President Biden on Tuesday accused his predecessor Donald Trump of being an “old friend” of Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin – telling a gathering of Democratic donors that “Moscow and Mar-a-Lago” are aligned.
The 81-year-old president has accused his likely 2024 GOP rival of being a follower of Putin despite similar past attacks involving Russia failing to produce evidence.
“This weekend Trump hugged his old friend Putin. Trump also cited it this weekend. That’s no surprise. After all, there are a lot of deals between Moscow and Mar-a-Lago,” Biden said at a closed-door event with Maryland Democratic Gov. Wes Moore in Bethesda.
Biden told donors that “the future of American democracy” is at stake in next year’s election.
The president accused the 77-year-old Trump of “hugging his old friend” Putin in an apparent reference to a New Hampshire campaign speech in which Trump quoted Putin’s statements about the four pending criminal cases against him.
“Vladimir Putin of Russia said that Biden – and this is a quote – ‘politically motivated persecution of his political rivals is very good for Russia because it shows the rottenness of the American political system, which cannot pretend to teach others about democracy,'” Trump said at the Saturday rally.
The president accused Trump of being a follower of Putin, saying the former president was an “old friend” of his. Getty Images
A spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Reporters who attended Biden’s speech at a campaign fundraiser were not allowed to distribute audio or video of his comments, delaying the dissemination of the full context.
Biden blasted Trump for being too close to Putin as the former president vowed to quickly negotiate an end to Russia’s stalled invasion of Ukraine if he recaptured the White House.
Although similar past attacks involving Russia failed to produce evidence, President Biden fired back at Trump by accusing him of being a follower of Putin. AFP via Getty Images
Democrats have previously accused Trump of colluding with the Kremlin after Russian hackers allegedly stole and published emails that embarrass 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, contributing to Trump’s upset victory in that year’s election.
That perception was reinforced when Trump as president appeared to accept Putin’s denial of responsibility for the hacking at a 2018 press conference in Helsinki.
More than half of Trump’s four-year tenure was dominated by an investigation by the FBI and then special counsel Robert Mueller into whether Trump colluded with Russia to win the White House — with exhaustive and leak-filled inquiries ultimately producing no evidence.
The president told a gathering of Democratic donors that “Moscow and Mar-a-Lago” are aligned. AP
Trump has routinely pointed to the release while arguing that he is the victim of a long-running “witch hunt” by the Democratic-aligned establishment of federal officials.
Trump currently leads Biden in most national and state polls, but his many attempts next year add unprecedented variables to the race.
Trump is the first former president to face criminal charges — in two cases for challenging his 2020 loss to Biden, and also for allegedly mishandling confidential records at his Mar-a-Lago resort and allegedly falsifying business records with a 2016 hush money payment.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
