crimea. we re back with republican congressman darrell issa. the president had what is widely reported to be tough phone calls with foreign leaders including the prime minister of australia. you ve seen all of those reports. we just reported. was it appropriate for president trump to start off his new administration with such a tough phone call with a key u.s. ally? well, you know, we always would hope that you can do the best you can when you re ending a deal that shouldn t have happened. president obama in his last days negotiated roughly 1200 refugees from a country that doesn t take refugees for the most part to come here, and i think after the president s controversial or not 90-day stay, it was appropriate for him to say, we re not doing those, call us in 90 days. and i m sure with the pressure you have in australia to get these people off the islands and out of australia, both were under a lot of pressure. but, you know, if the u.s. doesn t live up to that commitment, it wil
called the kgb as a lot of us remember, when they get the word that the u.s. is easing, technically easing some sanctions, may not be significant as far as the sanctions are concerned, but it does potentially send a message to them. i would assume. i think it will, but i agree with mark. i think this is a technical correction the rukss are going to overturn. i do not interpret this as an intelligence officer that we re head in any direction on sanctions. haley put out the word on crimea unless you get out sanctions continue. that s tough. wolf, to your point, too, we did see russia come out today. they put out a statement and said this is an example of how we re going to work so well together. in many ways trying to tuz this as a propaganda tool against perhaps our nato allies. it s a way of keeping people off balance to a great degree. i would listen to nikki haley here. i would think in her maiden speech, she s not going to go rogue. she s not going rogue. headquarters, rex t
we are not soft and clearly not softening our position toward russian aggression, but we are dealing with the fact that there are other places in which we and the russians must work together. when it s in russia s best interest, they will be with us. any other time they won t be. would you like to hear the tough talk we heard from ambassador nikki haley, would you like to hear that coming out of the mouth of the president? because we haven t. i want the president to be able to do what president reagan did, which is was go to rakavic, go there with all the options and strength, but wanting to find solutions. so, to the extent that he says it, great. to the extent that he lets others say it and he holds back until the right moment to negotiate some very difficult issues, and wolf, you and i have spend a lot of time looking at syria and the lavant. finding a solution there, which is the heart of isis power today is something that we have to work with a number of countries, including
appearance here is one in which i must condemn the aggressive actions of russia. the dire situation in eastern ukraine is one that demands clear and strong condemnation of russian actions. the sudden increase in fighting in eastern ukraine has trapped thousands of civilians and destroyed vital infrastructure. and the crisis is spreading, endangering many thousands more. this escalation of violence must stop. the united states continues to condemn and call for an immediate end to the russian occupation of crimea. crimea is a part of ukraine. our crimea related sanctions will remain in place until russia returns control over the peninsula to ukraine. very trong words from the new u.s. ambassador to the u., ambassador haley also said the united states is hoping for better relations with russia. joining us now, republican congressman darrell issa, serve opt american foreign affairs
sovereignty, and oh, by the way, threatening israel and all western nations. we just heard very tough talk from u.s. ambassador to the u.n. nikki haley saying those sanctions against russia are staying in effect until they leave crimea. very tough talk, very different kind of talk than we ve heard from president trump himself. are you surprised? no, not a bit. the reality when you take the oath and you re in that office and you start looking at russia as a bad actor is you realize that you ve got to you ve got to contain them because ultimately they have already done the gobbling away of sovereignty of two of their former satellites and their intention, putin s intention clearly is to do more. and i think president trump now has that full weight on his shoulders and is acting accordingly. but at the same time today, the trump administration eased sanctions on one of the key russian intelligence agencies, the fsb, foreign security service, in russia, an