Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Putin: Obama trying to undermine Trump
Russian accuses administration of making fake allegations
MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin took a parting shot at the Obama administration Tuesday, accusing it of trying to undermine Donald Trump’s legitimacy with fake allegations and “binding the presidentelect hand and foot to prevent him from fulfilling his election promises.”
In his first public remarks about an unsubstantiated dossier outlining unverified claims that Trump encountered prostitutes at a Moscow hotel, Putin dismissed the material as “nonsense.”
“People who order such fakes against the U.S. president-elect, fabricate them and use them in political struggle are worse than prostitutes,” Putin said. “They have no moral restrictions whatsoever, and it highlights a significant degree of degradation of political elites in the West, including in the United States.”
Separately, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the dossier, compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele according to British media, was a “rude provocation.” The diplomat contemptuously called its author a “runaway swindler from MI6,” Britain’s foreign intelligence agency. Trump has rejected the sexual allegations as “fake news” and “phony stuff.”
The statements by Putin and Lavrov reflected the Kremlin’s deep anger at President Barack Obama’s administration in a culmination of tensions that have built up over the crisis in Ukraine, the war in Syria and allegations of Russian meddling in the U.S. election.
Putin said the allegations were part of efforts by the Obama administration to “undermine the legitimacy of the president-elect” despite his “convincing” victory.
Asked about Putin’s remarks, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said it “was not the first time the intelligence community has had some uncomfortable things to say about Russia.”
Putin voiced hope that “common sense will prevail” and Russia and the United States will be able to normalize relations once Trump takes office Friday.
“I don’t know Mr. Trump,” Putin said. “I have never met him and I don’t know what he will do on the international arena. I have no reason whatsoever to assail him, criticize him for something, or defend him.”
Putin ridiculed those behind the dossier for alleging Russian spy agencies collected compromising material on Trump when he visited Moscow in 2013 for the Miss Universe pageant.
“He wasn’t a politician. We didn’t even know about his political ambitions,” Putin said at a news conference.
Putin also sarcastically suggested that Trump, who met the world’s most beautiful women at the pageant, had a better choice for female companionship than Moscow prostitutes, even though Putin said “they are also the best in the world.”
Trump will travel to Washington on Thursday to attend a concert at the Lincoln Memorial and to stay, as is custom for incoming presidents, at Blair House, the presidential guest quarters, the night before he’s sworn in.
In New York on Tuesday, Trump met with Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg. Trump has criticized the cost of Boeing’s Air Force One program.
“We made some great progress to refine requirements for Air Force One, to streamline the process, to streamline certain features, all of that will lead to a better airplane at a lower cost,” Muilenburg said after the meeting.
Trump’s comments on Twitter and to news organizations threatened to overshadow the pomp and circumstance of Friday’s inauguration.
On Tuesday, the president-elect continued his attacks on Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., whom he berated Saturday for challenging his legitimacy to be the next president. Trump said that the veteran African-American lawmaker had wrongly claimed that it would be the first inauguration he’s missed since 1987.
“WRONG (or lie!)” Trump tweeted. “He boycotted Bush 43 also because he ‘thought it would be hypocritical to attend Bush’s swearing-in . ... he doesn’t believe Bush is the true elected president.’ Sound familiar!”
Lewis’ office on Tuesday confirmed that the civil rights icon had missed George W. Bush’s 2001 swearing-in, saying it was also a form of dissent.