‘I Don’t Get It, Jake’: Former Trump Chief-of-Staff Expresses ‘Disbelief’ at Republican Praise of Putin

John Kelly, the retired Marine Corps general and former chief-of-staff to Donald Trump, said he doesn’t understand why so many Republicans heap praise on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Though he did not name any of them in particular, his former boss clearly fits the bill.

On Monday, Trump praised the Russian leader for ordering “peacekeeping” forces into the Donetsk and Luhansk region of Ukraine, which Putin had just recognized as independent from the country.

“I went in yesterday and there was a television screen, and I said this is genius,” Trump stated during a radio interview. “Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine–of Ukraine. Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful. So Putin is now saying it’s independent – a large section of Ukraine. I said how smart is that?”

Trump doubled down on his comments the next day.

Appearing on The Lead, host Jake Tapper asked Kelly about unnamed conservatives who’ve similarly praised the Russian despot.

“We’ve heard a lot of prominent Republicans – both in politics and in conservative media – praising Vladimir Putin, even calling him a genius,” said Tapper, clearly alluding to Trump. “What’s your response when you hear that?”

“Disbelief,” Kelly responded. “He’s a tyrant. He’s a murderer. He has attacked an innocent country whose only crime is that they want to be free and democratic and they’re working in that direction and have been working in that direction.”

Kelly called Ukraine a “cooperative country,” citing the country ceding its nuclear weapons stockpile in the 1990s, and its previous deployment of peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan and Africa.

“Is Putin smart?” Kelly said. “Yes. I mean, tyrants are smart. They know what they’re doing. But that’s–I can’t imagine why someone would look at what’s happening there and see it [as] anything other than a criminal act. I don’t get it, Jake.”

Watch above via CNN.

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