Hillary Clinton: Putin ‘helped elect’ Trump during 2016 election

Failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton continued to push the narrative that Russian President Vladimir Putin “helped elect” former President Donald Trump on Wednesday.

Clinton, who lost the 2016 presidential election to Trump, joined MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” to offer her thoughts on President Biden’s meeting with the Russian leader. The former Democratic nominee used the opportunity to praise Biden, bash Trump and declare that Putin contributed to her loss. 

“I think that [Biden’s] long history with foreign relations, his eight years as vice president seeing what worked, what didn’t work, watching the disaster of the Trump presidency in basically giving a green light to Putin to do whatever he wanted – once he helped elect Trump, of course – I think you’ll see a much different approach,” Clinton said. 

Clinton once again evoked Trump when delivering her answer.

“Trump has elevated him. Trump, from the very beginning, even when he was running in 2016, basically lifted up Russia and lifted up Putin against our own country and our own president,” Clinton said. “That behavior and that rhetoric continued, so it’s difficult to say, ‘Let’s turn the clock back.’”

Clinton has attacked Trump whenever possible since her 2016 loss and she hasn’t lost her disdain despite him being out of office. Earlier in her appearance on MSNBC, Clinton also called Trump a “spokesperson” for Putin when fawning over Biden. 

“We don’t have you know, Trump being in effect a spokesperson for Putin any longer. We have a president who will stand up and defend American interests,” Clinton said. 

“Putin made it his mission to deny me the presidency,” she said later in the segment.