Arizona Sen. John McCain blasted Donald Trump Monday for his repeated praise of Russian president Vladimir Putin, arguing that the Republican presidential front-runner is providing propaganda for a “KGB apparatchik murderer.”
Mr. Trump described Mr. Putin as “a man highly respected within his own country and beyond” after the Russian president called him a “brilliant and talented person.” Asked to condemn the Kremlin’s alleged involvement in the assassination of reporters, Mr. Trump said, “Our country does plenty of killing, also.”
Speaking on Concord News Radio, Mr. McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, asserted that Mr. Putin has murdered “people I knew,” Buzzfeed reported.
“The thing that is so concerning about Mr. Trump’s compliments of Vladimir Putin is Vladimir Putin has slaughtered his own, murdered his own people, including people I knew. He has, his equipment has shot down an airliner and killed a couple hundred people,” he said.
“He’s a bully and thug and to pay a compliment to this KGB apparatchik murderer is something that I just can’t find in anyway plausible and is incomprehensible,” Mr. McCain continued. “For him to provide propaganda, which is really what he just did for Vladimir Putin, who is a thug and a murderer, I think is really astonishing and shows either profound ignorance or an attitude that contradicts everything about the United States of America and our relations with our adversaries.”
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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