WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo resisted a blizzard of barbed questions from Senators on Wednesday over President Trump's conciliatory stance towards Russian President Vladimir Putin and his contradictory and sometimes misleading statements about America's allies and opponents

before the commission of Senate Foreign Affairs, Pompeo categorically stated that Trump understood the threat that Russia President Trump said that he accepted the conclusion of our intelligence community that President Kremlin ingested it in the US. 2016 presidential election.

Russia has been ingested in the 2016 elections. It has a complete and correct understanding of what happened ", Dec. Pompeo in his opening remarks. " I know – I have informed him for over a year, which is perfectly clear to me personally. "

This did not appease skeptics Last week, at a joint press conference with Putin in Helsinki, Finland, Trump downplayed the findings of US intelligence agencies and said that He accepted Putin's assertion that Russia did not interfere in the 2016 US presidential election.

"You come before a group of senators today." which are full of serious doubts about this White House and its conduct of American foreign policy, "said Senator Bob Corker, R-Tennessee, on Corker had criticized the meeting between Trump and Helsinki with Putin, saying "we saw an American president who seemed submissive and deferential." [19659008] Trump later tried to come back on his pro-Putin remarks, but he did not reveal what he and Putin discussed during their t Senators have tried, with limited success, to gather details of Pompeo about this private Trump-Putin conversation.

In a tense exchange, New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez, a Democrat on the Committee, asked Pompeo if Trump was discussing economic sanctions against Russia and whether Trump was confronting Putin with his aggression in Urkaine and his annexation of Crimea, among others.

Pompeo said that he would not disclose the details of their private meeting, but said that US policy towards Russia has not changed as a result of the meeting and "no commitment" has been done to mitigate US sanctions. Pompeo did not directly answer a question from Senator Jeanne Shaheen, DN.H., about whether Trump was willing to change the role of the US military in Syria, where Russia supports the brutal dictatorship of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

"There has been no change in US policy regarding" Syria, says Pompeo.

"That's not exactly the question I'm asking," replied Shaheen.

Pompeo revealed only three issues discussed by Trump and Putin during their closed session last week: reviving an exchange between business leaders from both countries; restore a counter-terrorism council to strengthen cooperation in this area; and work to return the millions of displaced Syrians who fled their war-torn country .

North Korea's relations

Pompeo was also circumspect about the Trump administration's negotiations with North Korea. Jong signed a vague pledge to denuclearize the Korean peninsula after a summit with Trump in June.

Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., Suggested that North Korea has only taken "empty gestures" to complete the agreement, such as the dismantling of a nuclear test facility obsolete. Markey said that he fears that the United States "will be taken for a ride".

"Do not be afraid, senator," replied Pompeo. He expressed confidence that North Korea understands the American definition of denuclearization and is committed to achieving this goal.

But Pompeo refused to say whether North Korea had inventoried its nuclear arsenal as a first step towards denuclearization. "We are sitting at the table having conversations," said Pompeo, adding that "a lot of discussions that I will not do here today."

Pompeo stated that North Korea continued to manufacture fissile material and suggested that it could disclose more information on the status of the Communist dictatorship's nuclear program during a session. in camera.

Corker suggested that the president's rhetoric about North Korea, and particularly about the country's leader, Kim, was bizarre. The caller "one of the most ruthless leaders on the planet," noted Corker, one in ten North Koreans is enslaved and many of the country's children are starving.

"Faced with these realities, the president called (Kim Jong un)" very talented "and" he loves his people, "said Mr. Corker.

Republican Tennessee said such statements were deeply alarming for lawmakers and puzzling to the American public, resuming the president to task for inaccurate comments implying that NATO member states owe American money for defense.

"Why does these things? "Corker asked." Is there a strategy for this or what causes the president to deliberately create mistrust of those institutions? "

" I do not I do not agree with most of what you just said, "said Pompeo, arguing that lawmakers should pay attention to US policy, not the words of the president, trying to decipher where he stands hold.

To know ir more: Must-see? A guide from state secretary Mike Pompeo on Russia, Iran and more

To learn more: US Senators to grill Mike Pompeo on what happened in Trump-Putin in camera To learn more: Donald Trump says that he "n?" left nothing "at the top of Putin but offers no precision talks

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