Lauren Fox contributed reporting.
Tim Kaine pinged Mike Pence at Tuesday’s vice presidential debate for his claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin was a stronger leader than President Obama.
“Donald Trump again and again has praised Vladimir Putin and it’s clear he has business dealings with Russians that are connected to Putin,” Kaine began, before referencing former Trump campaign advisers Paul Manafort and Carter Page. “The Trump campaign management team had to be fired a month or so ago because of those shadowy connections with pro-Putin forces.”
“Governor Pence made an odd claim,” Kaine continued. “He said, inarguably, Vladimir Putin is a better leader than President Obama. Vladimir Putin’s run his economy into the ground. He persecutes LGBT folks and journalists. If you don’t know the difference between difference between dictatorship and leadership, you’ve got to go back to a fifth grade civics course.”
In an interview Pence did with CNN in September, he referred to Putin as a “stronger leader” than Obama.
Later, Pence returned to Trump’s praise for Putin, claiming it was an “indictment” of President Obama’s leadership.
“Look he brought his experience to the table tonight and I think that’s an incredibly beneficial thing,” Trump’s deputy campaign manager, David Bossie, told TPM in the post-debate spin room at Longwood University after the debate. When asked whether Trump and Pence might differ on their posture toward Putin, he replied “I’m here to talk about Gov. Pence’s performance.”
Watch below:
This post has been updated.
Just checking in after dinner and bike ride with the kids. I hope this came off well in the debate. Sure sounds like a grade A zinger.
Pence’s desperate attempt at deflection sounded… well… desperate.
Apparently I’ve been asleep for a year and dreamed everything Drumpf said.
Because of Kaine interrupting so often in the first part of the debate I don’t think he is going to come out on top for a lot of people watching. Pence lies so easily and convincingly. The average person watching this debate, who is not a political junkie, will believe Pence. Kaine did better in the second part of the debate but it still was not enough to counter Pence’s constant lying.
Chiselin’ Trump, June 16th, 2016: "“Frankly, Putin has built up their military again and again and again. Their military is much stronger. He’s doing nuclear, we’re not doing anything. Our nuclear is old and tired and his nuclear is tippy-top from what I hear. Better be careful, folks, okay? You better be careful.”
Mike Pence, 2016 VP Debate: “This whole Putin thing, look, America is stronger than Russia. Our economy is 16 times larger than the Russian economy. Our political system is superior to the corrupt capital system in Russia it every way.”
Can Trump and Pence agree on anything?