It was the right decision to put off Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to the United States until after the November midterm elections, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said Thursday.
"I think it was the right decision that the administration made, and the credit goes to them to say look, there is a cost to an invitation to come here, and there is a price you will pay if you involve yourself in the elections in 2018," Barrasso told Fox News' "America's Newsroom."
"That is a message to Putin: You mess around with us, and the price that you pay is going to be significant."
Trump had at first told National Security Adviser John Bolton to invite Putin to the nation's capital for a fall visit, but the White House said Wednesday the meeting was delayed until 2019, citing the ongoing probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
"Putin needs to realize that there will be significant consequences to any attempt he has to involve himself in the 2018 elections," Barrasso said.
Meanwhile, Barrasso praised Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, saying he did a "terrific job laying out all of the successes of the Trump administration in terms of North Korea, Iran, and Russia, in terms of the military weapons we have supplied to Ukraine, in terms of the increased contributions by the NATO nations for their own defense."
"You can go through a long list of items where the president has gotten results, and he hasn't gotten credit for it," Barrasso said. "I think Mike Pompeo did a terrific job of laying out what this administration has actually done and then pushing back the invitation for Putin to come to the United States until next year."
Barrasso also discussed the ongoing situation with North Korea, saying the country has been "significantly turning down the heat" after their leader, Kim Jong Un and Trump met in Singapore.
"There are going to be lots of ups and downs, kind of like a rodeo," he said. "No timeouts, no guarantees, and we have to make sure to keep ever vigilant on this, and we will."
However, he said he does not think North Korea can be trusted "at all," as "they are going to do every that they can to hide their activities."
"My concern right now is that they are being aided in that effort by China and Russia, who are helping North Korea evade some of the sanctions," he said. "Remember, it was a tough sanctions by the United States that brought North Korea to the table in the first place. Anything that lessens those, the force of those sanctions, it is going to make it easier for North Korea to try to get around getting rid of their nuclear weapons."
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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