Mike Pence just made it clear he does not care any more about Russia’s interference in our democracy any more than Donald Trump does. Fox News anchor Bret Baier didn’t think it necessary to press for details.
During a friendly chat on Fox News’ Special Report, most of which was devoted to promoting Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court, Pence insisted that Trump is “a realist,” about Russia, i.e. the not the Putin bitch he appears. Yet Pence refused to say that Russia is a hostile foreign power.
At about 5:06 into the 10:07 interview, Baier took a moment to note that when asked if Russian President Vladimir Putin is a friend or foe, Trump replied, “I really can’t say right now. As far as I’m concerned, a competitor.’
“So is Vladimir Putin a friend or a foe?” Baier asked Pence.
PENCE: The president made it clear that we have competing interests with Russia. But doesn’t change the fact - whether it be Syria, where Russia’s involved militarily on behalf of the Assad regime, where our military forces have bravely been in the process of destroying ISIS at its source, that we need to find a way to work in common cause for a long-term solution in Syria. We have the issues in Ukraine, other issues that exist between our countries and, as President Trump has said many times, he always believes in talking. He believes in sitting down with leaders and determining whether there’s a way that we can make progress in the relationship. And I think he goes into the summit very much in that spirit.
It’s pretty clear from the “issues” that Pence identified and the election meddling that he didn’t, plus Trump’s own history of inaction on Russia’s interference, that Trump will make no effort to protect America against another Russian election attack during his upcoming summit with Putin.
Yet Pence had the nerve to tell Baier, “What the American people can be confident of is the president I serve with every day is always going to put America first.”
Almost as disturbing is the fact that Baier didn’t ask a single follow-up question to Pence’s “competing interests” whitewashing of Russia’s behavior. Nor did he challenge Pence's preposterous "America first" lie.
Watch Pence prove he has no problem with Putin’s meddling in our elections below, from the July 10, 2018 Special Report.
