Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday pushed back against accusations that the Trump administration is giving Russia a pass as the country once again attempts to meddle in U.S. elections.
“I am incredibly proud of the work that this administration has done in countering Russia,” the secretary of state told the House Foreign Affairs Committee during testimony on the State Department’s 2019 budget request. “It is light years better than was done in the previous administration.”
“We will not tolerate Russian interference in our 2018 elections,” Pompeo assured. “We will take the appropriate counter measures in response to the continued Russian efforts.”
The concerns over Russian interference come as President Trump grows increasingly frustrated with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of his campaign’s ties to Russia. Trump has called the probe a “witch hunt” many times, claiming that his campaign did not collude with the foreign power.
The president did, however, slap sanctions on Russia for attempting to influence the election and spreading misinformation and said “no one has been tougher on Russia” than he has.
“There’s more work to do,” Pompeo admitted. “We have not been able to achieve effective deterrence.” However, he added that the administration has already taken “enormous efforts to push back against Russia that haven’t been done in an awfully long time.”
Pompeo said he felt it would be irresponsible of him to guarantee that the U.S. government has done enough to prevent the next attack on the country, but promised that it is working to “reduce threats.”