Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham has alleged former President Donald Trump 'admired' Vladimir Putin’s ability to 'kill' anyone he wanted to.
Grisham, who served as Trump’s fourth press secretary, made the allegation during an appearance on the chat show The View on Tuesday, March 8, as Putin continues his invasion on Ukraine.
Trump has previously done little to hide his apparent admiration for Putin, having publicly described him as a 'genius' after the Russian president recognised the independence of two breakaway regions in Ukraine.
During her appearance on the show, Grisham expressed belief that Trump 'feared' Putin, saying: 'I think he was afraid of him. I think that the man intimidated him. Because Putin is a scary man, just frankly, I think he was afraid of him.'
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In spite of this, Grisham said, she also believes Trump 'admired [Putin] greatly'.
She continued: 'I think he wanted to be able to kill whoever spoke out against him. So I think it was a lot of that. In my experience with him... he loved the dictators, he loved the people who could kill anyone, including the press.'
When it came to expressing her opinion on how Trump would have reacted to the war in Ukraine if he were still President when it happened, Grisham said the Republican would have had a 'completely hands off approach', and even say, 'go on in there'.
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'He really admired Putin, and I saw that firsthand', Grisham said.
Current US president Joe Biden has joined many Western leaders in condemning Putin for his actions, and has fought to stop the war by imposing a number of sanctions including a ban on Russian oil.
Trump was criticised last month, shortly before the invasion, after he spoke on a conservative radio show about Putin's decision to recognise 'the independence and sovereignty of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic', as the Russian leader put it.
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As cited by The Guardian, Trump said on the matter: 'I went in yesterday and there was a television screen, and I said, ‘This is genius.’ Putin declares a big portion of … Ukraine. Putin declares it as independent. Oh that’s wonderful.
'So Putin is now saying, ‘It’s independent,’ a large section of Ukraine. I said, ‘How smart is that?’ And he’s gonna go in and be a peacekeeper. That’s the strongest peace force. We could use that on our southern border.'
Trump went on to say Russia had 'more army tanks than [he's] ever seen', adding: 'They’re gonna keep peace all right. No, but think of it. Here’s a guy who’s very savvy, I know him very well. Very, very well.'
Grisham left the Trump administration just days after the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol building.
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Topics: Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, US News, Politics, Russia, Republicans
Emily Brown