U.S., saying he doesn’t view it as nepotism. Mr. Trump lauded Eduardo Bolsonaro, a 35-year-old lawmaker, during his father’s visit to the White House earlier this year. “I find his son to be outstanding,” Mr. Trump said. “I know his son, and that’s probably why they did it.” “I don’t think it’s nepotism,” Mr. Trump added.
 
Trump on Duterte:
 
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/23/ [...] kdown.html
 
“I just wanted to congratulate you because I am hearing of the unbelievable job on the drug problem,” he said. “Many countries have the problem, we have a problem, but what a great job you are doing and I just wanted to call and tell you that.” Mr. Duterte responded that drugs were “the scourge of my nation now, and I have to do something to preserve the Filipino nation.” Mr. Trump responded that “we had a previous president who did not understand that,” an apparent reference to President Barack Obama, “but I understand that.”
 
Trump on Mussolini:
 
https://www.politico.com/story/2016 [...] te-219932)
 
“Chuck, it's OK to know it's Mussolini. Look, Mussolini was Mussolini. It's OK to — it's a very good quote, it's a very interesting quote, and I know it,” he said Sunday morning. “I saw it. I saw what — and I know who said it. But what difference does it make whether it's Mussolini or somebody else? It's certainly a very interesting quote.”
 
Trump on Putin:
 
So goddamn many it’s hard to pick just one:
 
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/201 [...] -timeline/
 
https://www.newsweek.com/heres-all- [...] tin-708859
 
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politi [...] terference

Sarah Huckabee Sanders
@SarahHuckabee
Democrats say we have guns in America because of “corruption”. No, we have guns because it’s our God-given right enshrined in the Constitution.
 
https://twitter.com/SarahHuckabee/s [...] 8824168455