'In Russia’s pocket': Ex-CIA director warns Trump foreign policy is 'going to bring more war'

President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance are drawing plenty of criticism following their Friday, February 28 meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House Oval Office, where they berated him for, they claimed, being ungrateful for the military aid Ukraine has received from the United States during its war with Russia.

Some of the criticism is coming from former CIA Director Leon Panetta, who also served as defense secretary under ex-President Barack Obama.

During a Monday, March 3 appearance on MSNBC, Panetta characterized Trump's attack on Zelensky as a major gift to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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The ex-CIA director told MSNBC host Katy Tur, "I think it's pretty clear that that Mr. Trump has turned 80 years of U.S. foreign policy on its head. For 80 years, Democrat and Republican presidents alike exerted strong world leadership, supported our alliances, supported democratic values, and stood up to tyrants. And Trump, to a large extent, has walked away from that historic policy that the United States had."

The 86-year-old Panetta warned that Trump, by undermining U.S. relations with European allies, is promoting instability in the world.

The former Obama Administration official told Tur, "What Trump is trying to do in order to convince Putin to come to the table is not going to work if Putin senses weakness on the part of the United States. And what Russia has been saying over the weekend is that essentially, the United States is in Russia's pocket. And if that is the case, and if Putin feels that way, Putin has no reason in the world to not keep fighting in Ukraine."

Panetta continued, "And that is the danger here: that rather than bringing peace, it's going to bring more war."

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