On Monday, Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) aired an interview with U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.
During the interview, host David Brody asked Haley about the United States’ ongoing relationship with Russia:
This is an unconventional president. He has obviously had that meeting with the North Korean leader, and also now with Vladimir Putin. How do you feel about some of what he has done here because it is unconventional to basically do some of this … what’s been your view of what happened in [Helsinki]?
Haley replied:
First of all, we don’t trust Russia; we don’t trust Putin. We never will. They’re never going to be our friend. That’s just a fact. But what I do think is, whether it’s the president sitting down with Kim [Jong Un], or whether the president sits down with Putin, those are things that have to happen. You can’t get to the end of the other side if you don’t have those conversations. Whether something comes out of them or not is one thing, but you have to at least have the conversation.
So I think going to Helsinki and having the conversation was something that was a long time coming. There were a lot of grievances that needed to be aired; there were a lot of challenges that we needed to discuss, and I think the president did that. There is, obviously, some controversy about Helsinki, but if you look at the controversy, it’s all about what he said.
For me, a policy person, I care more about what he does, and arming the Ukrainians against Russia was important; making sure that we hit Assad’s chemical weapons program even though Russia didn’t want us to do it, that matters. The idea that we expelled Russian diplomats and spies from Washington and New York — all of those actions matter. So, I think what’s controversial is the words that he said, but to me, the actions are the only thing that matters.