Russian President Vladimir Putin says the criminal cases against former US president Donald Trump are politically motivated and demonstrate the “rottenness” of the US political system.
Mr Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is facing a series of criminal cases in which he is charged, among other things, with trying to overturn his 2020 presidential election defeat by Joe Biden.
He has pleaded not guilty, while Mr Biden, who is seeking re-election next year, has kept silent about the proceedings against his opponent.
Mr Putin said on Tuesday that what was happening to Mr Trump was good from Russia’s point of view.
“It shows the rottenness of the American political system, which cannot pretend to teach others democracy,” he said at an Eastern Economic Forum gathering in Russia’s far-eastern city of Vladivostok.
“Everything that is happening with Trump is the persecution of a political rival for political reasons. That’s what it is. And this is being done in front of the public of the United States and the whole world,” he said.
During his four years in the White House, Mr Trump repeatedly boasted of having good relations with Mr Putin, while critics alleged he was submissive to the Russian leader.
Mr Trump has claimed he could resolve the conflict in Ukraine in a matter of days, if he regains the presidency. He has not provided details of his potential approach.
“We hear that Mr. Trump says that he will solve pressing problems in a few days, including the Ukrainian crisis. Well, this cannot but bring happiness. This is good,” Mr Putin said.
However, the Russian leader said his country’s poor relations with the US were unlikely to change regardless of who becomes president, because the current administration was “hammering into people’s heads” that Russia was an existential adversary.
“It will be very difficult for [the next administration] to somehow turn this whole ship,” he said.
Relations between Moscow and Washington have plunged to post-Cold War lows under Mr Biden following Mr Putin’s decision in February 2022 to send tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine, triggering sweeping Western sanctions and Western military aid to Kyiv.
Russia is also due to have a presidential election in 2024. Mr Putin hedged on Tuesday when asked if he would seek another term after being in power, as either president or prime minister, since 2000.
“We will talk about it” after the Russian parliament sets an election date, he said.
Reuters/AP
“It shows the rottenness of the American political system, which cannot pretend to teach others democracy,”
So true Vlad, just waiting for Trump’s plane to get blown out of the sky, or news that he shot himself in the back four times.
Hear hear…
The worst part of this story… the moronic Moskali actually believe this bullshit.
Well, the system is in many ways a bit rotten, but we’re working to address that. There is no doubt that the multiple attempts to convict Trump right now are politically driven, but on the other side it seems he did do some of the stuff of which he stands accused.
But then, given the number of laws we have, we’re all felons nowadays, multiple times per day, and it’s just what they choose to prosecute that determines whether we are hounded or not. Having a system where prosecutors can choose to ignore some crimes, but aggressively pursue others, all based on their whim or their political biases, is obviously not healthy.
Luckily, we are still ahead of Vlad’s Russia. No prosecution would be needed there, Trump would have fallen out of a high window long ago.
We should refrain from calling the orange baboon guilty or innocent until the final verdict has been felled. I doubt that this has to do with political motivation.
Well there have been verdicts already, such as in the Stormy case, but that was just private law and not criminal law.
The criminals cases are ongoing.
I don’t really think these cases are politically motivated, although I do think the closeness of the political system to the judicial system in the U.S. is a problem.
I don’t like it when the President can appoint lawyers such as in the constitutional court: I prefer systems like the Dutch in which the judicial system is completely separated from the political system.
Of course this has flaws too, because in case judges become corrupt the government cannot stop them. And of course it is less democratic, but personally I think that is a good thing.
Churchill once said that democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.
Its a distraction from Biden’s court problems and impeachment problems too. It is more fashionable among the press to speak about Trump’s court problems. So, there is a big chunk of ignorant folks that just get half the story. I would bet a slight majority of Ukrainians would prefer wishing president Biden another healthy 4 years. I trust their wisdom as a whole. 😉
Putin: I solve political problems always outside the courts……………………….
No putler, “hammering into people’s heads” is what your fellow psychopath PrickGoesIn does, or rather did.
Time the tiny poisoner got some hammer.
So says a mafia boss who wages a genocidal war on an innocent nation, kills or imprisons his entire political opponents, and lies whenever his rotten trap opens up. Thus, we certainly know where to put any of his stinking opinions, especially those dealing with democracy.