Rep. Pete King: More Could Be Done on Russia

It was important for sanctions to be enacted on Russia, Rep. Pete King said Friday, but he thinks more action could have been done.

However, he told Fox News' "America's Newsroom," President Donald Trump's administration has already taken strong action against Russia.

"He has been sending lethal weapons to the Ukraine, and we have 200 Russian irregulars killed in Syria, and there were no apologies from the United States," the New York Republican told show co-host Bill Hemmer.

"We're taking a stronger policy, and what [U.N. Ambassador] Nikki Haley is saying in the U.N. is significant, signing on with the NATO allies. It's a calibrated increase by the Trump administration and I'm not trying to make this partisan. but there was a lot of damage done during the Obama years."

King said even more action should be taken, including more strict sanctions on anything involving the Russian defense industry.

Further, he said he believes sanctions could be enforced on people close to Putin, "because he is an all-powerful dictator and he has oligarchs around him. His future could depend on them, and we should go after them more."

King said he does believe that President Donald Trump "genuinely believes Russia can help in the fight against ISIS and could establish a new relationship."

However, King told Hemmer he does "think Putin is bad" and there is no such thing as a new relationship with him.

"The president is looking at various diplomatic channels and [that is] why they haven't gone as far as they can on the sanctions," he said. "I hope as they go forward they can do it."

In other matters discussed on the show, King commented that he believes a second special counsel is warranted as the investigation into the FBI continues.

"It should be and it goes against two things I've stood for," he said. "I have great admiration for the FBI and I don't like the idea of special counsels.

"Having said that, in this situation I believe a special second counsel is warranted because there's so many questions being raised and I know if we go back to the FISA application and other it would appear there were serious mistakes or wrongdoing by people at high levels of the FBI. The only way it can be properly investigated is by special counsel."

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