‘Trump not stopping me from beating up on Russia’ – UN Ambassador Haley

April 3, 2017 at 08:32

The United States continues to condemn and call for an immediate end to the Russian occupation of Crimea

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley told ABC's ‘This Week’ that President Trump’s less confrontational stance is not an obstacle to her “beating up on Russia.” Also on the show, ex-Defense Secretary Ash Carter warned against inconsistency in US policy.

Appearing on the show on Sunday, Haley said other nations are “happy that we're finally beating up on Russia,” and she believes Moscow was involved in meddling with the US election.

“Certainly, I think Russia was involved in the election. There's no question about that,” she said.

Haley denied that her stance was at odds with the president’s, saying she had his approval for what she was doing.

“President Trump has agreed, and this administration agrees, that Russia's involvement in Ukraine is wrong,” Haley told host Martha Raddatz. “The president has not once called me and said don't beat up on Russia, has not once called me and told me what to say.”

“I am beating up on Russia,” she said. "[The president] has got a lot of things he's doing, but he is not stopping me from beating up on Russia... He's not stopping me on how we're working together [with Russia] to defeat ISIS."

"There's no love or anything going on with Russia right now," Haley also said.

Later in the program, Ash Carter, the former secretary of defense under Barack Obama, warned against sending mixed messages to Moscow.

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