Bill Maher sent a bold message about a “zombie lie” (a disproven claim that continues to persist) involving Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin on the latest episode of Real Time With Bill Maher.

On Friday, August 15, the late-night host sat down with panelists, County Highway editor-at-large Walter Kirn and political commentator Molly Jong-Fast. The trio discussed President Trump’s meeting with Russian President Putin in Alaska earlier that day.

“I think it’s kind of a zombie lie that Trump is Putin’s, you know, b****,” Maher bluntly stated. “Because he was certainly over friendly to him for a very long time, considering who Putin is. A thug and a murderer.”

Later in the conversation, Maher elaborated on his opinion, refuting the idea that Trump has been quick to appease Putin.

“Let’s not have the zombie lie that [Trump] is still backing Putin,” Maher declared.”First of all, he bombed Iran, that was a Putin ally. He didn’t get out of NATO. He mended fences with NATO. And he put sanctions back on Russia.”

Additionally, Maher touched on his thoughts about Trump and Putin’s meeting as it pertained to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“One thing about him that I know — I’m not going to tell you how I know — and there are a lot of people that have said the same thing: He really does hate war,” Maher said. “He really does not like it when people die in war.”

In response, Kirn quipped, “You’re really coming around, Bill.”

“There’s no coming around. There’s just what’s true. This is true s***,” Maher shot back, adding, “I’m not on anybody’s team.”

During the August 15 meeting, Trump and Putin discussed the ongoing war in Ukraine that resulted in 1.4 million casualties since February 2022. The POTUS described their discussion as “productive,” per CNBC. However, Trump conceded, “There’s no deal until there’s a deal,” later adding, “We didn’t get there.”

Real Time With Bill Maher, Fridays, 10/9c, HBO