CNN anchor Jake Tapper said Sunday on his show “State of the Union” that it was “stunning” former President Donald Trump was quoting Russian President Vladimir Putin on persecution of political rivals.
Saturday, at a rally, Trump said, “Vladimir Putin, of Russia, said that Biden’s persecution of his political rival is very good for Russia because it shows the rottenness of the American political system, which can not pretend to teach others about democracy.”
Tapper said, “I mean, who needs Pravda? You have Donald Trump right there repeating Russian propaganda.”
He continued, “Self-proclaimed defender of democracy Donald Trump admiringly quoting Russia’s Vladimir Putin to attack both the sitting U.S. president and democracy itself.”
Tapper added, “I mean, I’m sorry, but that is just empirically stunning for any major presidential candidate to be quoting approvingly Vladimir Putin smearing American democracy. I don’t care if it is Joe Biden or Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, it is absolutely stunning.”
Republican strategist and CNN political commentator Doug Heye said, “It’s stunning, but it is not surprising because we’ve seen Trump do this time and time again. This is not new news with Donald Trump. It is just the latest iteration of what strong man he wanted to connect to.”
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