Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responded to recent criticisms from presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden over reports that a Russian military intelligence unit put bounties on U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan by pointing to the Trump administration’s record on holding Russians accountable and listing the failures of the Obama administration to take stronger action against Russia.
“He either reads, and, or gets briefed on important issues, and he forgets it, or he doesn’t think it’s necessary that he need to know it,” Biden said at a press conference this week. “He should, at a minimum, have picked up the phone and said, Vladimir, old buddy, if any of this is true and it doesn’t cease immediately, you’ve got a big problem.”
Pompeo responded to the comments during an interview on Fox News with anchor Bret Baier on “Special Report,” saying, “there’s been no administration to hold the Russians accountable in the way this one has.”
“I only wish former Vice President Biden had held the Russians accountable,” Pompeo said. “We’d have been cleaning up a lot less of a mess. I wish he’d provided arms to the Ukrainians. I wish he had gotten out of the INF treaty. I wish he hadn’t allowed and invited the Syrians – the Russians into Syria.”
“I could go on, but you’ve got a short show. The failures of the previous administration allowed the Russians a lot of space to move,” Pompeo continued. “We’ve pushed back. We’ve sanctioned more Russians than any other administration in history. I’ll take a backseat to no one with respect to what our administration and President Trump has done to hold Vladimir Putin accountable when he’s engaged in malign activity.”
Video and transcript below:
BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: But here’s what the Democratic nominee is saying about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He either reads, and, or gets briefed on important issues, and he forgets it, or he doesn’t think it’s necessary that he need to know it.
He should, at a minimum, have picked up the phone and said, Vladimir, old buddy, if any of this is true and it doesn’t cease immediately, you’ve got a big problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BAIER: All right. So it’s not just the Democrats, obviously you have Senator Chuck Grassley on the Senate floor saying it demands a serious response.
You have two key Republicans in the House, Mike McCaul and Adam Kinzinger saying, there are already those who are politicizing this issue, however we cannot use – let politics overshadow the truth that Republicans and Democrats alike can agree on the Putin regime cannot be trusted. If the intelligence review process verifies the reports, we strongly encourage the administration to take swift and serious action to hold the Putin regime accountable.
SECRETARY OF STATE MIKE POMPEO: Yes, Bret, there’s been no administration to hold the Russians accountable in the way this one has. I only wish former Vice President Biden had held the Russians accountable.
We’d have been cleaning up a lot less of a mess. I wish he’d provided arms to the Ukrainians. I wish he had gotten out of the INF treaty. I wish he hadn’t allowed and invited the Syrians – the Russians into Syria.
I could go on, but you’ve got a short show. The failures of the previous administration allowed the Russians a lot of space to move.
We’ve pushed back. We’ve sanctioned more Russians than any other administration in history. I’ll take a backseat to no one with respect to what our administration and President Trump has done to hold Vladimir Putin accountable when he’s engaged in malign activity.
And should we find out that there’s evidence that he’s putting our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines at risk anywhere in the world – including in Afghanistan, I am very confident that President Trump will direct me, and he himself, will respond appropriately.
BAIER: How damaging was this leak? You were CIA director.
The White House press secretary the other day said that there were rogue officers in the Intelligence Community who want to undercut the president. Do you believe that?
POMPEO: Bret, I don’t know where this leak came from, but when periodicals report this information it breaks my heart, because it puts our intelligence officers and our military men and women at risk. It is dangerous, it is unlawful, and I hope that we can figure out who did it and they’ll be brought to justice.
BAIER: Mr. Secretary, you did speak out when it was alleged that Iran was paying the Taliban $1,000 for each American killed in Afghanistan, as a member of Congress. And you spoke out about the Obama administration’s response at the time – which obviously you criticized in the overall Iran deal.
POMPEO: Yes, that’s absolutely true. I’ve spoken about the Iranians providing assistance to the Taliban in my current role as secretary of State, as well.
I’ve criticized other governments. We’ve worked to make sure Pakistan wasn’t providing safe haven for the Taliban in Afghanistan too.
No, we’re equal opportunity when it comes to making sure we protect Americans wherever they’re serving.
BAIER: All right. Let’s talk about a couple of other substantive things.
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