Rep. Mike Turner, the new GOP ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said Friday on Newsmax that it's important now to turn the dialogue and debate to the adversaries who are threatening the country's security and away from the fights over former President Donald Trump.
Still, the Ohio Republican told Newsmax's "Wake Up America" that his predecessor in the seat, retired Rep. Devin Nunes, should be commended for working to "ferret out what was happening" with the claims that Russia had interfered with the 2016 presidential election.
"What we know about the Russia hoax, we know as a result of Nunes' intuition and his hard work and trying to ferret out what was happening, and the threats that were being made against Donald Trump and Donald Trump's presidency, accusations that were baseless," said Turner about the former California GOP congressman, who retired to become the CEO of Trump's newly formed media company.
But still, at this point it's important for the committee to turn the debate to the nation's external adversaries and to meet the threats the country faces, said Turner, adding that he wants to put together a bipartisan coalition of people who want to protect the United States.
Turner meanwhile discussed the upcoming meetings planned for Saturday, when NATO states will discuss the tensions at the Russia/Ukraine border and said that the build-up of troops and the rhetoric being heard from Russia's President Vladimir Putin points to the growing potential of an invasion.
"Putin has been saying Ukraine is part of Russia, which, of course, it's not," said Turner. "It's an independent country with a validly elected government."
But, he said the tension comes as a result of the weakness of President Joe Biden and his administration after the "debacle of Afghanistan" and the fact that the administration didn't respond last April when Russia gathered troops and then pulled back at the Ukraine border.
"They took no time to provide the weapons to Ukraine so they could defend themselves, bolstering our NATO allies in the area or even increasing the presence," said Turner. "This is a threat to our NATO allies and certainly a threat to the United States. The president should be rising to this."
However, he added, Biden is weakening Ukraine's stance by refusing to provide weapons and by saying he'll take action only after a Russian invasion.
"We should be bolstering Ukraine, giving them lethal weapons that they're asking for. They're asking to defend their own country," said Turner. "They're asking for us to give them the ability to fight for themselves."
He also said he would not be surprised to see an invasion of Ukraine, or China invading Taiwan after the Winter Olympics wrap up in Beijing next month.
"Whenever we see that the United States is weak, we see that our adversaries and those who have authoritarian governments take advantage of that vacuum," said Turner.
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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