Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said in an interview aired Sunday that he didn’t think rival Donald Trump should be honored by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s endorsement.
Putin had called Trump last week a “bright personality” and a “talented person.” Trump returned the compliment and said Putin was “highly respected” and that it was a “great honor” to have his praise.
But Rubio said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” that he doesn’t want Putin’s endorsement. And neither should Trump.
“Vladimir Putin is a wily, cost benefit analysis political actor who is trying to have Russia recognized as a great global power on par with the United States and who wants the world to return to a sphere of influence system of politics,” Rubio said.
“Vladimir Putin is a person who has killed — he’s jailed and murdered journalists, political opponents. He bombed an apartment building as a pretext to attack the Chechens,” Rubio continued. “He is responsible for the downing of the Malaysian airliner over Ukraine, because he provided the antiaircraft weaponry that was used for that. So this is a person who’s done some horrifying things on the global stage.”
