Trump doubles down on Putin commentary as he’s blasted for ‘insane’ ‘adulation’

The former president of the United States doubled down on his praise for Vladimir Putin and criticism of Joe Biden on Wednesday as the US and Russia appear to be experiencing a major breakdown of relations amid Russia’s aggression in Crimea and towards Ukraine.

Donald Trump issued an early-morning statement on Wednesday which crowed that the Russian president was playing his US counterpart “like a drum”, seemingly ignoring the criticism he has faced over the last day regarding his overly-complimentary view of Mr Putin.

His statement comes as GOP critics like Reps Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger have roundly excoriated his previous comments which faulted Mr Biden for supposedly having no response to Russia’s decision to move further forces into disputed Crimean territories.

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