Putin ally mocks Donald Trump

An ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin recently mocked former President Donald Trump over the nature of his criminal conviction in his hush money trial.

In a case brought forward by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a New York jury on Thursday found Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records relating to a hush money payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels by Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen shortly before the 2016 presidential election. Daniels alleged she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, which he denies. Trump has maintained his innocence and says the case is politically motivated. His legal team says they will fight the case, which will include an appeal, if necessary.

During a recent appearance on Russian-state television, State Duma member Aleksey Zhuravlyov, the leader of the nationalist pro-Putin political party Rodina, ridiculed Trump for being “in litigation with a porn actress.” Zhuravlyov mockingly suggested that the former president may have been charged with a crime for failing to “satisfy” Daniels.

“An American president is in litigation with a porn actress,” Zhuravlyov said, according to a video shared to YouTube on Saturday by Russian Media Monitor, a watchdog group created by journalist Julia Davis “in an effort to combat Russian propaganda.”

He added: “What else could you come up with? With a porn actress! Did he fail to satisfy her, or what is the problem? Their entire country is discussing the case, in all seriousness. I realize that every country has its idiots. But here idiots have their own country. This is my first time seeing this, it’s a historic first. Their whole country is looking at this…What is going on?”

Newsweek reached out for comment to Trump’s office via email on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Trump told Fox Business in August 2023 that he was “the apple of [Putin’s] eye” and claimed that Russia never would have invaded Ukraine in February 2022 if he had remained in the White House. Putin has also publicly praised Trump, describing him as an “extraordinary” and “talented individual” in a 2021 interview with NBC News.

Zhuravlyov made his remarks during an appearance on a program hosted by Olga Skabeyeva who has been called the “Iron Doll of Putin TV” due to her fervent devotion to the Russian president and his policies.

Skabeyeva referred to Trump’s hush money trial as a “show trial” during the broadcast, while pointing out that New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, who presided over the trial, had previously donated to Democrats.

An ethics complaint against Merchan was dismissed last year over $35 he donated to Democratic causes in 2020, including a $15 donation to the campaign of then-future President Joe Biden, The New York Times reported last month.

Trump maintains his innocence and claims that all of his legal troubles—he is facing 54 additional charges across three other criminal cases—amount to “election interference” as he attempts to return to the White House by defeating Biden in a November election rematch.

The former president has called Merchan “corrupt” and “conflicted.” He has also claimed that Biden was responsible for his conviction in Manhattan, despite the federal government having no jurisdiction over state legal matters.

Trump’s New York sentencing hearing is set for July 11, exactly two weeks after the first of his two scheduled debates with Biden and just four days before the beginning of the Republican National Convention where he is expected to be officially named his party’s presidential nominee.