Some Republicans Have 'Strange Affection' for Putin: Former Trump Adviser [View all]
Source: Newsweek
Published Nov 24, 2024 at 4:15 PM EST
Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, who served as national security adviser during President-elect Donald Trump's first term, said on Sunday that some Republicans, including former Representative Tulsi Gabbard, need to "disabuse themselves" of their "strange affection" for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"There's some people in the Republican Party these days which kind of tend to parrot Vladimir Putin's talking points," McMaster said on CBS News' Face the Nation on Sunday, adding that "they've got to disabuse themselves of this strange affection" for the Russian leader. McMaster served as national security adviser for just over a year during Trump's first administration from February 2017 to April 2018.
McMaster mentioned Gabbard specifically, who Trump named to be his director of national intelligence (DNI). "There's a fundamental misunderstanding based on the nominee for DNI about what motivates him [Putin], McMaster said. "It's not his security concerns. His security concerns don't need to be allayed," later adding that Gabbard has previously said "Putin really felt aggrieved and that's why he had to invade Ukraine."
The U.S. is a strong ally of Ukraine and has provided funding and weapons support to Kyiv against Putin's February 2022 invasion. Earlier this month, the U.S. confirmed that Ukraine fired long-range ATACMS missiles into Russia for the first time after President Joe Biden gave permission for Kyiv to use them. Face the Nation's host Margaret Brennan followed up on McMaster's comments and said, "That's a Russian talking point that she's [Gabbard] repeated and in direct contravention to what U.S. intelligence has concluded." Newsweek has reached out to Gabbard for comment via email on Sunday.
Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/some-republicans-strange-affection-vladimir-putin-mcmaster-1990862
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