Kremlin says Trump being politically targeted

The Kremlin said former President Trump is being politically targeted, stating there’s an “elimination” of political contenders taking place, a day after the presumptive GOP nominee was found guilty on all 34 felony counts in his hush money case. 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov initially refrained from commenting about the Manhattan criminal case but later said there is an “obvious” plan in place to get rid of Trump by any means possible.

“We do not like it very much when somebody from the outside world says something about the decision of our courts,” Peskov said during a Friday conference call with reporters, according to The Washington Post. “And we, in turn, try not to comment.” 

The press secretary later said, “But in general, if we talk about Trump, there is a de facto elimination of political rivals by all possible legal and illegal means, it is obvious. The whole world can see it with the naked eye.”

The former president was found guilty on all 34 felony charges Thursday by a New York jury. In his first criminal case, he was convicted of falsifying business records to conceal alleged affairs during the 2016 presidential election that he ended up winning. His sentencing will be July 11, four days before the Republican National Convention. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has often gone after activists and political dissidents, has criticized the four criminal cases that Trump faces. Putin, who won the country’s election in March, has decried the cases as an example of the “rottenness” of the U.S. political system.

“As for the prosecution of Trump, for us what is happening in today’s conditions, in my opinion, is good because it shows the rottenness of the American political system, which cannot pretend to teach others democracy,” Putin said last year during a speech at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.