Former Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has condemned Donald Trump for his comments praising Vladimir Putin at the start of the Ukraine invasion.
The former president said the Russian leader was “genius" and "savvy" on the eve of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “He used the word ‘independent’ and ‘we’re gonna go out and we’re gonna go in and we’re gonna help keep peace.’ You gotta say that’s pretty savvy,” said Mr Trump during an interview for the conservative radio programme The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show.
“Do we want to send admiring words to someone [Putin] who as we speak this morning is directing the slaughter of women and children in the Ukraine without any conscience?" Mr Christie asked during a New Hampshire speech on Monday.
“Words matter everybody. Words matter,” he continued. “Those words from people of our party who called him [Putin] ‘genius’ and ‘very savvy’ are being replayed over and over again in Russian television to justify and prop up a dictator who is sending his soldiers to slaughter in Ukraine."
Mr Christie was headlining the first “Politics and Eggs” series in the 2024 election cycle at Saint Anselm College when making the remarks. “I think those remarks are dangerous. They’re not just wrong, they’re dangerous,” he said.
Mr Trump later doubled down on his opinion of Putin, at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida, he said the Russian dictator was “smart.”
On Sunday, Ukraine officials stated that Russia had an art school in Mariupol "where 400 people were sheltering". Russia reportedly bombed a theatre in Mariupol where civilians were sheltering on Wednesday. Russia has also reportedly bombed a maternity hospital in the southeastern Ukrainian city.
“To do this to a peaceful city, what the occupiers did, is a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come,” said Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a video to the nation.
“Children, elderly people are dying. The city is destroyed and it is wiped off the face of the earth,” Mariupol police officer Michail Vershnin said in a video filmed in the city.
Mr Christie also criticised President Biden in his response to the invasion. "When Joe Biden decided to stop arming the Ukrainians in January of 2021 when he entered office, that was a huge mistake, because it was a signal to Putin that we don’t care," he said.
The former New Jersey governor was a supporter of Donald Trump until his false claims about the rigged 2020 election.
"We need as a party to move forward. We can’t look backwards. We can’t be a party of vindictiveness and vendettas. We can’t be a party of settling scores for me. We have to be a party of creating opportunity and inspiration for us," said Mr Christie, who is rumoured to be considering another election run in 2024.
