Things got heated on “The View” during a discussion Friday about the Trump administration’s policies against Russia and President Vladimir Putin.
Abby Huntsman hit back at her co-hosts who claimed that Barack Obama was harder on Russia than Trump, sharing that the president has been tougher on the country than “any administration since the Cold War.” (RELATED: Joy Behar: Female Trump Voters Don’t Know The Difference Between A Predator And A Protector)
“I actually disagree with you on that though, Ana,” Huntsman replied. “I think if you look at the substance of the policy under the Trump Administration when you’re dealing with Putin and Russia, you could argue that they’ve been tougher than any administration since the cold War.”
“No one ever talks about the actual issues and what’s being done to combat Russia, because that’s not the shiny object,” she continued. “No one cares about that. No one gives the president credit for anything that he does right. That’s what I can’t stand.”
Joy Behar argued that “because of his relationship with Putin,” doesn’t that mean Trump is “compromised a little bit with Russia now?”
“But this didn’t just happen in a vacuum,” Meghan McCain interjected. “President Obama met with Putin six months after taking office in Moscow. He said Obama talked of the extraordinary work you’ve done, Putin on behalf of the Russian people.”
“President Bush said I looked at the man in the eyes and found him to be very straight forward. I was able to get a sense of his soul,” she added. “This is something that has been building and building over administrations. Bill Clinton talked about the congenial, easy going relationship he had with Putin. This is something that’s been building and building and normalizing.”
Hostin replied that it struck her “as odd” that the president canceled his meeting with Putin after his former attorney Michael Cohen drops this “bombshell” about building a tower in Russia.
“When was he concerned about the Ukraine?” Hostin questioned.
Huntsman snapped back, “Trump has actually been tougher on Ukraine that President Obama was.”
“The first thing he did when got into office was arm the Ukrainians and put sanctions on Russia as it relates to the Ukraine,” she added. “That’s the point I’m trying to make. If you want to talk about the Mueller investigation let’s have that talk and the dealings that Trump had with Russians before he got into office.”
Huntsman continued, “But if you want to talk about actual diplomacy and things that are happening with Russia, that is a very different thing. I would love for this table — not Meghan included.”
Meghan McCain then jumped in to defend Huntsman and said no one had a problem with “normalizing” relations with Russia and Putin until the election.
“No the Magnistsky Act happened because of my father,” McCain exclaimed. “It had nothing to do with Obama and let’s keep that very straight. I’m sorry but the normalizing what happened with Putin happened under Democrats’ watch, as well.”
“Abby is 100 percent right on it,” she added. “Nobody has cared about Putin until … all the human rights violations, the annexing of Crimea, everything in the Ukraine, nobody cared until the election. So, don’t tell me this isn’t politically motivated.”
Ana Navarro claimed people care now because elections “are a bastion of our democracy.”
McCain continued, “Human rights should be as well. The torturing of — I’m sorry you don’t care about Sergei Magnitsky being tortured and killed for being someone who sounded the alarm.”
Joy Behar then said they had to take a break and threw to commercial.