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Mike Pence Uses CNN Hit To Attack Trump, Hegseth
Bolduan finally switched the topic to recent CNN reporting that Pete Hegseth had unilaterally halted arms supplies to Ukraine in response to escalating Russian attacks. In recent days, Trump has been questioned about who blocked the weapons shipments, telling CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Tuesday, “I don’t know.”
BOLDUAN: “I saw you almost shake your head in disbelief at what the reporting has been, which is, today we learned that U.S. weapons shipments are starting back up to Ukraine.”
Pence: “Right.”
Pence: “Well, look, when — when you’ve served at the level I’ve served at, it’s a big government. And a lot of people in your agencies and in departments are making decisions all the time. But that one was troubling to me. And my bet is it’s very troubling to the president. I — my expectation is that he’ll get to the bottom of it. He will — he will find out who initiated that decision. But the most important thing is that he reversed it. And — and — and made it clear in a phone call with President Zelenskyy last Friday that the — the support is going to continue to come. Now, I — I will say, and I say respectfully to the president, if he’s looking on, this isn’t just about defensive weapons.”
BOLDUAN: “Right.”
In an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, Pence responded to Trump’s comments in Riyadh, where the president denounced previous U.S. interventions in the Middle East. Trump asserted that the development of modern cities like Riyadh and Abu Dhabi was not the result of Western “nation-builders,” but rather the achievement of local populations.
“But, Kristen, I’ve never been a fan of American presidents criticizing America on foreign soil,” he said. “And to have the president in Saudi Arabia questioning America’s global war on terror, and describing it as nation-building and interventionist, I thought was a disservice to generations of Americans who wore the uniform and who took the fight to our enemy, you know, in Afghanistan and in Iraq. And particularly giving that speech in Saudi Arabia, where 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers hailed from, not including Osama bin Laden, I thought was unfortunate.”
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