Washington: Former President Donald Trump defended his praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin while calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “brave” amid the deadly Russian invasion of his country, CNN reported on Sunday.
Trump said this at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, while declining to back away from complimenting Putin as “smart.”
Trump said that “The problem is not that Putin is smart, which, of course, he’s smart,”, adding “The problem is that our leaders are dumb… and so far, allowed him to get away with this travesty and assault on humanity.”
Trump has been praising Putin ever since Russian troops crossed into Ukraine and began launching rocket strikes against the country’s capital of Kyiv. He had called Putin “genius” and “savvy” in a radio interview.
Though Trump tempered his praise of the Kremlin leader with sharp condemnations of Putin’s decision to “ruthlessly attack” Ukraine, he saved his strongest criticism for Biden and elected Democrats.Â
