House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told ‘The View’ hosts that Donald Trump considers himself ‘Putin-esque’ and lamented what he called the ‘pro-Putin’ faction in the Republican Party.
Jeffries made the comments when asked by co-host Joy Behar on Wednesday: “What do you think Putin has over him?”
The consultation came days after Trump was criticized by Democrats and some Republicans for encouraging Russia to do “whatever it wants” with NATO allies that do not fund its defense commitments.
Then, following the death of Alexei Navalny in an Arctic prison, Trump has repeatedly compared his own situation as a subject of criminal trials to the treatment of the Russian opposition leader.
“That’s a good question,” said Jeffries, who served as the House impeachment manager in 2020.
“In fact, I think Donald Trump sees himself as a Putin-style dictatorial figure,” he said.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told ‘The View’ that Donald Trump ‘sees himself as a Putin-style dictatorial figure.’
‘He said that. And we should believe him that he wants to follow this path. And that’s the problem that we’re finding with some of my Republican colleagues, that there is a growing pro-Putin faction in the Republican Party, and it’s led by Donald Trump, some other outside figures like Tucker Carlson, and on the inside, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Jim Jordan.’
Trump has repeatedly spoken favorably about the need to “get along” with Russia, while repeatedly criticizing the Russia investigation during his tenure, deriding it as “Russia, Russia, Russia.”
On Tuesday, special counsel David Weiss alleged in a court filing that FBI informant Alexander Smirnov ‘lied’ about an alleged Biden family ‘corruption scheme’ and told prosecutors about his contact with foreign intelligence services ‘including Russian intelligence agencies’.
House Republicans are currently blocking passage of emergency supplemental appropriations passed by the Senate to provide $60 billion to aid Ukraine.
Trump compared his own legal problems to the treatment of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in a Russian prison north of the Arctic Circle.
Jeffries called President Biden the strongest candidate to take on Trump
He was questioned on ‘The View’ about what Vladimir Putin ‘has’ over Trump, a line of inquiry that dates back to the Russia investigation and the debunked rumors of compromising material about the former president.
Navalny died in a Russian penal colony on the Artice Circle
Putin is running for re-election next month. He has been consolidating power while overseeing the war in Ukraine and is accused of being responsible for Navalny’s death.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, who met with Trump days ago in West Palm Beach, Florida, has said he will not introduce the measure, citing dangers at the southern border. An earlier compromise proposal that blew up in the Senate contained border language and funding.
Jeffries called on the House to approve the aid package, as Ukrainian forces report efforts to ration ammunition as they withdraw from a city in eastern Ukraine.
“What we are saying is that supporting Ukraine is defending the national security interests of the United States, and that is why it should be done in a bipartisan manner, and we are asking the Republican leaders in our House to simply introduce the bill in the floor for an up or down vote,” Jeffries said.
Trump did not express condolences in his initial statement over Navalny’s death, and in a town hall appearance Tuesday compared his treatment to that of Navalny, who returned to his home country after suffering a nerve agent attack in the foreign.
“It’s a form of Navalny,” Trump said of the $355 million a judge ordered him to pay after his fraud trial in New York. “This is also happening in our country.”
“Narcissism is unbelievable,” Behar chimed in during Jeffries’ appearance.
Behar raised the question a day after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi formulated her own version, despite earlier theories that the Kremlin was maintaining kompromat on Trump over his alleged conduct in a Moscow hotel room. were discredited by a series of investigations into the infamous Steele dossier.
‘What does he have over Donald Trump that he has to constantly attend to Putin? Tell Putin to go to these countries, the NATO countries,” Pelosi asked on MSNBC.
‘What do you think? We’re all asking ourselves this question, Speaker Pelosi: What do you think Putin has over him? asked former White House press secretary Jen Psaki. ‘I mean, it sure seems like something, as you’ve said a few times, given that he refuses to criticize him, that he seems to be a fan of his. You are worried?’
Jeffries also spoke as a standard-bearer for his party, amid repeated concerns appearing in polls about Biden’s age and stamina.
Host Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former aide to Mike Pence, asked if Biden had the “vitality” to serve another four years or if it was time to “pass the baton.”
“Joe Biden is definitely the strongest candidate to defeat Donald Trump,” Jeffries said.
“He has an incredible track record of success. And we just have to connect that track record of success to his vision for the next four years,” he said.