21st Century Wire says Speaking to reporters from his summer golf retreat in New Jersey, President Donald Trump publicly thanked Russian leader Vladimir Putin for previously ordering the US to slash its embassy staff in Moscow and close two of its storage facilities there. Much to the chagrin of the adversarial media, Trump crowed, that Putin has helped him achieve a  smaller payroll. Last month 21WIRE reported how Russia ordered Washington to remove 755 its 1,200 US embassy staff in Moscow as part of a retaliatory diplomatic tit-for-tat after the US leveled another round of sanctions against Russia. I want to thank him because we re trying to cut down our payroll and as far as I m concerned I m very thankful that he let go of a large number of people,  said Trump.Meanwhile, it emerged this week that FBI special counsel Robert Mueller ordered a pre-dawn raid on former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, seizing personal documents and equipment.Trump told reporters,  They do that very seldom. I was surprised to see it,  and  I thought it was a very strong signal. Sympathising with Manafort s situation, he added that the raid was a  pretty tough stuff. Trump also went on to comment on the North Korea situation and defensed his previous comments against the regime in Pyongyang.Watch the full press conference here: . READ MORE RUSSIAGATE NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Russia FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV