WASHINGTON, D.C.—House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) joined Fox News Channel’s Hannity last night to discuss the liberal attempts to rewrite history on America’s relations with Russia under President Obama, and how President Trump and the Republican Congress have taken strong action since to combat Russian aggression.
Hannity: On Monday, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise took to Twitter to defend President Trump. Congressman Steve Scalise wrote that “President Donald Trump went into this meeting with Putin from a position of American strength to combat Russian aggression, but it’s important to remember how Russia was allowed to get to this point.” He then gave a timeline of all of the Obama Administration’s failures with Russia, starting with the reset. He joins us now, the House Majority Whip, Louisiana Congressman Steve Scalise. Why don’t you just go through this because I don’t want to put it in my Hannity history lesson because I thought you did a good job, but I did show Hillary with that silly reset button of hers.
Scalise: And don’t forget the cackle. Sean, great to be back with you. Look, there were so many different things Barack Obama did when he was president. He mocked Mitt Romney in that 2012 debate saying the ’80s want their foreign policy back when Romney said Russia is a big threat. The red line was probably one of those glaring points where he truly did go backwards in terms of strength, when he literally put that red line and said “Syria, you’ve got to do these things, don’t gas your own people.” And of course, after Syria gassed their own people, he just sat back and let it go. When the Ukraine—good friends of ours, allies of America—were being invaded, President Obama sat by and did nothing and the Ukrainians were asking the Obama Administration, not for boots on the ground, but just for weapons to defend themselves. He turned his back on them. President Trump, in contrast, gave the Ukrainians missiles, gave them the ability to stand up to Russia. President Trump has stood up to Russia on a number of fronts. Obviously, that was one, expelling diplomats, President Trump increased sanctions. He worked with us in Congress to increase sanctions against Russia, so there’s a big contrast with President Obama just ignoring this threat.
Hannity: Just like the President has said many times, ‘Yeah, Russia did it. Yeah, they meddled. Yeah, they interfered.’ It’s sort of like, the Left, if you are not backing up the Brinks truck and not trying to bribe some kind of despot or dictator, if you’re not making meaningless lines in the sand that you never have any intention of backing up, if you show weakness and you appease, they like that.
Scalise: Keep in mind the meddling, the actual meddling in the election, happened under President Obama’s watch. He was president. There is evidence that he knew some of that was going on, he just didn’t do anything because he thought Hilary was going to win. You look at what President Trump has done. He’s acknowledged there was meddling. Chairman Nunes and his committee have done a great job. Devin Nunes and his committee showed there was meddling, but there was no collusion between either campaign, and the meddling didn’t have anything to do to change the outcome of the election. We should still pursue it, and we are, but the meddling itself actually happened under Barack Obama’s watch.
Hannity: Alright, Congressman, glad we have a few strong Republicans there, that are willing to actually tell truth and give a proper history. Thank you for being one of them.