Matt Schlapp: Trump’s policies on Russia ‘two or three times tougher than anything’ under Obama

Matt Schlapp, the chairman of the American Conservative Union, late Friday dismissed criticism of President Trump’s joint summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, touting the Trump administration as tougher on Russia than the Obama administration.

Schlapp told former Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), the guest host of Friday’s “The Ingraham Angle” on Fox News that the Trump administration’s policy on Russia was “two or three times tougher than anything” implemented by the Obama administration.

“[T]he policy coming out of the Trump administration, as you pointed out, is two or three times tougher than anything we saw in Obama. If you look at the export controls, if you look at the sanctions, if you look at the the number of people being kicked out of the country, if you look at the bombing that the president has done. If you look at every criteria, the president’s policy is tough,” Schlapp said.

{mosads}

“But the Democrats have a problem with his words,” he added.

Schlapp, a top ally of Trump, whose wife Mercedes Schlapp holds a senior communications position in the White House, conceded that the president tries “very hard” to be “hospitable” to the Russian leader when the two are in each other’s company.

“The idea that Trump is somehow ‘soft’ on Putin just because when they’re in each other’s company, he tries very hard to be — and in some cases too hard the other day — to be hospitable. But the policies are what matter,” Schlapp said on Fox.

Trump weathered a storm of criticism this week from Democrats and Republicans after he appeared to side with Putin during a joint press conference over the assessment from U.S. intelligence agencies about Russia’s election interference.

The president attempted to walk back his comments the following day at the White House, telling reporters that he had meant to say he saw no reason why he “wouldn’t” agree with intelligence agencies on the extent of Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election.

“I accept our intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election took place,” Trump said Tuesday, reading from a prepared statement, adding: “Could be other people also. A lot of people out there.”