“Oh my goodness, I don’t know where you’ve got that from..."
President Trump and his Republican friends are no strangers to pushing misinformation, but even by their own poor standards, the latest claim being made by a Trump supporter is quite something.
With Trump coming under growing criticism from Ukraine and its European allies for cosying up to Putin and going above Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s head to negotiate a ceasefire, while at the same time agreeing to give Ukrainian territory to Russia, his supporters have been trying to defend him.
Trump has also drawn condemnation from Zelensky after blaming Ukraine for ‘starting the war’, with the Ukrainian President slamming the US President for living in the ‘disinformation space’.
Appearing on BBC Newsnight to discuss Trump’s decision to U-turn on the Biden administration’s support for Ukraine, former US ambassador and Trump supporter Carla Sands made the ridiculous claim, without any evidence, that there are more people in prison in UK jails for freedom of speech violations than in Putin’s Russia.
Presenter Victoria Derbyshire told Sands of former UK Prime Minister John Major’s comments, who launched a scathing attack on the US for “cuddling” up to Vladimir Putin, after U.S Vice-President JD Vance accused European countries of abandoning free speech.
Major told the BBC: “It’s extremely odd to lecture Europe on the subject of free speech and democracy at the same time they are cuddling Mr Putin.
“In Mr Putin’s Russia, people who disagree with him disappear, or die, or flee the country, or on a statistically unlikely level, fall out of high windows somewhere in Moscow.”
While Derbyshire read out Major’s comments, Sands interrupted and said: “There are more people in jail in the UK because they spoke what they thought was right… than there are in Russia.”
Derbyshire replied: “Oh my goodness, I don’t know where you’ve got that from, we’ve got a guest here who is laughing his head off at that.”
Reacting to Sands’ comments journalist Lewis Goodall posted on X: “A Trump shill on Newsnight claims there are more people in prison in UK jails for freedom of speech violations than in Putin’s Russia.
“These people are radicalised, insane, plain stupid or some combination of all three.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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