White House chief of staff Ron Klain on Thursday took aim at former President Trump’s vocal praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin amid Russia’s unprovoked and deadly invasion of Ukraine, following the former president’s demand for Putin to help him dig up dirt on Hunter Biden.
Appearing on MSNBC, Klain was asked about what he makes of Trump’s open support of Putin, who Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused of war crimes against Ukraine, following the former president’s request for the Russian president.
Klain slammed Trump’s latest rehashing of his age-old grievances against the Biden family as “disgusting.”
“We have Vladimir Putin, who everyday we wake up and see him dropping bombs on hospitals, on schools, on children,” Klain said. “And we have the former president who thinks that’s a great person to try to engage in a political scheme with. It’s absolutely disgusting.”
Klain added the Biden administration is “grateful” for most Republicans on Capitol Hill who are working closely with them to try to confront Putin.
“We’ve had strong bipartisan support for aid, to provide economic aid, lethal aid, military assistance to the Ukrainians fighting President Putin,” Klain said.
The White House chief of staff then criticized the former president for openly insisting that Putin should help him in his efforts to dig up dirt on the Biden family amid Russia’s ongoing and deadly invasion of Ukraine.
“But if Donald Trump thinks some kind of crack pot scheme, conducted in conjunction with Vladimir Putin, can serve his political interests, that will fail. As it has failed every time,” Klain said. “And it says a lot about who Donald Trump is and how much he cares about our country’s security.”
Klain’s remarks were issued two days after the former president asked the Kremlin for dirt on the Bidens during an interview with the far-right outlet “Just the News.” In the interview, Trump raised baseless claims that Russian oligarch Yelena Baturina, the wife of former Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov, gave $3.5 million to a foreign business founded by Hunter Biden.
Trump then called on Putin to help him revive his efforts to dig up dirt on the Biden family. The former president’s demand to the Russian president is similar to what got him impeached the first time as president — that foreign governments help him find damaging information about his political rivals.
“How is it that the mayor of Moscow, his wife gave the Biden family three and a half million dollars?” Trump said during the interview. “I think Putin now would be willing to probably give that answer. I’m sure he knows.”
Days after Trump made his demand for Putin, the Kremlin pushed a bizarre conspiracy theory about the Bidens. The conspiracy differs from what the former president asked Putin for, however. During a briefing on Thursday, Russia’s Ministry of Defense revived an earlier, bird-related Ukraine biolab conspiracy theory that it had spread — and baselessly alleged that Hunter Biden sought investments for the bird scheme.
Watch Klain’s remarks below:
