United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a media conference after a meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers at the Czernin Palace, in Prague, Czech Republic, on May 31, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday hit back at Russia’s allegation that the conviction of former President Donald Trump showed that the White House was targeting political rivals.
“I would say that’s a classic case of projection,” Mr. Blinken told reporters at a NATO meeting in Prague.
The top U.S. diplomat declined any further comment on the Trump verdict, including on whether his NATO counterparts raised it, saying he does not discuss domestic U.S. politics.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow that the conviction of Mr. Trump showed that President Joe Biden’s administration was “eliminating” its political rivals.
Mr. Trump, who has voiced admiration in the past for Russian President Vladimir Putin, is seeking to win back the White House from Mr. Biden in November elections. He risks jail time as the first President of the United States to be convicted of a felony.
Mr. Biden has been strongly critical of Mr. Putin both over the invasion of Ukraine and the treatment of prisoners including opposition figurehead Alexei Navalny, who died in a remote penal colony in February.
