U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley was straightforward on Sunday when asked about Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential election, which the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee has been investigating for months.
She said “everybody knows” it happened, and if you want to know what the consequences are, “you’re going to have to ask the President,” Haley told CBS’ “Face The Nation.” She was commenting on the recent private meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin last week during the G-20 summit in Germany.
“What he did was bring up right away the election meddling, and he did that for a reason,” Haley told CNN’s “State of the Union,” according to a report. “One, he wanted […] to basically look him in the eye, let him know that: ‘Yes, we know you meddled in our elections. Yes, we know you did it, and cut it out.’ ”
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“They’re gonna always have two different stances on this,” Haley told CNN. “But at the end of the day what was most important was for President Putin to hear from President Trump: ‘We know you did this. We didn’t like it. Don’t do it again’ ”
“Any country needs to know that there are consequences when they get involved in our elections,” Haley told “Face The Nation,” according to CBS. “And I think that’s why it’s good that the investigations are going on, and we’re analyzing and we’re looking into all of that, and I think we need to manage it accordingly.”
“The one thing we don’t want is for our political process to ever be influenced or tainted in any way. And I think that we have to make sure that we’re always strong on that point and let everyone know that we’re not going to put up with it,” she added.
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Over the weekend, Trump returned from the G-20 summit in Germany, where he met with Putin and reportedly pressed him about whether or not Russia interfered with the most recent U.S. Presidential election during their 2-hour meeting.
After the meeting, the Russian Prime Minister said that Trump took Putin’s word during the private meeting that Russia did not interfere in the U.S. elections.
“You had two men walk into the room. You had two men who knew the exact same thing, which is Russia did meddle in the elections,” Haley told CBS. “I think President Trump wanted to make sure that President Putin was aware that he was acknowledging it, that he knew it.”
“I think President Putin did what we all expected him to do, which was deny it,” she added. “And I think that is what it is. President Trump still knows that they meddled. President Putin knows that they meddled, but he is never going to admit to it. And that’s all that happened.”
Watch Haley’s interview on “Face The Nation” here:
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