Shalva Papuashvili, Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, on Wednesday criticized Laura Thornton, Director of the McCain Institute’s Global Democracy Programs, for her comments about former US President Donald Trump and Georgia-US relations.
Papuashvili’s social media remarks came in response to Thornton’s statements on platform X, where she referred to Trump as a “rapist and a criminal.”
Thornton’s comments were made in the context of a discussion on X regarding Trump’s potential role in Georgia-US relations. She expressed concern over Georgian praise for Trump, writing, “I understand that it is in Georgia’s interests to make the case for Georgian democracy. But understand that he is a rapist and a criminal, so for many of us it, as the Georgians say, “cuts our ears” to hear lavish praise and ingratiation of him from our Georgian friends”.
Papuashvili responded on his Facebook page, accusing Thornton of prioritizing the political agenda of her group over the broader interests of Georgia-US relations. “This statement by Salome Zourabichvili’s [Georgia’s fifth President] employer, which she made in one of the discussions on X, shows that the issue of Georgia-US relations is not important to her, but rather pursuing the agenda of her own political group in the US and Georgia,” wrote Papuashvili. He further described Thornton’s approach as characteristic of the “Deep State” and expressed hope that Trump would “successfully challenge” such practices.