UPDATE: Previewing her special "Confronting Putin," Megyn Kelly told Chris Matthews she got the impression Putin has something on Trump.
Kelly: I would not say Putin likes Trump. I did not glean that at all from him. I do think, I did glean that perhaps he does have something on Donald Trump. And if you watch the special tonight, you'll see, you know, perhaps what that might be because we've done a lot of research.
It's not just Vladimir Putin tonight. It's a lot of experts who understand Putin and Trump and the relationship between the two. Um, and so when I was asking him, "Why do you think Donald Trump never says anything unkind about you ever," I think it's more than just he admires this Russian strongman, Chris. I think, you know, there's a very good chance Putin knows some things about Donald Trump that Mr. Trump does not want repeated publicly.
Matthews: In the dossier, you think? Or is it going back to money? Is he in hock to him?
Kelly: My money's not on the dossier. I mean, just having done the research we did for this piece and this investigative report, um, I think it has to do with money and Trump's early years dealing with the Russians back in the 90s, his facilities here in the United States. And I asked Vladimir Putin about that as well, so, I mean, it's pretty comprehensive.
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Kelly: Keep in mind, all of this, all of this, leads back to Vladimir Putin. That's why we're talking about Manafort and Flynn and Nunberg and all these guys. It's because of what Vladimir Putin did in our presidential race. And let me tell you, what's he's planning to do in '18 and '20 as well because when you listen to him talk tonight, you do not get the impression that the man has been chilled in any way from his robust approach to our elections. And that's because we haven't done anything. We've done nothing to push back after his interference.
In an interview with NBC News' Megyn Kelly scheduled to air Friday night, Russian President Vladimir Putin says he is not concerned with the 13 Russians and three Russian companies Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted last month for interfering in the 2016 U.S. election.
“You mentioned a number of names, some individuals. And you’re telling me that they’re Russians. So what?" Putin said. "Maybe being Russian, they’re actually working for some kind of American company. Perhaps one of them used to work for one of the candidates. I have no idea."
Putin added: "These are not my problems.”
Putin once again denies election meddling and insists he has no intention of sending those implicated to the U.S. to face charges.
"They could just as easily have been the names of some Americans who are sitting here and interfering in your own political process," Putin said in an interview to air Friday night.
Kelly fired back at the unsubstantiated assertion: “But it wasn’t Americans. It was Russians.”
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In a separate clip of the interview released earlier this week, Putin told Kelly he has no plans to extradite the individuals charged by Mueller's team over the indictment.
“Never," Putin said when pressed on the possibility. "Russia does not extradite its citizens to anyone.”
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The Kremlin in February pushed back on the charges, with a spokesman saying it showed "no indications that the Russian state could have been involved."
One of the men named in Mueller's indictment is Yevgeny Prigozhi, a Russian oligarch known as Putin's chef. He is accused of financing the activities of the Kremlin-linked Internet Research Agency, a troll factory.
Putin on Russians indicted for election meddling: 'These are not my problems' (Politico)