Sen. Marco Rubio Marco Antonio RubioHillicon Valley: DOJ indicts Chinese, Malaysian hackers accused of targeting over 100 organizations | GOP senators raise concerns over Oracle-TikTok deal | QAnon awareness jumps in new poll Intelligence chief says Congress will get some in-person election security briefings Republican Senators raise concerns over Oracle-TikTok deal MORE (R-Fla.), Donald Trump Donald John TrumpBarr criticizes DOJ in speech declaring all agency power 'is invested in the attorney general' Military leaders asked about using heat ray on protesters outside White House: report Powell warns failure to reach COVID-19 deal could 'scar and damage' economy MORE’s onetime campaign rival, is disputing the president’s implication this weekend that the United States isn’t so pure when it comes to criticizing Russia’s human rights record.

Rubio, a prominent member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s tactics go far beyond anything seen in the United States.

"We are not the same as #Putin,” he wrote on Twitter, asking when a Democratic political activist in the U.S. “poisoned by the GOP, or vice versa?”

When has a Democratic political activists been poisoned by the GOP, or vice versa? We are not the same as #Putin. MR — Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 5, 2017

Only reason we should ever lift sanctions on #Putin is if he meets conditions of sanctions & ends violations of #ukraine sovereignty. MR — Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 5, 2017

Trump told Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly in an interview airing Sunday that he respects Putin, despite his constant efforts to undermine U.S. policy.

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“I do respect him. Well, I respect a lot of people, but that doesn’t mean I’ll get along with them,” Trump said.

When O’Reilly stated that “Putin is a killer,” Trump implied the U.S. government has sanctioned extrajudicial killing as well.

“There are a lot of killers. We have a lot of killers,” Trump said. “You think our country is so innocent?”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellSenate Republicans signal openness to working with Biden Hillicon Valley: DOJ indicts Chinese, Malaysian hackers accused of targeting over 100 organizations | GOP senators raise concerns over Oracle-TikTok deal | QAnon awareness jumps in new poll The Hill's Campaign Report: Biden asks if public can trust vaccine from Trump ahead of Election Day | Oklahoma health officials raised red flags before Trump rally MORE (R-Ky.) also objected to the comparison on Sunday.

“I don’t think there is any equivalency between the way the Russians conduct themselves and the way the United States does,” McConnell said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Rubio and Trump clashed bitterly during the primary. Trump mocked him as “Little Marco” and joked about his profuse sweating in pressure-packed situations, while Rubio made fun of Trump’s hand size, alluding to his manhood.

He eventually endorsed Trump and supported Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s nomination, after asking tough and pointed questions about his relationship with Russia at the former Exxon Mobil CEO’s confirmation hearing.