Quotes on Whether Vladimir Putin Called Donald Trump a Genius
#Trump 6/3/16: "Putin said, ‘Donald Trump is a genius.’" » #Putin 6/17/16: "I said…Trump is a vivid personality. And what, he’s not vivid?…I didn’t give him any other characterizations." Click To Tweet
Quotes on Whether Vladimir Putin Called Donald Trump a Genius
THEN
Feb - June 3, 2016

- Feb 13, 2016
GOP primary debate in Greenville, S.C.
Washington Post, Feb 13, 2016
The CBS News Republican debate transcript, annotated
- Feb 17, 2016
- March 15, 2016
C-SPAN, March 15, 2016
Donald Trump Campaign Rally in Vandalia, Ohio
- April 29, 2016
'The O'Reilly Factor' interview
Fox News, April 29, 2016
Donald Trump on his foreign policy strategy
May 27, 2016 -
CNN, May 27, 2016
Transcripts: THE SITUATION ROOM Aired May 27, 2016
- June 3, 2016
C-SPAN (via Internet Archive), June 3, 2016
Donald Trump Campaigns in Redding California
NOW
June 17, 2016

June 17, 2016 -
Daily Beast, Nov. 5, 2016
Donald Trump's Unrequited Love for Vladimir Putin
The Daily Beast1Daily Beast, June 17, 2016
Donald Trump’s Unrequited Love for Vladimir Putin
retrieved 7/17/18
Putin said, apparently off the cuff, that Trump was an ochen’ yarkiy chelovek’, ochen’ talantlivy, which means, in context, “a very lively (or vivid) person, very talented.” But yarkiy was widely translated as “bright” or even “brilliant,” and the hyperbolic drift began.
Eventually debate over Putin’s real intention using the word “yarkiy” gathered so much publicity that finally, on June 17, 2016, Fareed Zakaria, a panel moderator at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, directly asked Putin to explain what he meant. The response was not a little irritated:
“Why are you distorting everything?… Take a look at what I said—I said in passing that Trump is a vivid personality. And what, he’s not vivid? He’s vivid. But I didn’t give him any other characterizations.”
July 27, 2016
- July 27, 2016
American Presidency Project, July 27, 2016
News Conference in Doral, Florida
- July 31, 2016
ABC News, July 31, 2016
'This Week' Transcript: Donald Trump, Vice President Joe Biden, and Ret. Gen. John Allen