Representative Nancy Pelosi (Democrat, California) said there has to be a reason Donald Trump refuses to criticise Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“What does he have on Donald Trump that he has to constantly be catering to Putin?” Pelosi, a former House speaker, asked on MSNBC on Monday night.
Trump, she noted, has even been “encouraging” Putin to invade NATO allies who don’t pay what he thinks is enough for protection.
US President Joe Biden and other leaders have all blamed Putin for the death last week of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. But Trump didn’t mention Putin at all in his own statement on Navalny, instead making it all about himself and attacking the United States as “a failing nation.”
Pelosi called Putin one of “the most evil people in the world” then took a guess as to why Trump ― usually so full of bluster ― won’t say a word against the Russian leader.
“I don’t know what he has on him, but I think it’s probably financial,” she said. “Or something on the come ― something that he expects to get.”
See her full discussion with MSNBC’s Jen Psaki below: