Ratcliffe: ‘Putin was 3-0 when it comes to pipelines’ versus Biden

Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said President Biden gave multiple political and economic wins to Russian President Vladimir Putin when the two met in Geneva last week.

Former President Trump’s intelligence community leader told Fox News Channel on Sunday that he “could make an argument that the first five months of the Biden administration have been the best of Vladimir Putin’s political life.”

“Just from an economic standpoint, folks know that Vladimir Putin was 3-0 when it comes to pipelines,” Mr. Ratcliffe said.

“Joe Biden shut down the Keystone pipeline, that was a win for Putin; criminal networks in Russia shut down one of our major pipelines, the Colonial Pipeline, that was a win for Putin,” he explained.

“And, of course, Joe Biden responded by giving Vladimir Putin the one thing that he wanted most, which was the Nord Stream II pipeline, the ability to finish that, and, by doing so, to control the flow of energy into Western Europe,” Mr. Ratcliffe concluded on the program “Sunday Morning Futures.”

Mr. Putin was having a good year before he got to the meeting with Mr. Biden, according to Mr. Ratcliffe, who said the U.S. got nothing from participating.

“Vladimir Putin was on the world stage with equal billing with the leader of the free world, and he made no concessions,” Mr. Ratcliffe said. “He made no concessions about cyberattacks, he made no concessions about political dissidents, he made no concessions about Russian interference in Ukraine or Belarus. And that’s a political win for Vladimir Putin back home that he could not possibly have dreamed about.”

Mr. Biden’s supporters have countered that the current president struck a stark contrast from his predecessor during the meeting with Mr. Putin.

Jake Sullivan, Mr. Biden’s national security adviser, defended Mr. Biden in appearances Sunday, telling Fox News Sunday that Mr. Biden “pulled no punches” during the summit with Mr. Putin.