The White House has hit back at comments made by Vladimir Putin claiming he supports Kamala Harris over Donald Trump in November’s presidential election.
John Kirby, the White House’s national security communications advisor, said that Putin “shouldn’t be favoring anybody one way or another.”
“The only people who should get to determine who the next president of the United States is is the American people,” he said, according to the White House.
Kirby added that the US would “greatly appreciate” if Putin would “A. stop talking about our election, and B. stop interfering in it.”
It comes after Putin said earlier this week that Russia’s “favorite” in the presidential election was formerly President Joe Biden before he withdrew from the race in July, but that the country would now “support” Harris.
“I told you our favorite, if you can call it that, was President Biden. He’s now out of the race, but he asked his supporters to back Ms. Harris, so we’ll do the same,” he said at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on Thursday.
This is a breaking story. More to follow.
