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GOP lawmakers are starting to offer their thoughts on President Biden’s foreign policy as he sits down for his first in-person summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.

Speaking to “Fox & Friends,” House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) expressed her concern that the US commander-in-chief was not entering the summit from a position of strength.

“What I’m really looking at is how Biden is going into this meeting,” the No. 3 House Republican told the network. “He’s going into this meeting asserting weakness based upon the policy decisions and the giveaways that the American government has already given to Russia under Vladimir Putin.”

As an example of the concessions, the New York Republican referenced Biden’s lifting of sanctions on Nord Stream 2, the controversial pipeline from Russia to Germany opposed by the Trump administration.

Biden decided to waive sanctions against the Russian-owned company behind the project last month, arguing “it’s almost completely finished.”


  President Joe Biden met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Sergei Bobylev/TASS President Joe Biden met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Sergei Bobylev/TASS

Germany, a critical US ally, is also a major proponent of the pipeline’s construction being completed.

“It’s almost completely finished, number one. The idea that anything that — and it’s not like I can allow Germany to do something they’re not,” Biden said when explaining his decision.

While he claimed he had been opposed to Nord Stream 2 from the beginning, it was “almost completed by the time I took office.”

While approving that pipeline, which Stefanik called “a giveaway for Russian energy independence,” Biden opted to block construction on the Keystone XL oil pipeline in the US.


  Rep. Elise Stefanik says President Biden went into the meeting with Russian President Putin “asserting weakness.” CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images Rep. Elise Stefanik says President Biden went into the meeting with Russian President Putin “asserting weakness.” CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

That move, she noted, was “crushing American energy independence.”

She also noted his extension of the New START Treaty, a 2010 nuclear arms control agreement with Russia that Biden agreed to extend in his first weeks in office.

Getting the agreement extended without updated terms was a top goal of the Kremlin, “and President Biden gave it to them,” Stefanik added.

Richard Grenell, the former US ambassador to Germany, also addressed the pipeline matter in a tweet, saying regardless of what happens in the summit, Biden has given Russia “leverage for decades to come.”


  “There has never been a more unqualified person negotiating on our behalf,” Rep. Lauren Boebert said of President Biden. AFP via Getty Images “There has never been a more unqualified person negotiating on our behalf,” Rep. Lauren Boebert said of President Biden. AFP via Getty Images

“Putin and the Russian Foreign Ministry will agree to almost anything in a press statement at this point because they got a pipeline of leverage for decades to come,” he wrote.

“It’s words on paper vs. gas and cash for 20 plus years.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) mocked the summit by referencing the Nord Stream project, tweeting, “The Biden-Putin Pipeline Summit has begun!”

“I surely hope Joe Biden doesn’t accidentally return the state of Alaska to Putin in their meeting,” Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) quipped on Twitter as the two presidents made their way to the summit.

“I’m praying for America today, because there has never been a more unqualified person negotiating on our behalf,” the Colorado lawmaker and frequent Biden critic added.

Donald Trump Jr. echoed Boebert’s feelings in a tweet of his own ahead of the big meeting, writing, “Does anyone think that the Biden- Putin meeting will be anything but a bloodbath for American interests?”

“The meeting between President Biden and Putin has started,” former White House press secretary Sean Spicer tweeted before making a prediction.

“Not to get ahead of it but the corporate media in the US has already written their stories declaring it a huge success for Biden,” he continued.

Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC), who sits on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, reiterated his continued opposition to an in-person summit with Putin, saying the meeting rewards bad behavior and sends the wrong message.”

“This month I called on President Biden to postpone today’s summit with Vladimir Putin until he stops Russian cyberattacks on US infrastructure,” Hudson tweeted. “Like the New START Treaty & green-lighting Nord Stream II, I believe this summit rewards bad behavior and sends the wrong message.”

“President Biden must do more to hold Russia accountable for aggression in the US & around the globe. I’m hopeful our countries could work together, but we must show resolve.”

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