Trump: Russia, US can be allies in Daesh fight

By Ovunc Kutlu

NEW YORK

Russia can help the U.S. fight Daesh, President-elect Donald Trump told Time magazine in an interview published Wednesday.

Trump has been criticized for hi praise of Russia and President Vladimir Putin but he told the magazine cooperation with Moscow could benefit the U.S. in the Middle East.

"Why not get along with Russia? And they can help us fight ISIS, which is both costly in lives and costly in money. And they’re effective and smart," Trump said while using an alternative name for the terror group.

The president-elect was named the magazine’s Person of the Year on Wednesday and he dismissed claims Russia interfered with the Nov. 8 presidential election. "That became a laughing point, not a talking point, a laughing point. Any time I do something, they say ‘oh, Russia interfered.’"

After his victory, Trump visited President Barack Obama at the White House, and found "there was good chemistry" with his predecessor, although there are "different views" between the two leaders.

Trump has promised to be stricter on immigration than Obama and is adamant about building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

"We’re going to have strong borders ...we’re not going to have illegals coming in. But we’re going to have people coming in, but we’re also going to have them coming in based to a certain extent on merit," he said.

Trump reiterated that he would prevent American companies from moving abroad, noting he wants to get a list of companies that have announced they will leave the U.S.

"I can call them myself -- five minutes apiece, they won’t be leaving," he said.

He asked not to be judged from Jan. 20 when he will take office, but said he hopes he would be evaluated from his election victory Nov. 8 onwards.

"Because the stock market has had a tremendous bounce. And people are seeing very good things for business in this country. So I think we’re going to have a lot of victories," he said.

Wall Street indexes have increased significantly and broken all-time records since the election.

The Dow has jumped 6.6 percent in the past month, the S&P is up 4.5 percent and the Nasdaq has gained 3.6 percent.