i ll repeat what everyone else said. he never specifically mentioned ukraine, he didn t mention the nerve agent attacks in the uk, he didn t mention the anniversary of the mh-17 airliner being shot down. not only that, he stood there while vladimir putin said let s work together on cyber security, insert laughter here. let s work together on transnational crime. let s insert laughter, ludicrous, here. and he also stood there while vladimir putin voiced compassion for syrian refugees. russia is as responsible as anybody on this planet for the syrian refugee crisis. the president of the united states stood there and let him sound like a voice of compassion when he is a leader who has been a sponsor of reprehensible conduct. i come back to the panel. he sat in the chair of winston churchill in london just the other day, was photographed, outraged many in london about that. a man who stood up to the worst forms of aggression.
russian encroachment could get the chances of that happening. the president arrived and about 30 minutes late for his meeting. jeff? hey there, francis. the president arrived about a half hour ago and at the moment he is in a meeting focussed on the security situation in eastern europe. this is a usual issue for allies because of russia s growing influence in the region. we have that is credibly accused of bad actions and popping up a murderous regime in syria. you have the nerve agent attacks and the attack on the democracy. russia s meddling based on the assessment of the intelligence officials and by the senate inteligence committee done to
it is the premiere security organization in europe. so when the president seems to signal that he might not have the u.s. intervene on behalf of one of the member nations should they need it, it is a remarkable shift. when you add to it this one on one with vladamir putin, there are people who are very concerned that putin will flatter the president, and that the president will ultimately give in, he ll give some concessions without notifying nato members first. remember, the president went into that meeting with kim jong-un just last month, agreeing to end military exercises in south korea without notifying south korea or his own pentagon officials first. so you have this resurgent russia that leaves russia vulnerable. you have a russia that annexed crimea, russia is accused of these nerve agent attacks in the uk, and a russia that attacked the u.s. democracy, trying to tip the election in favor of donald trump. so there are a lot of concerns
by the bush administration but orders that had a bipartisan support in the years after 9/11. right. and actually i wanted to take it to the secretary, though, on pompeo, because, yes, it does look like he will be confirmed but at the same time that doesn t mean that his hearing will be a cake walk. one of the things that tillerson said when he left, he went to the back of the plane and he really lowered the boom on russia. he was trying to put out a warning flair. this comes a day after this president was refusing to come down on russia for the nerve agent attacks. so what do we need to know from pompeo about his stance on russia? because as c.i.a. director, he did say that he believed our intelligence agencies, but we don t know what his position is, for instance, on what the punishment should be. right. having been through three senate confirmation hearings, i can tell you it s an exercise in do no harm. you do your best to get through it without revealing too much