Nancy Pelosi, Jen Psaki claim that Putin is blackmailing Trump: ‘What does he have on Donald Trump?’
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and MSNBC host Jen Psaki said Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin was likely employing blackmail against Trump.
Pelosi asked what kind of leverage Putin has against Trump on NATO.
"What does [Putin] have on Donald Trump that he'd have to constantly be catering to Putin, telling Putin, go into these countries?" Pelosi wondered.
"NATO countries! NATO was there to stop Russia. To keep Russia out. They have been successful for nearly 75 years," she added.
Pelosi was referring to Trump's recent words for NATO allies at a campaign rally in February, calling on NATO members to pay their dues.
"NATO was busted until I came along," Trump said. "I said, ‘Everybody’s gonna pay.' They said, ‘Well, if we don’t pay, are you still going to protect us?' I said, 'Absolutely not.' They couldn't believe the answer."
"And then we have, what's his name, I usually have him nameless, saying that he doesn't support NATO," Pelosi said of Trump.
NATO CHIEF SAYS TRUMP CRITICISM 'DOES UNDERMINE THE SECURITY OF ALL OF US'
'"He Who Shall Not Be Named,' I know Voldemort well, so there's another guy kind of like him," Psaki said, comparing Trump to Voldemort, the antagonist from the "Harry Potter" series.
When asked by Psaki what Putin could be holding as blackmail on Trump, Pelosi claimed it was likely "financial."
"I don't know what [Putin] has on [Trump], but I think it's probably financial. It is probably financial. It's either something financial [Putin] has on [Trump] or something on the come, something that he expects to get."
Pelosi also railed against the possibility of Trump winning re-election.
"We must be sure that he does not step one foot into the White House," she said. "Not as president, not as anything. He has brought disgrace to the White House, to these presidents."
Comparing Trump to past presidents like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, the former House Speaker said that Trump was not a person of character.
"Now we have someone who had the honor of serving in the White House, didn't consider it an honor, didn't consider his oath of office to protect and to defend the Constitution," Pelosi said of Trump.
Psaki commented on the interview after it aired.
"Never holds back…This is a fairly extraordinary thing for a former Speaker to say about a former president and a Russian dictator (for good reason btw!)" she wrote on X.
"Nancy, just like Crooked Joe, seems to have lost all of her marbles after years of Trump Derangement Syndrome," Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital in a statement.
Fox News' Timothy H.J. Nerozzi contributed to this report.