Trump has been very loyal to his “handler” while attending the G7 summit this year, pleading for Russia to be allowed back in the group. Russia was kicked out of the G7 in 2014 for violating Ukraine’s sovereignty by annexing Crimea.

Trump thinks Putin’s actions should be forgiven because it was really Obama’s fault anyway, saying Monday that Putin “outsmarted” the former president:

“He wanted Russia to be out of the—what was called the G8. That was his determination. He was outsmarted by Putin. He was outsmarted. President Putin outsmarted President Obama.”

Yamiche Alcindor, a PBS reporter, confronted Trump about placing the blame on Obama, stressing the fact that Russia was booted from the G8 because of the illegal invasion and not because of anything to do with embarrassing President Obama.

Trump wasn’t interested in listening to reason, however, and continued to place the blame on Obama’s shoulders:

“President Obama was pure and simply outsmarted. They took Crimea during his term. That was not a good thing. It could have been stopped with the right whatever. It could have been stopped. But President Obama was unable to stop it and it’s too bad.”

More at The Daily Beast and CNN.