Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein on Monday refused to call Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal,” while eagerly slapping the label on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Biden.
Stein, 74, twisted herself into knots during an appearance on “Mehdi Unfiltered” trying to explain her “clear strategy” behind not designating Putin a war criminal. She seemed unaware that the International Criminal Court has put a warrant out for his arrest.
The perennial White House hopeful insisted that in her “very first remarks about the Ukraine war” she “condemned” the Russian invasion as a criminal act, but she was hesitant to call Putin himself a war criminal when pressed by host Mehdi Hasan.
“So, what we said about Putin was that his invasion of Ukraine is criminal. It’s a criminal and murderous war,” Stein said.
Hasan asked, “And he’s a war criminal who should be on trial?”
“Well, by implication, by implication,” Stein responded while refusing to come right out and say it.
Hasan noted that Stein’s reluctance to “say something very simple” about the Russian strongman is “why people have their doubts about you and Russia.”
Stein has long been accused of being a puppet for Putin.
A Senate investigation into possible collusion between Stein and the Kremlin found that the Green Party candidate was the beneficiary of favorable ad campaigns by the Internet Research Agency, a notorious Russian troll farm, during her 2016 White House run.
“Why is Benjamin Netanyahu a war criminal but not Vladimir Putin?” asked Hasan, an outspoken critic of Israel’s war against Hamas.
Stein replied, “Well, as John F. Kennedy said, we must not negotiate out of fear, and we must not fear to negotiate.
“So if you want to be an effective world leader, you don’t start by name-calling and hurling epithets,” she said.
The former MSNBC host continued pressing her, saying, “So, how will President Stein negotiate with Israel then if you’ve called Netanyahu a war criminal?”
She responded, “Well, because he very clearly is a war criminal.”
When Hasan noted that her response suggested that Putin “clearly isn’t a war criminal,” Stein countered, “Well, we don’t have a decision – put it this way – by the International Criminal Court” on the Russian president.
Stein’s response suggested that she was oblivious to The Hague’s issuance of an arrest warrant for Putin in 2023 over alleged war crimes in Ukraine.
Her reply also suggested that she was ignorant of the fact that the ICC has not issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu despite the body’s chief prosecutor filing an application for one.
“We are sponsoring that war. We are sponsoring Netanyahu. He is our dog in this fight,” Stein said after being called out on the gaffe by Hasan.
“Either you’re a war criminal or you’re not,” Hasan pressed. “Is Vladimir Putin a war criminal?”
“In so many words, yes, he is,” Stein responded, still refusing to use the term.
“If you are a world leader, you don’t begin your conversation by calling someone a war criminal,” she added.
When Hasan asked why she had leveled the accusation against President Biden and Netanyahu, Stein said it was because “we have a clear strategy.”
“That doesn’t make any sense to me,” Hasan bluntly shot back.
Stein is polling at less than 1% nationally, according to a RealClearPolitics average of polls. Her left-wing positions, however, threaten to siphon at least some votes from Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Post has reached out to Stein’s campaign for comment.