Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) suggested Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has some sort of financial influence over former President Trump.
In an interview with MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki,” Pelosi said Putin is the “richest person in the world” and has “stiff competition” to being named the most evil person in the world.
Pelosi asked “what does he have on Donald Trump that he’d have to constantly be catering to Putin?”
Her comments came just after Trump doubled down on his criticism of NATO and said he would encourage Russia to attack U.S. allies who fail to reach the alliance’s defense spending goals. Trump has also declined to criticize Putin for the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a Russian prison last week.
Pelosi noted that Trump’s comments on NATO come near the two-year anniversary of Russia invading Ukraine.
Psaki asked Pelosi what she thinks Putin has on Trump to make him refuse to criticize the Russian leader.
“I’m not sure what he has on him, but I think it’s probably financial,” Pelosi said in comments highlighted by Mediaite.
Pelosi warned that Trump’s actions after Navalny was found dead show he is a “person without values.”
In the interview, the former Speaker was highly critical of Trump’s delayed comments about Navalny’s death and said his remarks were “beneath the dignity of a human being.” Trump compared the Putin critic’s death to his own legal circumstances.
“The sudden death of Alexei Navalny has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our Country,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Speaking on Presidents Day, Pelosi said Trump has brought “disgrace to the White House” and to former presidents such as George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. She reiterated that “we must be sure that he does not step one foot into the White House” again.