McCain blasts Trump over call for G-7 to readmit Russia

President Trump said on Friday that Russia should be readmitted to the Group of 7 nations, four years after it was expelled over its annexation of Crimea.

Among those who have criticized Trump’s remarks is Senator John McCain.

“Vladimir Putin chose to make Russia unworthy of membership in the G-8 by invading Ukraine and annexing Crimea,” McCain said in a statement. “Nothing he has done since then has changed that most obvious fact.”

“The President has inexplicably shown our adversaries the deference and esteem that should be reserved for our closest allies,” McCain added. “Those nations that share our values and have sacrificed alongside us for decades are being treated with contempt. This is the antithesis of so-called ‘principled realism’ and a sure path to diminishing America’s leadership in the world.”

Trump made his comment in the morning as he departed for the G-7 summit to Canada.

“We have a world to run,” he told reporters. “And in the G-7, which used to be the G-8, they threw Russia out. They should let Russia come back in. Because we should have Russia at the negotiating table.”

However, the president also said, “I have been Russia’s worst nightmare. I’d think [Vladimir] Putin is probably going, ‘Man, I wish Hillary won.’”