Mitt Romney has called out Americans who support Russian president Vladimir Putin as being “almost treasonous”.
Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, the Utah Senator said many of Mr Putin’s apologists and supporters in the United States had begun “changing their stripes” after seeing the global outrage to the Russian leader’s invasion of Ukraine.
Read full coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
“How anybody in this country, which loves freedom, can side with Vladimir Putin, who is an oppressor, a dictator, he kills people, he imprisons his political opponents, he has been an adversary of America at every chance he’s had, it’s unthinkable to me, it’s almost treasonous,” he told host Dana Bash.
Sen Romney then appeared to criticise high profile media figures such as Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who has repeatedly voiced his support for Mr Putin and indifference towards Ukraine’s fate.
“It just makes me ill to see some of these people do that but of course they do it because they think it’s shock value and it’s going to get them more eyeballs and maybe make a little more money for them or their network, and it’s disgusting,” Sen Romney said.
As the Russian army amassed 190,000 troops along the border in recent weeks, Carlson repeated Kremlin propaganda that the conflict was a “border dispute” and Ukraine a puppet of the West.
On Tuesday night, he told viewers of his top-rated show Tucker Carlson Tonight: “It might be worth asking yourself, since it is getting pretty serious, ‘What is this really about? Why do I hate Putin so much?’ ‘Has Putin ever called me a racist? Has he threatened to get me fired for disagreeing with him?’”
Just hours before the Russians launched a full-scale invasion on Wednesday, Carlson claimed Ukraine wasn’t a democracy and was “essentially managed by the (US) State Department.”
Carlson changed his tune after the invasion, saying the conflict could escalate into “world war”, adding Mr Putin “clearly does deserve to be punished”.
Former president Donald Trump has also repeatedly praised Mr Putin’s “genius” in recent days, and has a longstanding admiration for the Russian president.
Bash asked the Senator whether his “treasonous” remark was directed at Mr Trump.
“Treasonous is a big word so I just have to quickly follow up, would that include the former president?” the CNN anchor asked.
“Well I said it’s nearly treasonous,” Sen Romney responded.
“Standing up for freedom is the right thing to do in America, anything less than that is unworthy of American support.”
The Independent has contacted Fox News for comment.
Sen Romney was the only Republican senator to vote to convict Mr Trump during his first impeachment trial, when the then-president tried to blackmail Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky with military aid in return for digging up dirt on Joe Biden and Hunter Biden.
The Utah senator then voted to convict him again in his second impeachment, for inciting the Capitol riot following his election defeat at the hands of Mr Biden. In both impeachment trials, Mr Trump was acquitted by his Republican allies.
