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Donald Trump was criticised by prominent Republicans on Sunday after saying in a televised interview that the US was no better than Vladimir Putin's Russia.
The US president has said he wanted improved relations with Mr Putin, a former KGB agent who has been accused of ordering the deaths of opposition politicians, dissidents and journalists during his nearly two decades in power.
When Bill O’Reilly challenged Mr Trump in the Fox News interview, saying “Putin’s a killer”, the president responded: “There are a lot of killers. We have a lot of killers . . . What, you think our country is so innocent?”
The comments, in an interview to be aired ahead of the Super Bowl American football finale, drew fire from several Republicans. Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska said on ABC's This Week that the US was "not at all" like Mr Putin's Russia. "There is no moral equivalence between the United States of America, the greatest freedom-loving nation in the history of the world and the murderous thugs that are in Putin's defence of his cronyism," Mr Sasse said.
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Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, also broke with Mr Trump. “I do think America’s exceptional; America is different,” he told CNN. “We don’t operate in any way the way the Russians do. I think there’s a clear distinction here that all Americans understand . . . I obviously don’t see this issue the same way he does.”
Poisoned
Senator Marco Rubio tweeted: “When has a Democratic political activists [sic] been poisoned by the GOP, or vice versa? We are not the same as #Putin.”
The episode highlights the continuing sensitivity of Russian policy for the Trump administration amid congressional investigations of Moscow’s alleged interference in last year’s presidential election.
The Republican criticism of Mr Trump, so far limited to several party stalwarts, pales alongside the attacks on President Barack Obama for what critics called a global “apology tour”. In 2009, the Heritage Foundation said Mr Obama had “humiliated” his own country by his remarks at the time, such as those decrying “the arrogance” of US power.
Yesterday, several conservatives took to Twitter to highlight perceived Republican hypocrisy. "You won't see many conservatives defend Trump's Russia comment," David French of the National Review tweeted. "They'll be silent, but they'll know they'd race to Fox to condemn a Dem."
Mr Trump’s latest remarks left US intentions toward Russia unclear.
Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, called last week for “an immediate end to the Russian occupation of Crimea”.
James Mattis, the defence secretary, and Mike Pompeo, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, have told Congress that Russia represents a big national security threat to the US.
‘Very troubled’
Mike Pence, the vice-president, said on ABC that the administration was "very troubled" by the recent resumption of fighting in eastern Ukraine between Russia-backed separatists and the government in Minsk.
Elsewhere in the Fox interview, Mr Trump said it would be “a good thing” if the US and Russia co-operated in the fight against Islamic State. “I do respect him. Well, I respect a lot of people, but that doesn’t mean I’ll get along with them,” Mr Trump said of Mr Putin.
On Saturday, Mr Trump spoke to Petro Poroshenko, the Ukrainian president. The White House readout of the call was criticised for playing down Russian aggression in the region, essentially depicting the "long-running conflict" as a border war.
“I don’t understand what the president’s position is on Russia,” said Mr Sasse, who added that Mr Putin sought the break-up of the Nato alliance and was a “great danger” to his country’s neighbours.
– Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2017