Speaker of the House Mike Johnson drew a clear dividing line between himself and President Donald Trump as he claimed Russian President resident Vladimir Putin was “dangerous” and “not to be trusted.”
In an interview with Dana Bash on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, the speaker of the House praised the president for his peacemaking efforts but said Putin was an “old school communist” and aggressor in the war with Ukraine.
During a press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer earlier this week, President Trump said he believed the Russian leader would “keep his word” after any peace deal was made.
When Bash questioned Johnson about his views on Putin, the speaker blasted the Russian president.
“I think Vladimir Putin is an old school communist, a former KGB agent, and he’s not to be trusted, and he is dangerous,” Johnson said. “The way I view this is that China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are engaged in a new axis, Axis powers, and they are not on America’s side.”
“Let’s be crystal clear about that,” he added.
Minutes before he made the damning comments, Johnson said Trump should not simply “trust” Putin but “verify” whether he would keep to an agreement.
“You have to have both parties at the table. To do that, you have to negotiate with both parties, and there has to be a willingness on this, on both sides to bring it to an end,” he told CNN.
“President Trump has shown he will not tolerate someone not fulfilling their end of a deal,” he added.
Trump’s role as a peacemaker has come under fire following a tense clash with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday.
During the nearly hour-long press conference in the Oval Office, the president said that he had “very good discussions” with Russian officials, including Putin.
“I spoke with President Putin, and we’re going to try and bring this to a close,“ he said in front of Zelensky, who moments before said Putin did not “want peace.”
Trump’s warming up to Russia has concerned some Republicans, including Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who said she was “sick to my stomach” to see the president embrace Putin.
Johnson faced further questioning on Trump’s approach in a separate interview with Kristen Welker on NBC News’s Meet the Press.
Welker asked the Trump ally whether he believed Zelensky may need to resign to achieve peace in Ukraine.
“Something has to change,” he said. “Either he needs to come to his senses and come back to the table in gratitude or someone else needs to lead the country to do that.
“It’s up to the Ukrainians to figure that out,” he added.
Welker challenged him on why he had not made the same comments about Putin, but Johnson dodged her question.
“I’d like to see Putin defeated, frankly. He is an adversary of the United States,” he said. “But in this conflict, we’ve got to bring it into this war.”
