Heidi M. Przybyla

USA TODAY

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he doesn’t view Russian President Vladimir Putin in the same way that President Trump does.

During an interview on CNN’s State of the Union, the Kentucky Republican called Putin a “thug” and former KGB agent who was not elected in a way most would consider “a credible election.” Putin also invaded the sovereign nation of Ukraine and “messed around in our elections,” said McConnell.

“I don’t think there’s any equivalency to the way the Russians conduct themselves and the way the United States does,” said McConnell.

McConnell responded to Trump’s earlier comments. When Fox News host Bill O’Reilly asked Trump about allegations that Putin is “a killer” who targets his political enemies, Trump replied: “We got a lot of killers. You think our country’s so innocent?”

Both McConnell and Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, who appeared on ABC's This Week, spoke out in opposition to Trump drawing parallels between the United States and Putin’s Russia.

“I don’t know what the president’s trying to do,” said Sasse. “The U.S. affirms freedom of speech; Putin is no friend of freedom of speech. Putin is an enemy of freedom of religion; the U.S. celebrates freedom of religion. Putin is an enemy of the free press; the U.S. celebrates free press. Putin is an enemy of political dissent; the U.S. celebrates political dissent,” said Sasse.

“There is no moral equivalency” between the United States and Putin’s “murderous thugs,” he said. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., also took to Twitter to slam the comparison.

In his O’Reilly interview, Trump also said it’s a “good thing” to work with Russia in the war on terror and that he may or may not get along with Putin in the long term. On NBC's "Meet the Press," Vice President Mike Pence said Trump was not drawing a "moral equivalency" between the U.S. and Russia. "No, not in the least," he said. As for U.S. relations with Russia, he said that Trump has been clear that “maybe it's not going to work out. But I think he's absolutely determined.”

There are currently two U.S. congressional panels looking into alleged ties between Russia and the Trump campaign as part of broader probes into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Intelligence agencies have already made clear their conclusions that Russia tried to interfere in the election, initially to undermine faith in the democratic process and later to help elect Trump. Separately, CNN reported last month that the FBI is investigating whether Putin has compromising information on Trump after intelligence officials briefed both Trump and then-President Barack Obama on the allegations.

Also on Sunday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called for a probe into potential Russian blackmail of Trump. "I want to know what the Russians have on Donald Trump," the California Democrat said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"We have to have an investigation by the FBI into his financial, personal and political connections to Russia, and we want to see his tax returns, so we can have truth in the relationship between Putin, whom he admires, and Donald Trump."

Read more:

Trump still questions intelligence on Russia hacking after briefing

The Russian hacking saga: How we got here