Newsmax Media CEO Christopher Ruddy said Thursday that President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May had a "love fest … in terms of their two countries" at a state dinner in London despite the president's interview that May's Brexit plan would imperil a free-trade deal with the U.S.
"I would describe it as a love fest between the president of the United States and the British prime minister in terms of their two countries," Ruddy, who attended the black-tie dinner at Blenheim Palace, to Chris Cuomo on CNN. "They may disagree on certain policy issues.
"They didn't get into that at this dinner.
"It was a celebration of the very special relationship the United States" has with Britain, Ruddy said.
In an interview published Friday in The Sun, Trump said May's Brexit plan would "probably kill" the prospects for a U.S. trade deal.
"If they do a deal like that, we would be dealing with the European Union instead of dealing with the UK, so it will probably kill the deal," Trump said.
The president's four-day British visit came after a tense NATO summit in Brussels in which he asked allied nations to increase their defense contributions to 4 percent of economic output.
Located in Oxfordshire, Blenheim is the birthplace of Winston Churchill — and President Trump and first lady Melania Trump were joined at the state dinner by as many as 100 top business leaders and UK politicians.
President Trump also will meet with Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle and will spend an overnight visit in London before heading to Scotland, where he has several golf resorts.
Ruddy dismissed any notion that Trump's Brexit interview or his NATO comments affected his relationship with May.
"Of all the countries in Europe, they're the most simpatico with us," he said of Britain. "This president likes the interpersonal connection with people.
"He's a very people person, right? He seems to do it very well.
"I saw him with the prime minister sitting there," Ruddy added. "The chemistry between them was very good.
"I think there was friction initially in that relationship."
The Newsmax CEO noted that the Trump-May relationship varied widely with the hostility toward the president on the streets of Britain — primarily because of the negative coverage from CNN and other U.S.-based media outlets.
"There's no balance when it goes internationally," Ruddy said, which Cuomo disputed.
"I've been here in Britain, and I ask people why do they hate Donald Trump so much?" Ruddy continued. "They never have any specific reason."
Cuomo responded that British citizens opposed many of President Trump's policies, including the separation of migrant children from their parents crossing the border illegally into the United States.
Ruddy retorted that the Obama administration faced a similar crisis when unaccompanied alien children saturated the border in 2014 — "and nobody talks about that."
"Who is so desperate they would send their own child hundreds of miles to a foreign country with no money, no food — and they leave them on our border?" Ruddy posed. "It was obviously a set-up to embarrass the United States.
"Let me say for the record I did not support the child-separation policy," he added. "I do not believe that crossing the border is a crime equivalent to a capital crime or a serious crime — a felony — that would deserve somebody to be separated from their child."
Ruddy said the policy decision was made by administration officials, not the president.
"I don't think Donald Trump decided and made a decision to do this," he told Cuomo. "I think the decision was made at a lower level."
Ruddy also challenged Cuomo to explain why the president's poll numbers are higher despite the CNN anchor's attacks on the administration.
"Why do you think when you have this litany of criticisms of President Trump, why do you think he's up 20 percent in the polls?" he asked. "Despite the huge media criticism.
"Don't you think it's backfiring?"
The nation's gross domestic product is up 300 percent since Trump took office last year, Ruddy noted.
"That wasn't Hillary Clinton's policies or Barack Obama," he said. "That was Donald Trump doing that.
"Why doesn't CNN give him any credit?"
"Listen," Cuomo said, "when the numbers come out, we talk about them all the time.
"Every time economic data comes out, we do it — and we do it in context."
Then, in a rare acknowledgment, Cuomo said that Trump deserved "100 percent" credit for the nation's booming economy.
"Every president has to own the up or down of their own term," the anchor said. "And he gets the 'up' right now."
"I'm going to send a message to the Trump campaign to use that," Ruddy said. "'He gets 100 percent credit for the economy.'
"Chris Cuomo, CNN, says … ."
"In this case, this president really has driven the economy," Ruddy added.
"I don't agree with everything he does, but I think that on the major issues, I think it's fine what he's doing.
"It's a very confrontational approach," the Newsmax chief added. "It's not the approach you would use or I necessarily would use.
"But let's see how it works."
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