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Top Intel Dem: Trump joins ‘great statesmen’ like Dennis Rodman

by Jesse Byrnes - 05/18/16 11:04 AM ET

A leading House Democrat on Wednesday slammed presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump’s “overture” to speak with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

“With his earlier praise of the dictator’s execution of his own uncle, Trump now joins the ranks of other great statesmen, like Dennis Rodman,” Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement.

{mosads}Rodman, who backed Trump’s White House bid last summer, grabbed the international spotlight when he visited North Korea in 2013, the same year the former basketball star was fired from the “All Star Celebrity Apprentice” show. Rodman later befriended Kim.

Trump told Reuters on Tuesday that he’d have “no problem” speaking with the North Korean leader in an effort to stop Pyongyang’s nuclear program. At the same time, Trump argued he’d “put a lot of pressure on China,” North Korea’s major economic supporter, to “solve that problem.”

“Donald Trump’s statement that he would have talks with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un without precondition is a great way to reward the pariah state for its recent ballistic missile launches and continued nuclear tests,” Schiff, a backer of Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, said in his statement Wednesday.

“The overture to Kim, his fawning comments about Vladimir Putin — even after the Russian strongman invaded his neighbor — and his disdain for our closest ally, Britain, threaten to turn American leadership on its head,” Schiff said. “This is what you get when your primary military advisor is the guy in the mirror.”

Tags 2016 GOP primary 2016 presidential election Adam Schiff Donald Trump Hillary Clinton