Republican Minority Leader McCarthy calls Putin 'evil' in break with Trump
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy broke with former President Donald Trump on Wednesday when he was asked whether he supported Trump's comments praising Putin as a "genius."
“I do not think anything is savvy or genius about Putin," McCarthy, R-Calif., said during a news conference. "I think Putin is evil, he is a dictator and I think he is murdering people right now."
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On Feb. 23, a day before the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Trump praised Putin and slammed his successor President Joe Biden in an appearance on a conservative talk radio program.
"This is genius. Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine ... Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that's wonderful," Trump said of the Russian president's decision to recognize the two provinces of the Donbas Region of eastern Ukraine as independent republics and claimed rebels there asked him to send troops into Ukraine to protect them from Ukrainian military attacks.