Russian President Vladimir Putin needs former U.S. President Donald Trump to win the 2024 presidential election in order to salvage Russia's war in Ukraine, according to former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Brennan.
Russia's bloody invasion of Ukraine has dragged on for more than 18 months, defying the predictions of many experts who had initially suggested that Moscow's military would easily steamroll Kyiv shortly after the invasion began.
The extended conflict has damaged Putin's reputation and standing abroad and led to conflict at home, where the Russian leader's authority was in June rattled by a short-lived armed uprising by now-deceased Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Brennan, who headed the CIA during the second term of former President Barack Obama, said during an MSNBC interview on Tuesday that it was "absolutely essential" to Putin that Trump win back the White House.
The former CIA director argued that the former president's victory would benefit Russia in the war and said that Putin and Trump are "like-minded." U.S. intelligence agencies previously concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections to help Trump.
"For Putin, it is absolutely essential, I think, that Donald Trump wins the election," said Brennan. "Putin and Trump, it's very clear that they are members of the autocrat's mutual admiration society. And they are going to flatter each other and play to each other's egos."
"I think it is Putin's main lifeline in order to find some way to salvage what has been a debacle in Ukraine for him," he continued. "If Trump is able to return to the White House ... Putin could have a like-minded individual that he can work with, detrimental to U.S. interests certainly and detrimental to Western interests overall."
Newsweek reached out for comment to Trump's office and the Russian Ministry of Defense via email on Tuesday night.
Trump has claimed that he would be able to unilaterally end the Russia-Ukraine war with "24 hours" of negotiation—an assertion that has been dismissed and mocked by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and a number of military analysts.
The former president is campaigning as the leading Republican candidate in the 2024 election after pleading not guilty to 91 felony charges. Trump claims to be the victim of political "persecution" and "election interference."
Last month, the ex-president joked about being a "flight risk" after being indicted on 13 felony charges in Fulton County, Georgia, proposing that he would take his private jet to Russia to "share a gold domed suite" with Putin.
Putin on Tuesday echoed Trump's rhetoric concerning his legal troubles by describing the criminal charges against the former president as "persecution" and evidence of "the rottenness of the American political system" during an event in Vladivostok, according to the Associated Press.
The Kremlin has denied interfering in U.S. presidential elections, while Trump has repeatedly rejected allegations of collusion with Russia.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Aila Slisco is a Newsweek night reporter based in New York. Her focus is on reporting national politics, where she ... Read more
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