Over the course of the entire 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump never offered a criticism of Russia or their president, Vladimir Putin. With Trump now in the White House, it appears that his administration will follow in his footsteps.
Pence on Russia
In the months leading up to Election Day, various reports circulated and questioned whether or not Donald Trump had financial ties back to Russia. Due to Trump keeping his tax returns private, the information about his alleged link to the Kremlin could never be verified or fully dismissed. Since his big win over Hillary Clinton, rumors have only increased over the potential Russian-link, which were highlighted last month when CNN broke an exclusive story claimed Russia had planned to blackmail the former host of "The Apprentice" using "compromising" information.
As seen during the February 5 edition of "Face the Nation" on CBS, Vice President Mike Pence was put in an uncomfortable position when asked about Russia.
Host John Dickerson welcomed Mike Pence to the show, and quickly questioned the vice president about recent comments made by Donald Trump in regards to Russia. Trump had previously brushed aside allegations that Vladimir Putin was a "killer," and instead appeared to put down the United States for not being so "innocent." "What you heard there was a determination to attempt to deal with the world as it is,” Pence told Dickerson, before commenting "Let's start fresh with Putin, and start fresh with Russia."
.@VP, asked whether the President’s statement that “we’ve got a lot of killers” equated us to Russia, says there is "no moral equivalency"
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) February 5, 2017
Pence deflects
In response, Dickerson asked "do you think America is morally superior to Russia?" Pence then refused to answer the question straight up, commenting, "What we have in this new president is someone who is willing to engage the world, including Russia, and saying where can we find common interests."
Mike Pence Won't Say America is Morally Superior to Russia https://t.co/ZpDQ7cT0Xf (VIDEO) pic.twitter.com/W6aSKGxlBB
— Mediaite (@Mediaite) February 5, 2017
At this point, the CBS host didn't back down, simply asking, "But is America morally superior to Russia?" Mike Pence once again danced around the question, with Dickerson being forced to respond.
"Shouldn't we be able to just say yes to that question?” Dickerson asked Pence. The vice president went on to say that the United States was superior to many countries, never mentioned Russia in his response.
