Rompeo is trying to come off tough against Russia…

The below was issued before the US Sec of State goes before Congress to try and portray a harder line against the narrative that has been going on since his boss, Trump, sat down and tried to cut private deals with the Russian President…

The resulting shit storm has been masked by new media stories, but has hardly gone away…

BTW?

The Russian’s are out with a line that they’d think about a meeting , this leaving Trump out on a limb by himself….

Pompeo is saying that the US will NOT recognize the Russian Annexation of the Crimea from the Ukraine, something Putin probably wanted Trump to overlook for another favor…

Eastern European countries will be happy with the Sec of States words, but NOBODY is gonna rest easy with the feeling that Trump IS on the hook for SOMETHING to the Russians…

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday the United States will never recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea as he sought to fend off charges from lawmakers and others that President Donald Trump and his administration are being soft on Russia.

In a statement titled “Crimea Declaration,” Pompeo said the U.S. will continue to insist that Ukraine’s territorial integrity be restored. He said the U.S. would hold to its long-standing principle of refusing to recognize Kremlin claims of sovereignty over territory seized by force in violation of international law. And he called for Russia to respect principles it claims to respect and “end its occupation of Crimea.”

“In concert with allies, partners, and the international community, the United States rejects Russia’s attempted annexation of Crimea and pledges to maintain this policy until Ukraine’s territorial integrity is restored,” Pompeo said in the declaration, which was released by the State Department shortly before he was to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee….

More…

Note….

A new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll conducted after President Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin finds 64% of Americans don’t think President Trump has been tough enough on Russia, including 47% of Republicans.

“As to whether Trump should view Putin as a friend or foe, Americans are nearly evenly split, with 45% saying he should be seen as an enemy and 44% saying he is an ally. That might be a surprise to those who grew up in the Cold War era, but partisanship might have something to do with it. Among GOP voters, 58% view the Russian leader as an ally.”

Politicalwire…