Retired Lt. General H.R. McMaster, national security adviser during
Trump's first term, said yesterday that some Republicans, including Tulsi Gabbard, need to "disabuse themselves" of their "strange affection" for Russian President Vladimir Putin. (starts at 5:03 in video). Via Newsweek:
"There's some people in the Republican Party these days which kind of tend to parrot Vladimir Putin's talking points," McMaster said on CBS News' Face the Nation on Sunday, adding that "they've got to disabuse themselves of this strange affection" for the Russian leader. McMaster served as national security adviser for just over a year during Trump's first administration from February 2017 to April 2018.
McMaster mentioned Gabbard specifically, who Trump named to be his director of national intelligence.
"There's a fundamental misunderstanding based on the nominee for DNI about what motivates him [Putin], McMaster said. "It's not his security concerns. His security concerns don't need to be allayed," later adding that Gabbard has previously said "Putin really felt aggrieved and that's why he had to invade Ukraine."
"That's a Russian talking point that she's repeated and in direct contravention to what U.S. intelligence has concluded," host Margaret Brennan said.
