Putin says Trump’s enemies are using courts against him | Wilnesh News

Russian President Vladimir Putin lambasted the U.S. judicial system and said political opponents of former U.S. leader Trump used the U.S. judicial system to damage the Republican presidential candidate.

“They (the United States) are burning themselves, their country, their political system from within,” Putin told media editors at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Wednesday.

“It is clear to the world that the prosecution of Trump without direct evidence, especially in court based on an incident that occurred years ago, is simply an internal political fight using the judicial system,” he said. said in comments translated by Reuters.

CNBC has reached out to the U.S. Department of Justice for comment.

In late May, a New York jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business records to conceal hush-money payments to porn stars before the 2016 presidential election. Trump has denied all the charges and blasted the court proceedings as a “rigged, disgraceful trial.” He is expected to appeal the historic verdict after he is sentenced on July 11, but legal experts say he is unlikely to overturn his conviction before the Nov. 5 election.

Asked on Wednesday whether he expected Trump or incumbent Joe Biden to win the vote, Putin said “it doesn’t matter” in Moscow who becomes the next U.S. leader. In any case, U.S. foreign policy toward Russia is unlikely to change, he said.

“Basically, we don’t care (who wins),” Putin said. “For us, we don’t think the end result means much. We will work with whatever president the American people elect.”

”.

Back in February, Putin said he would prefer Biden to be the next U.S. president, calling him a more experienced and predictable “politician.”

On Wednesday, he told reporters that Biden is “an old-school politician” while downplaying his support for the Trump campaign.

“We never had any special relationship with Mr. Trump, but the fact is that as president he began imposing massive sanctions on Russia and withdrew from the short- and medium-range missile treaty,” Putin said.