Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) repeatedly refused to condemn Donald Trump on Sunday after the former president praised Russian President Vladimir Putin as “savvy” and a “genius” for invading and attacking Ukraine.
Speaking to George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week,” Cotton said that he has always seen Putin as a “ruthless dictator who wants to reassemble the greater Russian empire,” as opposed to others who may have viewed the leader as someone willing to operate according to global norms.
“You’ve never made that mistake, it is true. You’ve been stalwart in your opposition of Vladimir Putin,” Stephanopoulos said. “The same cannot be said for the leader of your party, Donald Trump.”
Earlier this week, Trump praised Putin as “savvy,” “smart” and a “genius” for invading Ukraine and suffering only “two dollars worth of sanctions.” On Saturday night, he continued attacking the U.S. and NATO leaders by calling them “not so smart.”
Trump — who remains the most influential member of the Republican Party even after leaving office — finally condemned the invasion on Saturday night, claiming that Putin would not have invaded Ukraine if he were still president.
The former president, however, spent years advancing policies that matched Putin’s goals, and praised the Russian leader for at least a decade before running for president as he tried to build a condominium tower in Moscow. Trump dismissed the U.S. intelligence community’s warnings about Russian meddling during the 2020 election, and urged Russia to hack presidential rival Hillary Clinton’s emails in 2016.
As president, Trump was impeached for withholding nearly $400 million in important military aid to Ukraine in an attempt to extort the country for political gain.
On Sunday, Cotton attempted to dodge Stephanopoulos’ question about condemning Trump’s rhetoric about Putin and the invasion.
“George, you heard what I had to say about Vladimir Putin: that he is a ruthless dictator who’s launched a naked, unprovoked war of aggression,” Cotton said. “Thankfully, the Ukrainian army has anti-tank missiles that President [Barack] Obama would not supply, that we did supply last time Republicans were in charge in Washington.”
When Stephanopoulos pressed Cotton on why he was not condemning Trump for his praise of Putin, the senator said he does not “speak on behalf of other politicians” and that instead he speaks on behalf of Arkansas residents.
“You’re a senior member of the Republican Party. Donald Trump is the leader of the Republican Party. He said last night again, suggesting that he’d be running for president. When Fox News asked him if he had a message for Vladimir Putin, he said he has no message,” Stephanopoulos said. “Why can’t you condemn that? I feel quite confident that if Donald — that if Barack Obama or Joe Biden said something like that, you’d be first in line to criticize him.”
After a pause, Cotton said that Stephanopoulos should have Trump on his show if he wants to talk about the former president’s comments.
Cotton, when asked, also refused to say whether he would support Trump if the former president runs for office again.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
