Trump branded Putin’s ‘buddy in vileness’ and ‘without values’ by Pelosi: Latest

Pelosi speaks out on Putin’s leverage over Trump: ‘It’s probably financial’

Donald Trump has been branded Vladimir Putin’s “buddy in vileness” by former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, incensed by the ex-president’s self-serving comments about the suspicious death of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny last week.

Mr Trump waited three days before saying anything about the heroic politician’s passing in an Arctic prison and when he did, rather than paying tribute or condemning Mr Putin, the candidate used the case to draw a ludicrous parallel with his own legal plight.

“Trump speaking out the way he did about Navalny shows you he is a person without values,” Ms Pelosi told Jen Psaki on MSNBC on Monday evening.

“He looks like he’s going to be a person without dollars,” she added.

In other Trump news, the Republican continues to stew on Friday’s ruling in his New York fraud case that saw him ordered to pay almost $355m plus interest in financial penalties and face ridicule over his overpriced range of gold high-top sneakers as his lawyers fight his legal battles on multiple fronts.

Mr Trump is due to address the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland this week before facing off against Nikki Haley in Saturday’s South Carolina primary.

Trump has unexpectedly asked his supporters who they think he should pick to be his running mate for the presidency, assuming he sews up the Republican nomination, as is widely expected.

The likes of New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik, South Carolina senator Tim Scott, South Dakota governor Kristi Noem and Arkansas governor and one-time Trump White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, have all been linked to the role in recent weeks but Trump has remained