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WASHINGTON, D.C. – A former top aide to a Republican president and a left-wing senator have both blasted the White House for its response to the feud between Canada and Saudi Arabia, calling it weak and evidence of President Donald Trump’s affinity for autocrats.

In an article earlier this week, Elliott Abrams, who was deputy national security adviser to George W. Bush, said the Saudis’ aggressive response to human rights criticism from Canada was “an unforced error,” and the lack of U.S. back-up for the Canadians indefensible.

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From the other side of the political spectrum, Sen. Bernie Sanders told the National Post Trump himself should have defended Canada and echoed its criticism of the Saudis.

The States’ strategic alliance with the Arab power is no reason to go easy on its human rights transgressions, he said.

“What the United States government should have done is joined Canada in telling Saudi Arabia that it is not acceptable in a country that has received huge amounts of support and military arms from the United States to be imprisoning human rights activists,” he said in an interview.