Ryan: ‘Gaping difference’ between US, Russia

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Wednesday there is no “moral equivalency” between the United States and Russia, pushing back on President Trump’s recent defense of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I don’t think there’s a moral equivalency here at all. So I just disagree with any kind of notion of a moral equivalency,” Ryan said during an interview with “PBS NewsHour” set to air Wednesday evening.

“There’s a gaping difference between the United States of America and Putin’s Russia,” Ryan added.

{mosads}Trump in an interview with Fox News released over the weekend pushed back when interviewer Bill O’Reilly called Putin “a killer.”

“There are a lot of killers. We’ve got a lot of killers. What, you think our country is so innocent?” Trump responded.

Ryan said Trump’s approach to Russia is similar to the ones taken by former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

The Speaker specifically referenced former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Russian reset policy she pursued while heading the State Department during the Obama administration.

“I think what the president is trying to do is not unlike what the past two presidents did with Russia. I just don’t think it’s going to work,” Ryan said.

“It’s logical as to why they want to do this. There are instances in which our interests align with Russia and there are those where they don’t,” he added.

Trump maintained on his Twitter account this week that he does not know the Russian president nor does he have business deals in the country.

Ryan reiterated to PBS his opposition to easing sanctions on Russia.

A bipartisan group of senators on Wednesday introduced legislation that would require Trump to inform Congress before lifting sanctions in place against Russia for annexing Crimea and interfering in the presidential election.