Once again, President Trump’s professed admiration for his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin is causing headaches for fellow Republicans and drawing fire from Democrats – but this time, with a twist. The U.S. president has made similar remarks in the past about Putin’s reputation for violent retribution against perceived political enemies. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, in an interview on CNN, said he wasn’t going to “critique every utterance” of Trump’s, but didn’t defend him either. He said it was important not to let “semantics” get in the way of exploring ways to work together with Russia. The Florida Republican said separately on Twitter that sanctions on Russia should be lifted only if Putin halted aggressive actions in Ukraine.

Source: Los Angeles Times February 05, 2017 18:31 UTC