Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters Tuesday that calling Russian President Vladimir Putin to congratulate him on his reelection wouldn’t have been among the top of his priorities.
“Calling him wouldn’t have been high on my list,” McConnell told reporters at the Capitol Tuesday.
President Donald Trump had a phone call with Putin Tuesday morning, where he congratulated the Russian president on winning in a landslide victory with over 76 percent of the vote.
“I had a call with President Putin and congratulated him on the victory, his electoral victory,” Trump told reporters Tuesday, adding the pair might get together in the not too distant future.
McConnell added that the Russian presidential elections remind him of elections held in former communist countries, where dictators rigged the results to show themselves winning in decisive fashion.
“The president can whomever he chooses. when I look at the Russian election, what I see is a lack of credibility. It always reminds me of all the elections they used to have in all the communist countries, where whoever the dictator was at the moment always got a large percentage of the vote,” McConnell said.
Arizona GOP Sen. John McCain admonished Trump Tuesday for congratulating Putin on winning re-election.
“An American president does not lead the Free World by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections,” McCain said in a statement. “And by doing so with Vladimir Putin, President Trump insulted every Russian citizen who was denied the right to vote in a free and fair election to determine their country’s future, including the countless Russian patriots who have risked so much to protest and resist Putin’s regime.”
The leaders of France, Germany and China have all joined Trump in congratulating Putin on his recent victory.
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