Mike Pompeo Defends Trump Admin’s Record on Russia: ‘No Administration’ Was Tougher

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed on Fox News Sunday that “no administration” was “tougher” on Russia than the Trump administration.

Chris Wallace spoke with Pompeo, currently a Fox News contributor, ahead of President Joe Biden’s summit with Vladimir Putin and asked about his criticisms of the Biden administration being “too soft” on Russia, including on the waiving of sanctions connected to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

Pompeo stated, “There was no administration that was tougher on Russia. We worked diligently to support Ukraine with defensive weapon systems. We built up the United States military.”

He said the Trump administration “really put pressure” on Putin and said “we need to continue to defend the United States against the threats that Vladimir Putin may pose.

After Pompeo again brought up the Trump administration’s record, Wallace picked up on that, remarking, “Under President Trump, the administration didn’t stop Russia from completing — and they continued during the Trump administration to build the Nord Stream pipeline. By the end of the administration, it was 90 percent completed. And President Trump never condemned Russia for the poisoning of Alexei Navalny or his arrest. And both of those happened on his watch.”

Pompeo responded by saying, “Well, Chris, you said it yourself, they didn’t complete the pipeline. We’d imposed real sanctions on the ships that were doing the construction, the insurers that were underwriting it. We made clear that that pipeline was not going to be completed. It would not have been completed had we had four more years, I’m very, very confident of that.”

He also said that “we were tough” in calling out human rights abuses.

“I’m proud of the work we did there. It was good work, it was serious work, and it made a difference.”

Biden is set to hold a summit with Putin on Wednesday. Trump, whose infamous 2018 Helsinki summit with Putin became one of the most widely-criticized moments of his presidency, touted his own meeting and gave a mocking message to Biden in a recent statement.

You can watch above, via Fox News Sunday.