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Trump reacts to Putin’s comment siding with Biden as US urges Russia to ‘stay out’ of 2024 elections
Speaking at a campaign rally in North Charleston on Wednesday, Donald Trump said: “President Putin of Russia has just given me a great compliment, actually.”
Former US President Donald Trump reacted to Russian President Vladimir Putin's remarks that he prefers incumbent President Joe Biden over the Republican frontrunner in 2024 election.
Speaking at a campaign rally in North Charleston, South Carolina, on Wednesday, Trump said: “President Putin of Russia has just given me a great compliment, actually.”
"He just said that he would much rather have Joe Biden as president than Trump," he added, as per ABC News. "Now that's a compliment. ... And of course, he would say that."
When asked by a journalist on Wednesday which US President he preferred—Biden or Trump, Putin responded categorically that the incumbent was “more experienced, predictable, an old-school politician,” but he also stated, “We will work with any US president who the American people have confidence in.”
Putin also rejected concerns regarding Biden's age and mental capacity and claimed he had not observed any problems with his American counterpart during a meeting in 2021.
US urges Putin to stay away from 2024 presidential elections
Meanwhile, John Kirby, the US national security spokesperson, also reacted to Putin's statement and urged the Russian President to stay away from the next US election.
I’m sorry. I think Mr. Putin knows very well what this administration has been doing to — to counter Russia’s mali- — Russia’s malign influence around the world and certainly what they’ve been doing inside Ukraine," Kirby told reporters during a press conference on Thursday.
“We’ve demonstrated over and over and over again how willing we are to push back on what Russia is doing, again, particularly in Ukraine. And Mr. Putin should just stay out of our elections,” he added.
Trump's comments come after he said that he'd "encourage" Russia to "do whatever the hell they want" to US allies abroad that fail to pay their "fair share" of defense spending, Trump has come under fire from some quarters.
Biden recently slammed Trump for “bowing down for a Russian dictator (Putin)".
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Earlier this week, Trump stated in a rally that he would allow Russia to invade nations that failed to meet their NATO obligations, drawing condemnation from European leaders.
Trump's detractors charge the former president with having a bias toward supporting Putin. A US intelligence report that claimed Russia had meddled in the 2016 presidential election to aid Trump in defeating Hillary Clinton has clouded his years in office.
Trump has recently lobbied Republican members to vote against the Senate's $95.34 billion military aid proposal.
Biden, on the other hand, has consistently criticised Putin, referring to him as a "killer" even before the invasion of Ukraine. Since the beginning of the war, the United States has contributed about half of all foreign military support to Ukraine's arsenal.
