White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders refused today to criticize the Russian elections when asked about Trump’s phone call congratulating Putin on his re-election victory:
Sarah Sanders on McCain statement that Trump "insulted every Russian citizen who was denied the right to vote" with Putin call:
— NBC Politics (@NBCPolitics) March 20, 2018
"The president once again has maintained that it is important to have a dialogue with Russia so that we can share on some areas of shared interest." pic.twitter.com/2jaLucjPjY
Sanders was asked for a second time by a different reporter if the White House believes Russia’s elections were free and fair:
Sarah Sanders is asked whether the Russian election was free and fair: "We don't get to dictate how other countries operate." pic.twitter.com/kqEWvNFeOa
— Axios (@axios) March 20, 2018
Here is John McCain’s full statement criticizing Trump’s congratulatory phone call to Putin:
Sen. McCain is VERY unhappy with President Trump for calling to congratulate Russian President Putin on his election win 👇🏼 pic.twitter.com/yw64Vx7hyC
— Marianna Sotomayor (@MariannaNBCNews) March 20, 2018
It’s a rare thing to see, but for once I agree with McCain on something.
I had hoped at one point that Trump had only congratulated Erdogan when he won his sham election in 2017 for the sake of getting out of Turkey the Christian pastor who is being held there behind bars. But recently we heard Trump praising Xi for becoming a strongman president for life, and now we see Trump doing the same with Putin.
Look, I do believe Trump wants to keep the channels of communication open with these countries, however he does it in a very appeasing way, which I don’t like. For all Trump’s talk about being tough, he sure rolls over when it comes to congratulating strongmen on their phony election victories.