Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., told Newsmax on Wednesday that President Donald Trump showed "real American leadership" last week during his recent summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Trump and Putin met in Alaska last Friday for a face-to-face meeting aimed at making progress towards a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine.
Schmitt told "Wake Up America" that "this is what American leadership looks like," adding, "We never saw any of this over the last four years with [former President] Joe Biden. And of course, [former President] Barack Obama let … Russia just sort of marched through Crimea right in 2014.
"We have a president now who has the confidence, is America First, he's chosen to spend his time trying to broker a peace where a million people have died, thousands more each month as this goes on," he said. "And the truth of the matter is, this war is effectively a meat grinder, sadly. And so President Trump is using his influence to bring the parties together to find a peace settlement here and I think that's something that all of us can be proud of, Republicans and Democrats and the people who are being critical."
Schmitt went on to hit out at those who criticized Trump’s summit with Putin, saying, "They who were critical last Friday are the same people that have been wrong about all these foreign policy decisions for 30 years."
He added, "They oversaw the disastrous withdrawal in Afghanistan, the invasion of Ukraine just a few years ago, and a whole host of issues. So anyway, President Trump is demonstrating, I think, real American leadership here, and I'm really proud of him."
Schmitt also promoted his new book, "The Last Line of Defense," during his appearance and spoke about how Republicans can use legal methods to counter Democrats.
He noted that during his time as Missouri attorney general, his office successfully "held the line" against COVID-19 vaccination requirements "until President Trump could return and we got some big wins along the way."
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Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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