President Donald Trump had a "tremendous opportunity" to show strength against Russia during his press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but that didn't happen, said Sen. Joni Ernst, and she's disappointed.
"The president should have been much, much clearer," the Iowa Republican told MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
"There are so many Russian aggressions that we could have brought up in that opportunity. We should have pushed back very heavily, going all the way back to the invasion of Crimea by Russia, their gray zone opportunities involving many of our Balkan friends, including our sister state to Iowa, Kosovo."
Russia, she said is "not our friend," and anytime the United States approaches or thinks of Russia, "we should always operate under the assumption they want to undermine the United States of America."
She said she hopes Trump delivered a stronger message while he was behind closed-doors Monday with Putin, but she does not favor issuing a subpoena to the translator who was the only other person there.
However, Ernst said there should have been a person in the room to record what was said.
"We don't know what follow up actions, if any, are out there," she said. "We don't know what the president's demands are. We don't know what President Putin's demands are. So, I always would encourage the president to make sure that he has someone who has got his back, that is taking care, writing down those requests, those demands. That way we do know."
The translator, though, should be questioned by intelligence agencies, if an interview must be done.
"Knowing the context of the conversations. I think that would be the appropriate place to start, to make a show of it at Congress," said Ernst. I don't know that that would help the situation any. But certainly, if we need answers, it needs to be done through the intelligence community."
Ernst said she does think, though, that it was important for Trump to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, because there must be communication in order to move forward, but she thinks the talks with Putin should have been more transparent.
"I think that was a lost opportunity, but I think it is important that we have dialogue with some of these world leaders and we make it very clear what our demands are as the United States of America," said Ernst.
"I appreciate the dialogue, but, again, I wish that we had seen different communications coming from the president, especially as it applies to Russia."
It is up to the president to work with foreign leaders, but at the same time, Senate Republicans have also had a "solid track record" on foreign affairs.
"I spearheaded an effort that provided [aid] in the Ukraine," she said. "We have sanctions on Russia. We have the European reassurance initiatives which push back in Eastern Europe against Russia gray zone activities which are activities that are short of war."
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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