Senior House Dem offers rare praise for Trump
President Donald Trump found a surprising new cheerleader for his foreign policy Thursday: Democratic Rep. Jim Himes.
'I'm not in the habit of praising Donald Trump, but I've got to tell you, in the last week or so in the Middle East, Ukraine, Russia it's a different story,' Himes, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said during an interview at POLITICO's Security Summit.
To explain his position, the Connecticut lawmaker said he feared as recently as last week that Israel was 'hell bent on going to war with Iran' — implying Trump helped avert that. He also lauded Trump's decision to meet with Syria's new president during his trip to the Middle East. 'I've got to tell you, I think the president has, in this last week or so, played the Middle East pretty darn well,' he said.
Himes nonetheless made clear he is far from backing Trump's foreign strategy writ large.
His compliments for Trump's policies on Ukraine — where Himes said Trump appeared to be cozying up less to Russia in negotiations over how to end the war — were backhanded, suggesting that until recently, Russia had seen Trump as relatively friendly.
Now, Himes said, 'I think the Kremlin is thinking like, 'Whoa, this president, the United States is not the unconditional ally that we might have thought he was.''
And, Himes said he remained 'horrified' by Trump's treatment of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office in February, when Trump and Vice President JD Vance tore into the Ukrainian leader for being insufficiently grateful for U.S. military support in the war between Russia and Ukraine.
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