Nancy Pelosi implied Donald Trump might be tiptoeing around Vladimir Putin in order to avoid certain information being made public.
"What does he have on Donald Trump that he has to constantly be catering to Putin?" the former Speaker of the House told MSNBC on Monday, February 19.
Pelosi called the Russian politician one of "the most evil people in the world" and pointed out that Trump even appeared to be "encouraging" Putin to invade NATO allies who don't "pay their bills."
"I don’t know what he has on him, but I think it’s probably financial," she continued. "Or something that he expects to get."
Trump has long been accused of idolizing dictators. As OK! previously reported, the 77-year-old praised Putin, Kim Jong Un and President Xi of China for their intelligence in a rant shared to Truth Social last year.
"The press hates when I say they’re smart ... Well, what am I supposed to say? They’re stupid people?" he said at the time, adding that there's "no doubt about who the boss is" when it comes to North Korea. "And they want me to say he’s not an intelligent man."
"They get very personal when I say that because they’re fake news," he said. "That’s why they do that. They’re fake. They’re fake people, and they’re hurting our country very badly."
This comes after Trump failed to mention Putin's name when writing a message addressing the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, instead taking the opportunity to rage about his legal woes and ongoing election campaign.
"It is a slow, steady progression, with CROOKED, Radical Left Politicians, Prosecutors, and Judges leading us down a path to destruction," he wrote via Truth Social as Knewz.com reported. "Open Borders, Rigged Elections, and Grossly Unfair Courtroom Decisions are DESTROYING AMERICA. WE ARE A NATION IN DECLINE, A FAILING NATION! MAGA2024."
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Political opponent Nikki Haley later slammed Trump in a social media post shared to X, formerly known as Twitter.
"Donald Trump could have condemned [Russian President] Vladimir Putin for being a murderous thug. Trump could have praised Navalny’s courage," she penned. "Instead, he stole a page from liberals’ playbook, denouncing America and comparing our country to Russia."
